Rembrandt Affair

Every night before bed, I read for at least a half an hour. I have done this basically since I could read. When I was little it was much more exhilarating-- I would hide under my covers with a flashlight so my parents wouldn't know I was cheating bed time. Somehow the adventures of the babysitters club always seemed more exciting past bedtime. Now that I'm the one in charge of my bedtime, I still find myself pushing the limits on occasion, when a book is so good, I just can't bare to be a responsible adult.

Since reading is such an important part of my life, it was a somewhat shocking revelation for me that I had never once shared a book with Tim. He reads less frequently than I do, but when he is visiting his parents in Tucson, he goes on mega reading-binges. Over the last few years, he has talked non-stop about a few authors. Finally, I asked him to recommend a book by one of these authors to me to read. So, he gave me his favorite book by Daniel Silva-- The Rembrandt Affair.

This book reminded me of a Dan Brown novel, only with better writing. In other words, every chapter was a cliff-hanger, the story took the reader all over the world, and never allowed for boredom.

The protagonist of this novel (who is apparently a recurring character for Silva) is an Israeli intelligence officer and art restorer (odd combination, but it works) named Gabriel. He combines his two careers as he tracks down a missing Rembrandt painting. He quickly finds that the painting's history was tainted with horrible tragedies. The rightful owner of the piece of art was a Jewish man in the Netherlands in the 1940's who was coerced into selling his painting to a Nazi officer in order to save his daughter's life. Uncovering more WWII atrocities led Gabriel and his colleagues to discover that a very powerful Swiss banker (nicknamed Saint Martin for his public image as a philanthropist) has been benefiting from the stolen goods of Jews since the war-- and that isn't where his treacherous deeds end.

This book was really fun to read and I think it had something for everyone-- there was plenty of action, there was mystery, and for me, there was a trip around the world and incredible artwork. I enjoyed the book and would definitely read something by Silva again. Most of all, it was fun to share a book with Tim. Discussing where I was in the story and what I thought of characters was great. Hopefully this is something we can repeat in the future.