The Marching Season - Softcover

Silva, Daniel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 045120932X ISBN 13: 9780451209320

Publisher: Berkley, 2004

Synopsis

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Gabriel Allon series presents the second thriller featuring former CIA Agent Michael Osbourne, following The Mark of the Assassin.

When the Good Friday peace accords are shattered with three savage acts of terrorism, Northern Ireland is blown back into the depths of conflict. And after his father-in-law is nominated to become the new American ambassador to London, retired CIA agent Michael Osbourne is drawn back into the game. He soon discovers that his father-in-law is marked for execution. And that he himself is once again in the crosshairs of a killer known only as October, one of the most merciless assassins the world has ever known...

About this title

Review

The Good Friday agreement that promised to bring peace to the embattled Protestants and Catholics of Northern Ireland is jeopardized by a new paramiltary group bent on destroying the truce. Michael Osbourne, the hero of Silva's previous thriller, The Mark of the Assassin, is rerecruited by the CIA when Douglas Cannon--his father-in-law, a former senator, and the new ambassador to the Court of St. James--is targeted for death by the Ulster Freedom Brigade. Osbourne has long since given up on the spying game and is reluctant to be drawn back into it again. Then he discovers that the Brigade has shopped the contract on Senator Cannon to October, the assassin who narrowly missed killing Osbourne a few years ago but succeeded in murdering the woman he once loved. It's a good setup for a political thriller, with nonstop action that moves from Belfast to Armagh, New York to Washington, London to Mykonos. What really notches up the suspense is the double-dealing in the corridors of power, particularly the CIA and a secret organization called the Society--a nasty assemblage of politicos, spymasters, arms merchants, and killers bent on destabilizing nascent peacemaking efforts all over the globe. Down but not out at the conclusion of Silva's latest, the Society and Osbourne will likely be back for a return engagement the next time warring factions attempt to beat their swords. In fact, as the director of the Society says in the last chapter, "The Kosovo Liberation Front would like our help: Gentlemen, we're back in business." --Jane Adams

From the Inside Flap

With The Marching Season,, Silva delivers his most entertaining novel yet-an electrifying tale of terror, revenge, and greed, straight out of tomorrow's headlines.  It is the first uncertain year of the peace process in Northern Ireland, a land ravaged by centuries of religious and political conflict.  On a single night, a renegade group of Protestant extremists tries to turn back the hands of time with three savage acts of terrorism.  Their goal: to shatter the peace and make certain Ulster remains forever part of the United Kingdom.

Retired CIA officer Michael Osbourne, the hero of Mark of the Assassin, is lured back to the Agency after his father-in-law, former U.S. Senator Douglas Cannon, is nominated to be the new American ambassador to London.  When Michael discovers that the Protestant gunmen have marked Cannon for execution, he sets in motion a deadly contest of wits and deception, which will determine whether the peace in Northern Ireland will survive and whether his father-in-law lives or dies.

What Michael Osbourne does not realize is that he is a pawn in a much larger game.  Once again, Michael's destiny is controlled by the Society, a secret order that uses its power and influence to foster global unrest for financial gain.  And once again, he is matched against his personal bête noire, Jean-Paul Delaroche, the world's most dangerous assassin, who slipped through Michael's fingers at the climax of The Mark of the Assassin.

Filled with breathtaking plot twists, The Marching Season is a novel of power and intrigue, where appearance and reality are enemies and trust is betrayed as often as it is honored.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 045120932X
• ISBN 13: 9780451209320
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512