Art restorer. Assassin. Spy. No 1. Bestseller.

Life, like art, rarely goes according to plan. No one knows that better than master art restorer and international assassin Gabriel Allon. A reclusive man with a deep appreciation for all that is beautiful, he is also an angel of vengeance, solid and unyielding, who will go anywhere in the hunt for terrorists, criminals, and killers, and stop at nothing to see justice done.

For Gabriel and his beautiful wife, it was supposed to be the start of a pleasant weekend in London. But a pair of deadly bombings in Paris and Hamburg has already marred this sparkling autumn day. And while walking along Wellington Street, the ever-vigilant Gabriel notices a man whom he believes is about to carry out a third attack. But before Gabriel can intervene, he is knocked to the pavement by two undercover London police officers. A moment later he looks up to find a scene from his nightmares. Bodies and blood, Baghdad on the Thames . . .

Haunted by his failure to prevent the attack, Gabriel returns to his isolated cottage on the Cornish coast. But when a summons arrives from the CIA, he is drawn once more into the world he thought he had left behind. In Washington, determined to restore America′s image in the world, the new president has outlawed many of the tactics used by his predecessor. But in doing so, he has left America′s secret warriors ill equipped to deal with the deadly new face of global jihadist terror.

At the center of the threat is an American-born cleric from Yemen, a rival of al-Qaeda, who is plotting to become the leader of the worldwide jihadist movement and who is determined to shed American blood on American soil. At the request of the president, Gabriel agrees to mount an operation against the network, using any and all means necessary to protect innocent life. The stakes could not be higher, not only for the young American leader, but for Gabriel as well.