7-10-24 *INTERVIEW* I'm Hosting Author Daniel Silva next Thursday in Lone Tree

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is a great pleasure for me. You know that I love reading thrillers
and I love having the best thrillerauthors on the show. And for some
reason, even though he's had twentyfour I think it's twenty four New York
Times best sellers, and half ofthem were number one best sellers, I've
never had the chance to talk toDaniel Silva until right now, so it's

(00:21):
a distinct pleasure. Daniel, thanksso much for being here, and I
look forward to meeting you in personnext week when I'm hosting you for Douglas
County Public Libraries. Terrific. Ijust can't wait. So thank you for
having me, and it's I'm gladwe find it cleared up this misunderstanding between
us, and I'm happy to dothe show and so so happy that you

(00:43):
are going to be interviewing me livein front of a lot of audience.
Yeah, me too. All right, I've got lots of stuff I want
to ask you today. I'm goingto start with a question that you've probably
had a thousand times, and Idon't normally like asking those, but for
folks who maybe don't know your workas well, I just want to start
with this, so your Your protagonistin most of your novels is Gabriel Alan,

(01:03):
and you've told the story about howyou actually didn't think that he was
a character that you would build aseries around. Can you talk about that
a little bit. Yeah, whenI when I wrote the first novel a
quarter century ago, he was supposedto appear in one book and sail off

(01:27):
into the sunset, never to beheard from again. And my publisher at
the time said, you know,I think you should turn him into a
continuing character. I think this isthis is your your character. And I
just I really disagreed. I thoughtit was a terrible idea, and she

(01:52):
said, no, you're wrong,So so write another one for me.
So I wrote the second book andthat did better than the first book,
and then I wrote the third book. It was a book called The Confessor,
sort of a major book within theseries. But when I first conceived
of that book, it was notsupposed to be a Gabriel one book.

(02:13):
And so when I finished that bookand it succeeded at a level that I
never dreamed possible, that's when Irealized that I had a series on my
hand. And so even with youknow that I never imagined that it would
go twenty four years, and sothe character has has evolved since then.

(02:40):
He was a Israeli intelligence officer andquite frankly, Israeli assassin, whose cover
job was that he was an artrestore. And now I've sort of flipped
the script a little bit and nowhe's an art restorer who used to be
a Israeli intelligence officer and assassin.Now he was. He lived under an

(03:04):
assumed identity for for most of hislife. Now he's living under his his
his real name and his real identity. He lives in Venice in a in
a palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal,and he and his wife run the most
prominent restoration company in Venice, andhe gets into a lot of trouble along

(03:27):
the way. So this book findshim in England. I should have mentioned
this when we started. So DanielSilva's new book, which I've finished already
over the whole thing, is entitledA Death in Cornwall. And it's interesting
because I went back to a killArtist recently, the kill Artist recently,
and that's the first book in theGabriel Lan series, and it is interesting

(03:51):
how how he transforms from a spyassassin Spekop's sort of guy into someone who
ends up almost like more of acrime fighter, but still using a lot
of those some of those skills.But he really has changed a lot over
time, which I think is isan interesting and unusual evolution of a of

(04:15):
this kind of character. Well,he's an unusual character to begin with.
He always straddled to two worlds.And I actually when he you know,
the first book I used him in, The Kill Artist, as you mentioned,
that was a straight counter terrorism bookset around the piece process. But

(04:40):
then that the next book, II I used him in he he investigated
a a murder and and tracked downyou know, looted Holocaust art. That's
a that's a that's a synopsis ofa very short thumbnail synopsis book book.

(05:00):
After that he uncovered secrets about theRoman Catholic Church and the Holocaust, and
so you know, he I thinkit's actually I've sort of returned him to
where he he he he started outin a in a very strange, weird
sense. I mean, he gotdragged into the global war on terrorism and

(05:27):
and at that point that's when hereally became you know, the series really
became a I say it's fair tosay that, you know, a spy
series, you know, but whenit started out, it was not that.
And I could use him in anyway that I wanted to. And
that's that's where he is now.I can use him in crime stories.

(05:50):
I can use him in in youknow, art crime stories. He can
do favors for any any intelligence servicein the world. Practically, he's just
in a perfect place where I cando absolutely anything I want with That's that's
the difference between Gabriel l and mostcharacters that emerge from that genre. But

(06:15):
by going back to my original point, he's completely different from from almost every
other every other character for sure,for sure the espionage slash national security genre.
So I only share the books thatI really really really like the best
with my wife, and she's becominga big Daniel Silva fan now. And

(06:39):
uh so, actually she just wentback to your second book. Is that
the English? Is that? Whichwas the second book? Is that?
Right? Yeah? So anyway,my wife wants me to ask you a
couple of things. First of all, we both think that you're writing has
a certain air of like world traveler. Aer addition, maybe foody, uh

(07:05):
a certain level of being an intellectualthat isn't normally in every thriller. So
my wife wants to know if you'rereally like that or if this is just
part of what you do for writingyour book. And related to that,
she my wife wants to know howmuch travel you do to research your books.

(07:28):
Uh, that's it. I doa lot of traveling. And you
know I am. I'm not puttingon airs. I mean I am.
I am a complete and utter nerd. I love art and music. I'm
not a super big foodie. Ilove very simple Italian cuisine and French cuisine,

(07:58):
and and and good European and wine. But you know I'm not.
I'm not faking it. Gabriel's justa very look he is, you know,
one of the two or three bestpeople in the world at restoring paintings.
Okay, he can. He can. He can make a a Titian
or a Bellini, or any anygreat old master painter. He can paint

(08:24):
like Tintoretto or Baronet's he can make. He can paint like them. He
can paint as well as them.He and we see in this novel that
he can forge paintings as well.He's an extraordinarily gifted person. I just
tried to sort of live up tohis intellect because he's a he's quite obviously,
you know, a genius. Andbut yeah, they are. They

(08:50):
are sophisticated books, and they're elegantbooks. They are with with a certain
lyricism. I hope. Well,and you're you're here again. You're you're
sitting here naming these very famous painters, not looking at notes. And I've
studied some art history as well,but you're even coming up with some names
I didn't know in in in thebook. And I'm I'm quite a nerds

(09:16):
as well. I aspire to yourlevel of nerdiness on on this stuff.
So so you know you don't wantto do that. I don't want to
do that. So here here's aquestion for you. Is there a particular
artwork that Gabriel Lalan has restored thatyou want in your house, or even
better, that you have in yourhouse. Yeah? I don't own any

(09:39):
uh a handful of uh semi valuablelittle collectibles. But now we don't have
to do not have in our collectionto speak of, and I don't I
don't have the bug. I haveno desire to own. Okay, I'm
happy to go. I'm happy togo see it in a museum or or

(10:03):
see it in a church in Veniceor a church in Rome, or at
the Vatican Museum. Yeah, Idon't. I don't have that bug.
And I do love what you know, Gabriel allows me to, uh,
you know, indulge my fantasies andmy interests, and so I love the

(10:24):
fact that, you know, unlikemost thriller writers who are doing research on
you know, specific things related tothe mission, I get to have this
whole other second layer of research whereI spent most almost equal amount of time,
if not more, researching art.And gosh, what a that's what
a wonderful way to spend your dayand your life. And art plays an

(10:48):
enormous part, folks in uh well, in all the books, but really
very central part in Daniel Silva's newthriller called A Death in Cornwall. And
I want to get into we've beenkind of talking a little macro here.
I want to get into this bookwith you a little bit. And it
was kind of I'm always amazed andimpressed when I read a book that I

(11:13):
know the author wrote a year earlieror so, and it ties in so
beautifully to what's going on in theworld today. So right now we have
this unbelievable chaos in British politics,and not necessarily because of big claims of
corruption, but still amazing spectacles inBritish politics right now. And your book

(11:35):
is significantly about, i'll say,shenanigans within British politics. What made you
think it's not obvious that British politicsshould be a subject of a thriller novel
and yet you found it and thenhere we are and it kind of ties
in with what's going on. How'dyou come up with that? I would

(11:56):
I would kick me take issue withone aspect. I think that that the
turmoil of the of the Tory Party. Yes, it had it. It
does have a lot to do withBrexit. Okay, if you're just pick
one word, you know why whyis the Tory Party, a massive conservative

(12:16):
party, the oldest and most successfulparty in the world. Why is it
such an utter and complete train wreck? And if you were to pick one
word, you would say breaksit.But there has been this pervasive squeeze that
has that has hung over this partyfor the last few years, and and

(12:41):
and so my my novel deals withthe sleeves and it leaves Brexit on the
slide and side and and uh.It includes a little bit of of sleeves
and and and and and high finance. So the book, I'll give you
the nickel version of it. Itas the title would suggest, it begins

(13:03):
with the death of Cornwall. Thethe the death the victim of of the
of the murder is a woman namedCharlotte Blake. She is a very prominent
art historian from Oxford who spends theweekends out there in the on the Cornish
coast. Gabel happens to be inthe country at the time the British police

(13:24):
asked him to investigate. Help withthe investigation, and one thing leads to
another, as is often the caseand in a Gabriel Lot novel, and
he finds himself in the middle ofthis scandal. It is a it is
really a Yes, it's it's thriller, but it's more than that. It's
a it is fast paced, funsort of summer rob It's it's part murder

(13:48):
mystery, it's part art caper.Uh, it's part political thriller. And
it explores how the some of theworst people and richest, most powerful people
in the world are using art tolaunder money. And it also explores how
how the city of London has becomeand there's there's not to put to fight

(14:13):
a point on it that London isthe money laundering capital of the world these
days. I've got time for twomore questions, and one I want to
follow up on what you just said. So I'm obviously well aware of the
Panama papers, and there was anotherkind of small or less famous version of
that, but very very interesting,and it was it was clear throughout Pandora
Papers. It was it was clearthroughout and the book that you were kind

(14:37):
of playing off of that a littlebit. And then I'm one of the
people who actually reads things like theacknowledgments and the author's notes and in the
author's note in a death in Cornwalllike you really seem pissed off. And
I'm I don't mean that as criticism, all right, I mean that as
an observation. You really, youreally seem pissed off off at this kind

(15:01):
of money laundering and tax avoidance ortax evasion, and it feels kind of
personal. Well, look, we'rewrestling with this issue, you know at
the moment, you know, theBiden administration wants to try to figure out

(15:22):
how to extract a little bit ofof tax revenue from our from our billionaires,
and and and you know, asa general rule, they pay nothing
in taxes. Most billionaires paid littlein taxes. You know, I'm I'm
sure you pay. You earn't aliving government knows how much money you make

(15:43):
and how much money you have,and you pay your taxes. I pay
my taxes every year. Most billionairespay nothing. And one of the things
that that the Panama papers revealed,and the and and the Pandora papers,
which was actually that leak was largerthan the Panalel papers as came from twenty
one offshore financial service providers, isjust this massive, massive infrastructure for the

(16:15):
concealment of wealth. Okay, thatwealth in private hands and globally right now
is four hundred and fifty four trillionat the time of the publication of this
novel. Ten percent of that isburied out there, flowing through this secret
river of cash out there, untouchable, hidden from governments, earning no product,

(16:40):
providing no tax revenue. Look acrossthe developed world, in France,
here, in the United States,Great Britain, there's not enough money to
provide services any longer. And oneof the reasons why there's not enough money
is that there is tremendous amount oftax to abuoidance and tax evation in the

(17:02):
world right now. And I thinkwe've got to we've got to do much
better job about transparency in the financialworld and in the art world in particular
and globally, because it's not fairto the people like like me and working
class people, middle class people whopaid their taxes, and the richest of

(17:26):
us. This this there is aglobal super rich elite oligarchy right now.
I hate to break it to you, but it does exist. And they
pay nothing at all, and theylive in their own little cocooned world.
And and we're down here with theschools that are falling apart, and roads
that are falling apart, bridges thatare falling apart. They don't worry about

(17:48):
that. That they're they're they're multibillionaires. They're there. They fly above
it. Daniel Silva, Yes,I pissed off. Yeah, no,
it comes through clearly, but II think and that's I'm not have time
for another question, but I'll seeyou in a week in person, and
we'll do this on stage together andwe'll have more time and we'll get into
more detailed stuff. Daniel Silva's newthriller, A Death in Cornwall, is

(18:11):
sure to be another bestseller. Youdon't have to read all of Daniel Silva's
books in order in order to enjoythem. You can just pick this book
up and enjoy it period, andyou should. As Daniel said, a
great summer read. I look forwardto meeting you in person. Daniel,
thanks for making time for us.Thank you so much for having me enjoyed it.