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Modern Middle East Book Review April 24, 2002 As the Middle East peace negotiations putter along, Daniel Silva's fictional book, The Kill Artist, could not be timelier. The story is a country-hopping cat-and-mouse game between two master assassins, one Palestinian, one Israeli. The story begins with the assassination of an Israeli ambassador in Paris, pulled off by Tariq, a master Palestinian assassin. Rumors of Tariq's plans to disrupt the ongoing peace talks reach Ari Shamron, head of the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. To find and kill Tariq, Shamron calls on ex-agent Gabriel Allon. The story mixes real people and places with fictional characters, providing an authentic feel for the storyline. The main theme is that a retired Israeli deep cover agent is brought out of retirement to face an old terrorist enemy. We learn that Allon was once one of the Mossad's most skilled assassins, tracking down and dispatching terrorist enemies of Israel. But the cost was horrendous. After his wife and child became two of Tariq's targ