She was covered from head to toe in expensive wool and plaid, the sort of stuff one saw at the Burberry boutique in Harrods. She carried a leather bookbag rather than a nylon backpack. Her patent leather ballet slippers were glossy and bright. She was proper, the new girl, modest. But there was something else about her …

At an exclusive private school in Switzerland, mystery surrounds the identity of the beautiful raven-haired girl who arrives each morning in a motorcade fit for a head of state. She is said to be the daughter of a wealthy international businessman. In truth, her father is Khalid bin Mohammed, the much-maligned crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Once celebrated for his daring social and religious reforms, he is now reviled for his role in the murder of a dissident journalist. And when his only child is brutally kidnapped, he turns to the one man he can trust to find her before it is too late.

What’s done cannot be undone …

Gabriel Allon, the legendary chief of Israeli intelligence, has spent most of his life fighting terrorists, including the murderous jihadists financed by Saudi Arabia. Prince Khalid—or KBM, as he is known—has pledged to finally break the bond between the Kingdom and radical Islam. For that reason alone, Gabriel regards him as a valuable if flawed partner. Together they will become unlikely allies in a deadly secret war for control of the Middle East. The life of a child, and the throne of Saudi Arabia, hang in the balance. Both men have made their share of enemies. And both have everything to lose.

Filled with dark humor, breathtaking twists of plot, and an unforgettable cast of characters, The New Girl is both a thrilling, page-turning tale of entertainment and a sophisticated study of political alliances and great-power rivalries in a dangerous world. And it is once again proof that Gabriel Allon is “one of fiction’s greatest spies” (Kirkus) and Daniel Silva is “quite simply the best” (Kansas City Star) writer of foreign intrigue and suspense at work today.

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Another DNF for me. I listened to the first few chapters and it just felt like it was not going anywhere with any of it.

The occupants of the other three looked like the people they had seen rioting in the streets of Paris that morning. They were citizens of the other France, the France one didn’t read about in guidebooks. They were the put-upon and the left-behind, the ones without glittering degrees from elite institutions of learning. Globalization and automation had eroded their value in the workforce. The service economy was their only option. Their counterparts in Britain and America had already had their say at the ballot box. France, reckoned Gabriel, would be next.

“You know what they say about vengeance?”
“What’s that?”
“‘If you live to seek revenge, dig a grave for two.’”
“That’s a very old Arab proverb.”
“It’s Jewish, actually.”

An exclusive private school in Switzerland has a new student, a young girl who is said to be an Egyptian and the daughter of a wealthy businessman. But the clues don’t fit for one of the snoopier teachers, and she wonders just who the girl is. None of this prologue matters except as a plot device for the main story, which is about how much the young girl matters as well.

Gabriel is approached by a woman he knows who wants him to meet with Khalid bin Muhammed, the seemingly reform-minded crown prince of Saudi Arabia. He’s not interested in meeting with “KBM,” a thinly-disguised stand-in for the real life crown prince Muhammed bin Salman, because the reforms have been overshadowed by KBM’s murder of a journalist (as MBS is now frowned upon after orchestrating the death of Jamal Kashoggi). But he owes the woman, Sarah Bancroft, a favor or two for her previous work with his agency and agrees. In the meeting, he learns that the prince has a young daughter, Reema, who was the mysterious girl at the Swiss school, and she has been kidnapped by people who’ve given him just a couple of days to announce his abdication or she will be killed. Although he’s not impressed with Khalid, Gabriel knows that any replacement is likely to be worse and roll back even the modest reforms the prince has tried. Given the chance to have the potential king of Saudi Arabia on his side, he activates his trusted team to hunt down and rescue Reema.

As I really, really wanted to like this book I really tried. I swear. It was just so freaking boring. DNF.

The plot rambles on and on and doesn’t seem to go anywhere. Avoid.