Wes Washington · CC BY-SA 3.0

A former United Press International and CNN journalist who covered the Middle East before turning to fiction, Silva built the bestselling Gabriel Allon series around an Israeli art restorer and spy, with thirteen of its titles reaching number one on the New York Times list. His 1996 debut, The Unlikely Spy, launched a career that has produced more than two dozen novels weaving Holocaust history, Islamic terrorism and Cold War-style espionage into commercial thrillers, earning him Barry Awards for Best Thriller in 2007 and 2013.