Silver for Silva

by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 3/7/2005

The newest fiction bestseller, Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva, lands in the #5 spot with a total of 199,000 copies in print. It's the fourth in the Gabriel Allon series from Putnam and the fourth to hit the national charts. Sales for each successive book have increased. Hardcover copies in print for 2002's The English Assassin total close to 117,000; for Silva's 2003 hit, The Confessor, the in-print figure is 124,425; A Death in Vienna, published in 2004, has 144,800 hardcovers in print while the Signet mass market, currently #10 on our list, has 388,000 copies. Putnam has bolstered Silva's profile by touring him to bookstores across the country—formal events as well as drop-in signings—plus exposure on national television (Today),and TV and radio satellite tours. It also didn't hurt that reviews of Silva's books, always good, have kept getting better; Prince garnered a PW star. Silva has always enjoyed good press in the Jewish media, so for the latest book, Putnam sent early copies to major rabbis across the country along with a letter from Silva's editor, Neil Nyren. Early response from the Jewish clergy has been good, with many expressing their appreciation for Silva's "sensitive treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."