Reading a new Gabriel Allon novel by Daniel Silva has been a summer ritual for thousands of readers for several years.

And for fans, a new Silva book is one of the joys of summer.

Still, even longtime readers may wish for a program to recall all of the players reintroduced in Silva’s latest book, “The Cellist.”

Silva pulls people from several past Gabriel Allon novels. He’s penned roughly two dozen Allon books so he has plenty of past characters to revisit.

He recaps their association with Allon but even those helpful hints may not fully help with the revolving door of past characters in “The Cellist.”

But trying to recall each past character is only a small distraction in the otherwise quick-paced tale here. 

A Russian media mogul and outspoken critic of the Russian government is poisoned. He is also a past character who helped rescue Allon and his wife in a past novel. Allon, a spy and now the head of the Israeli intelligence agency, delves into the crime. 

The German employee of a corrupt European bank is covertly sending warnings to a journalist about Russian money being funneled into the United States to sway the presidential election and undermine democracy. She is also a brilliant amateur cello player.

Allon recruits her into infiltrating the Russian cabal by attracting the attention of the Russian president’s best friend – a money man and former KGB associate who is also a frustrated musician. He works with the Russian president’s billions and could be the key for democratic nations to seize billions in Russian assets.

Silva never mentions the Russian president by name, nor the past or current American presidents, though the identities of all are obvious. 

Silva’s fiction often teeters into real headlines, especially in this latest book. With the majority of the action taking place in 2020, characters deal with COVID-19, taking precautions such as wearing masks and keeping a social distance.

At the conclusion of the novel, Silva inserts Allon into the days between the Jan. 6 insurrection and the American presidential inauguration. Whether this clash of fiction and reality is necessary will probably – like all things any more – depend on the political leanings of each reader.

For many Silva fans, the conclusion simply means waiting another year for the next Gabriel Allon book.