Daniel Silva creates complex, sophisticated, and well-researched story lines that send his unlikely spies and haunted protagonists on dangerous missions, which often expose long-buried secrets that pose present danger. Silva's heroes and villains alike are introspective, brooding, ruthless, and very believable. There are often themes of revenge, and while there is plenty of action, his stories are not particularly fast-paced, for it is the sympathetic protagonist that dominates. Silva provides solid and meticulously researched backgrounds; the histories of particular eras, people, and places always play a vital role in his well-crafted, suspenseful tales of improbable spies, controversial politics, and haunted characters.