This one is a typical Silva offering--generally well-written in a very focused omniscient, with the occasional unfortunately caricatured secondary character but, for the most part, a good sense of why people do what they do and what drives the world and enough thematic depth to be satisfying, though it's not going to change anyone's heart.
He is very good at presenting both sides of any political argument as equal and necessary evils, and he does not feel the need to justify people's actions while he is explaining them. His characters are all broken and driven and scarred. He's very matter-of-fact about treachery and evil and the banality of it all.
And he is not scared to mess people up.
This is a book about games and layers and lies and love. Most of all, about love.
Oh, and restoring paintings.
In other news, I move to ban the phrase "was violently ill" and all its variants from literature.