Book Review: The Missing File by D.A. Mishani

April 25, 2013
Article first published as Book Review: The Missing File by D.A. Mishani on Blogcritics.

About:
The Missing File by D.A. Mishani is mystery novel taking place in Holon, Israel. The book has been translated from Hebrew and is one of the few police mysteries / procedural written in Israel.

  • 304 pages
  • Publisher: Harper
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0062195379

Book Review The Missing File D A Mishani

My rat­ing for The Missing File5

Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format

Thoughts:
The Missing File by D.A. Mishani (Facebook | Goodreads) caught me unprepared, I was expecting a good book but what I found was exceptional. The structure is fascinating and I could not find any glaring plot holes in the narrative.

The book is not only a mystery, but a fascinating glimpse into day-to-day Israeli life and culture without the preaching or propaganda. Mr. Mishani does not underestimate his readers and wrote an intelligent, well built novel.

The protagonist of the book, police Detective Avraham Avraham, is not your typical hero. He is a grey man living in a grey world. Avraham is a good, solid police officer who smokes too much , drinks occasionally, visits his parents but keeps them at a distance, a bit disorganized and is not impressed by foreign colleagues. The detective is not too bright, not much of a politician and hard working; his mind is not the brightest or fastest.

It’s difficult to make a grey man interesting; after all he is simply an average man which we all encounter on a daily base which is why it’s so much fun to get to know him. It seems as if Avraham is afraid of the world, of his parents, of his female commander (who he dares not think of anything but his superior) and of his fellow police officers who threaten him with their rough exterior.

The story juxtaposes between the point of view of the detective to that of the prime-suspect, a school teacher, who also lives a simple life with his very pregnant wife. The teacher, however, takes active steps to make his dull life seems more interesting. While some of us do take steps to make our lives fuller (for example: start a book blog) the teacher discovers that he got much more than what he bargained for when inserting himself in a police investigation and that being a new father has a very full life whether they asked for it or not.

I especially liked Mr. Mishani choice of location. Not many people outside of Israel heard of Holon, but the city is the quintessential Israeli town. It is not fleshy like Tel-Aviv or holy like Jerusalem, it is a normal city, not unique in any way where people live their ordinary lives in ordinary ways.

The Missing File was a pleasure to read, the book flows and the author does an excellent job keeping the reader’s interest from page to page. The only issue I had with the book was the translation of the title which, in English, makes little sense but in Hebrew seems appropriate in the context of the story. The book seemed to end with a new beginning and I, for one, am looking forward to the next installment.

Synopsis:
Israeli police detective Avraham Avraham is looking for a missing boy which disappeared from Holon, a Tel-Aviv suburb. To complicated matters, a school-teacher decides to get involved in the case and offer some not-so-helpful clues which make him a prime suspect.

During the investigation Detective Avraham starts questioning himself, his life and all he knows.

Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format

Give­away

  • Give­away ends: May 3, 2013

  • US/Canada Ship­ping Addresses Only

  • No PO Boxes

  • Win­ners will have 24 hours to write back with their address, oth­er­wise an alter­nate win­ner will be picked

TLC Book Tour for The Missing File by D.A. Mishani:

Congratulationis: jtretin@

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer:I got this book for free fromTLC Book Tours.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account

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4 Comments

  • GinaApril 25, 2013 at 12:10 pm

    Sounds like you enjoyed it immensely. Good times. I too am reading a quick read right now that explores the cultures of others and how it plays into “our” here and now. Interesting stuff….unexpected and eyebrow raising at times but enjoyable. Thanks for sharing!

  • Heather J. @ TLC Book ToursApril 26, 2013 at 12:29 pm

    This sounds like a bit of originality in the detective genre – I think I’d enjoy it!

    Thanks for being on the tour. I’m featuring your review on TLC’s Facebook page today.

  • Sheila K.April 26, 2013 at 2:29 pm

    Thanks for the riveting review, Zohar—you’ve made me crave this book! Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy!

  • Becca LostinbooksOctober 9, 2014 at 11:42 pm

    Wow, if you enjoyed it that much than I definitely need to add it to my TBR!

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