The author presents each person as a human being, something that’s missing from today’s fast paced, 24/7 world, each person is his or hers own universe, not a bullet point or a statistic. The book celebrates those who survived, learned and some even flourished from their tragedy.
Ruth Perlmutter, a retired Mossad agent and owner of a travel agency, has been asked to investigate the murder of Arthur, and ex-colleague from the Mossad. The death leads Ruth to investigate her colleagues, find ex-lovers and
historical letters written by Theodor Herzl (the founder of the Zionist movement).
The Angel: Ashraf Marwan, the Mossad and the Surprise of the Yom Kippur War by Uri Bar Yosef is a non-fiction book in which Professor Bar Yosef outlines why he believes Marwan was the best spy who worked for Israel, ever. Mr. Bar Yosef is a professor in The Department for International Relations of The School for Political Science at Haifa University, specializing in national security, intelligence studies and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The lives of the seven paratroopers keep interlacing throughout their lives, whether in war or peace, while they seven maintained different views on what’s good for the state of Israel and society, they mostly managed to keep a friendly and supportive relationship despite their differences.
Seven Mothers by Yochi Brandes is a fascinating book which turns some of the Jewish bible stories on their head by infusing new thinking from a modern woman into the stories which are much beloved. Mrs. Brandes writes about Moab’s mother, Tamar, Miriam the Prophets (Moses’ sister),the Pharaoh’s daughter, Ruth, Michal and Queen Ester.
The author provides a good historical background of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and provides examples of how the leadership failed its people by not developing a political culture and infrastructure that could support startup state. While Mr. Schanzer does not absolve Israel of blame, he lays most of it at the feet of the United States and Europe who are, according to the narrative, major contributors to the failure.
My family members heard the story and were amazed. “You have to write about it,” my mother determined. I had my doubts. This is the problem with true stories: they aren’t credible. Readers would consider the story absurd if they read it in a novel. “Give me a different story,” I asked my sister. “That’s all I’ve got,” she said, and took a bite of chicken.
Lineup by Liad Shoham is the American debut of the Israeli author. A quiet Tel-Aviv street is rocked by a brutal rape which leaves the police baffled since no eyewitnesses, clues or suspects exist. The victim’s father refuses to admit defeat and starts his own investigation when he notices a man acting strangely in the vicinity of his daughter’s apartment.
The Almond Tree by Michelle Cohen Corasanti is a debut novel by this accomplished woman. The novel looks at the Middle East problems through a pro-Palestinian point of view.
About: Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva is the eighth in the Gabriel Allon series. Even though there are numerous references to the previous books, I thought this novel was still a good read and could be read independently. 352 pages Publisher: Signet Language: English ISBN-10: 0451227387 My rating for Moscow Rules – 4 Buy this book in paper or electronic format* Thoughts: Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva (website) is another solid, well-written and dependable adventure in the Gabriel Allon chronicles. After reading the 8th book in the series it is obvious that Silva has created a character that is strong, subtle and conflicted with an interesting background story and engaging future. At this point in his life, Allon and the readers aren’t really sure what he is. Allon is too old to be the James Bond style agent, too young to retire, too cynical to take a desk job but he is a patriot in every bone in his body and is still able to contribute. Silva realize that he can’t keep his spy young forever and basically ruined his spying career in several books prior by having his face splashed across newspapers and European agencies not allowing him entry…
