The past few years have allowed us a most welcome introduction to crime fiction from many other countries, with Scandinavia, France and Italy very much to the fore, but this impressive novel is one of the first that I have come across of Israeli Noir. On her first homicide assignment, Anat, a young female Tel Aviv cop investigates the violent death of a social activist. Looking into the victim's past for a motive and clues to the crime, she is drawn into the world of asylum-seekers and the complex political situation the influx of African migrants has provoked. Both assisted and hindered by the victim's boss, Anat is soon confronting unwelcome realities and a layer of evil she had never suspected existed. Contemporary and anything but black and white, this clever mystery is a great example of socially-conscious mystery writing and well worth a detour. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
In this edgy thriller from the author of the #1 Israeli bestseller Lineup, which was described by Joseph Finder as 'a marvel of tight plotting, spare prose, and relentless pacing', a young police officer's investigation of a murder plunges her into the dark underworld of Tel Aviv.When social activist Michal Poleg is found dead in her Tel Aviv apartment, her body showing signs of severe violence, officer Anat Nachmias is given the lead on her first murder investigation. Eager to find answers, the talented and sensitive cop looks to the victim's past for clues, focusing on the last days before her death. Could one of the asylum-seekers Michal worked with be behind this crime?Then a young African man confesses to the murder, and Anat's commanders say the case is closed. But the cop isn't convinced. She believes that Michal, a tiny girl with a gift for irritating people, got involved in something far too big and dangerous for her to handle.Joined by Michal's clumsy yet charming boss, Anat is pulled deep into a perplexing shadow world where war victims and criminals, angels and demons, idealists and cynics, aid organisations and criminal syndicates intersect. But the truth may be more than Anat can manage, bringing her face to face with an evil she's never before experienced.PRAISE FOR LIAD SHOHAM'Shoham's depiction of a violent Tel Aviv, full of gangsters and frightening money men, is slickly and professionally drawn.' The Sunday Herald'Israeli author Shoham follows his US debut, 2013's Lineup, with another triumph movingly depicts the plight of African immigrants in Israel.' Publishers Weekly
