The Man Who Wanted to Know Everything

Starred review from September 12, 2016
Mishani artfully alternates perspectives to ratchet up the tension in his excellent third procedural featuring introspective Israeli police superintendent Avraham Avraham (after 2014’s A Possibility of Violence). Mali Bengtson, a young mother in a troubled marriage, suspects her husband is hiding something significant from her. Bengtson crosses paths with Avraham, who chose his career because he believed the detectives in the fiction he loved growing up accused the wrong people, after widow Leah Yeger is strangled in her Holon apartment. Since this is Avraham’s first homicide after becoming district commander of the investigations and intelligence branches, he struggles to adapt to his changed role, even as the initial inquiry reveals the disturbing facts that Yeger was the victim of a rape years earlier and that a neighbor claims to have seen a cop leaving the scene of the crime. Fans of Ruth Rendell and P.D. James will be pleased by the nuanced view of human nature. Agent: Marc Koralnik, Liepman Agency (Switzerland).

Opportunities also provide challenges for Superintendent Avraham Avraham (A Possibility of Violence, 2014, etc.).Avraham was prepared for changes when his Slovenian girlfriend, Marianka, agreed to leave Brussels to join him in Holon, just south of Tel Aviv. But having the lovely Marianka, who knows no Hebrew and understands little about Israeli culture, by his side in his tiny apartment day after day is still a shock to the system. Nor is he ready to face Marianka's parents' distress at seeing their daughter abandon a promising police career in her adopted country to face an uncertain future. Instead of being able to sink into comfortable routine at work, Avraham lands his first murder case as lead investigator. Leah Yeger, who years earlier was the victim of rape, is found beaten to death in her apartment. Her rapist is still locked up, but Avraham can't shake the feeling that her murder is connected to the earlier crime. District Cmdr. Benny Saban, his boss, dogged by an internal sexual harassment complaint, wants a quick resolution. He urges Avraham to focus on Yeger's son. Avraham is more interested in the report by Leah's neighbor that a policeman visited her on the day she died. As at home, where he faces a constant matrix of decisions about how much to share with Marianka, at work he must decide how much to submit to authority and how much to venture on his own in his pivotal first case. Once again, Mishani offers a case in which the pleasure lies not in the destination but in the journey. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2016

Although Insp. Avraham Avraham is happy his girlfriend Marianka has agreed to move to Holon, south of Tel Aviv, with him, her parents disapprove. Plus he worries that she will be unhappy, stuck in their tiny apartment, knowing no Hebrew or anything about Israeli culture. To top off his stress, Avraham has been assigned his first case as lead investigator, the murder of a woman who was raped several years ago. He is convinced the killing is related to the previous crime. Does he follow his instincts or the edict of district commander Benny Saban to wrap up the case expeditiously? VERDICT Self-doubting and aware of his own limitations, Mishani's introspective police detective returns, following The Missing File and A Possibility of Violence. The details about life in Israel will engross international crime fiction devotees and readers who miss the late Israeli mystery author Batya Gur.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2016
In this third entry in the Avi Avraham series, the Tel Aviv detective investigates his first murder case since being appointed commander of investigations. The victim is a 60-year-old widow, and Avraham is surprised to discover that he knows her. A neighbor reported seeing a policeman in the building around the same time as the murder, but the higher-ups don't want to hear about that or publicize it in any way. Naturally, Avi pursues the lead anyway. Matters become further complicated when the trail takes Avi to Mazal Bengtson, who is struggling to salvage a marriage gone bad. Meanwhile, Avi is dealing with problems in his own romantic relationship that have arisen since his girlfriend left her home in Brussels to move in with him. The translation by Hasak-Lowy has moments of awkwardness, but, nonetheless, this satisfying psychological procedural should appeal to readers who enjoy international crime fiction, particularly the late Batya Gur's superb Michael Ohayon novels, starring a Jerusalem police detective.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)