Asylum City

Starred review from October 13, 2014
Israeli author Shoham follows his U.S. debut, 2013’s Lineup, with another triumph, a crime novel that shares characters with the earlier book. When Michal Poleg, an activist for the rights of illegal African immigrants, is found murdered in her Tel Aviv apartment, strong evidence implicates one of the very people she had been helping, Gabriel Takela, who was seen fleeing her home right after the murder. Unwilling to go along with the easy answer to the case, Insp. Anat Nachmias digs deeper and antagonizes her superiors, who hope to wrap things up quickly. Anat’s investigation and its effects on others’ lives are shown from the nuanced perspectives of a state prosecutor, who’s afraid that he may have killed his former lover without remembering the act, and an accountant working for a crime lord who has developed a new way to take advantage of the African community. The author movingly depicts the plight of African immigrants in Israel without being heavy-handed. Agent: Jonny Geller, Curtis Brown (U.K.).

November 15, 2014
A taut, engaging Israeli murder mystery from the author of Lineup (2013).Michal Poleg is a young volunteer working for the Organization for Migrant Aid in Tel Aviv; when Gabriel Takela, an Eritrean she's been helping, finds her dead body in her apartment, he flees the scene and is quickly apprehended. Anat Nachmias, deputy chief of the Special Investigations Unit, should have an easy case on her hands, because Gabriel confesses to the murder. The trouble is, he seems to have no clear motive and doesn't know all the details a killer should know. So why would Gabriel lie? And if he didn't kill Michal, who did? The answer is not obvious, and readers will have a good time trying to guess. One of her neighbors tells Anat, "[t]he black ones, that's all she had eyes for." Israel is considered a relatively safe place for East Africans seeking asylum from kidnappers and traffickers in child prostitution, although there are Israelis who would like all the migrants to go away. Men like "golden boy" Yariv Ninio and Ehud Regev "built their careers on stoking the flames of hate against Africans." The book has a strong cast of characters such as Itai, whose job at OMA is to "provide asylum seekers with the bare necessities." He was close to both Michal and Gabriel, and as far as he was concerned, "a fine young man was in jail." This well-plotted tale gives readers insight into Israeli law and society and the issue of African migrants in particular. Compliments as well to the translator, who makes the story look as if it were written in English to begin with. A treat for mystery fans who enjoy variety in their whodunit settings-or who simply savor a good yarn.

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November 1, 2014

Michal Poleg volunteers for an organization aiding migrants in Tel Aviv. Her passionate public outbursts against the system and assistant state attorney Yariv result in her brutal murder. Insp. Anat Nachmias gets the case simply because her boss is out of town. When Gabriel, an Eritrean refugee, confesses to the killing only because he has been promised money in order to ransom his sister from human traffickers, the police and politicians call the investigation closed. All accept this as truth except Nachmias, Poleg's boss Itai, and, of course, the real murderer. VERDICT Practicing lawyer Shoham is the author of six crime novels, but this is just the second to be translated into English (after 2011's Lineup). Shoham believes that varying points of view are required to express complex social issues. This works well as he skillfully portrays the perspectives of police, African asylum seekers, politicians, and even gangsters. This is a powerful, disturbing view of a little-known aspect of modern Israeli society. The shocking revelation at the end solves the murder but doesn't neatly resolve everything else in this carefully crafted tale of deceit and betrayal.--Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2014
Tel Aviv police officer Anat Nachmias gets her first murder case when a young woman, Michal Poleg, who worked with African refugees settling in Israel, is found dead in her apartment. One of the refugees Michal helped was Gabriel, whose sister immigrated with Michal but was kidnapped; Gabriel hopes to find out if she's alive. Then, inexplicably, Gabriel confesses that he killed Michal, but his story doesn't jive with the evidence. Nachmias' bosses just want the case closed, and she angers her coworkers and superiors when she continues to investigate. Michal's boss, Itai, also doesn't believe Gabriel, and he works with Nachmias to try to figure out who really killed Michal and why Gabriel is taking the fall. This in-depth look at the immigration crisis in Tel Aviv, which somewhat mirrors similar problems faced in the U.S., adds depth and complexity to Shoham's story, which profits from the strong sense of foreboding that runs throughout the tale. Shoham is one of the best-selling thriller writers in Israel, and this is his second book, following the excellent Lineup (2013).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)