Last Instructions

Starred review from March 12, 2018
Hezroni builds on the characters and setup of 2017’s Three Envelopes in this nail-biter centered on the desperate efforts of an ultrasecret Israeli intelligence group, known simply as the Organization, to stop a sociopathic rogue operative. Many years earlier, agent 10483 was subjected to sophisticated rewiring of his brain that directed him to kill himself after completing a series of hits. The suicidal programming did lead 10483 to jump in front of a bus in 2006, but he survived, and after regaining consciousness almost a decade later, he embarks on an elaborate campaign of vengeance, which includes smuggling a nuclear weapon into the U.S. and targeting CIA headquarters in Virginia. Hezroni, who has a background in military intelligence, makes the larger-than-life plot feel plausible and again excels in portraying the conscienceless 10483, who’s capable of relishing a breakfast of croissants and jam while he burns an Organization member alive. Thriller fans will be enthralled as well as disturbed. Agent: Rena Rosner, Deborah Harris Agency.

April 1, 2018

The story of Agent 10483, a psychopathic former Israeli spy, continues in this sequel to Three Envelopes. The agent was responsible for three top-secret missions that resulted in significant collateral damage. After undergoing multiple "transformations," an intensive hypnosis that can manipulate behavior, Agent 10483 was supposed to expire, but his suicide attempt was thwarted by a passing ambulance. Nine years later, the agent has emerged from a coma and begun his plan for revenge on the Organization that betrayed him. He abducts the wife of a top Organization official and then sets off to retrieve a nuclear warhead hidden in Bolivia with plans to detonate it and cause the most damage possible--physically and politically. Soon Agent 10483 has multiple assassins after him along with Carmit, the scientist who performed the transformations. VERDICT Hezroni, who draws on his years of working in military intelligence, writes a dark and suspenseful high-tech thriller. Alternating points of view, the novel portrays the sophisticated world of espionage while also delving into the mind of a conflicted scientist and disturbed but methodical killer.--Melissa DeWild, Spring Lake Dist. Lib., MI

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