Duet in Beirut: A Thriller

by Mishka Ben-David

Overview

“Ben-David delivers spy thrillers with all the authenticity and inside knowledge of an ex-Mossad agent.” —Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem: The Biography
 
Ronen, an expelled Mossad agent, has disappeared following a failed assassination attempt against the Hezbollah operative responsible for suicide bombings in Israel. Feared to be on an unauthorized mission, it is up to his former commander, Gadi, to track Ronen down and stop him from causing harm both to himself and to his country. The physical and intellectual scuffle between the two men becomes one of deeper moral inquiry. Written with a master novelist’s terse conviction, Duet in Beirut takes us inside a much-discussed but little understood world. As revealing in its psychological acuity as it is in its portrait of life in the Mossad, Duet in Beirut is an essential thriller of espionage and political intrigue—written by an author who spent twelve years working with Israel’s legendary intelligence agency.
 
“Le Carré fans will enjoy Ben-David’s look behind the scenes of government-sanctioned hits and the tension between loyalty to the chain of command and dissent.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
Praise for Mishka Ben-David’s Forbidden Love in St. Petersburg
 
“The novel has a solid sense of intrigue and suspense . . . The characterizations are precise, too: these aren’t stick figures in a spy story but real people in a real environment. A nice blend of classic spy-novel conventions with a thoroughly contemporary setting.” —Booklist (starred review)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468311822
Publisher:	ABRAMS, Inc. (Ignition)
Publication date:	04/14/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	266
Sales rank:	454,467
File size:	896 KB

About the Author

Mishka Ben-David holds an MA in comparative literature from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in Hebrew literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ben-David served in the Mossad for twelve years, becoming a high-ranking officer, and he is now a full-time novelist living outside Jerusalem.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Mishka Ben-David delivers spy thrillers with all the authenticity and inside knowledge of an ex-Mossad agent.” —Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem: The Biography

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/23/2015
Israeli author Ben-David, a former Mossad agent, makes his U.S. debut with an original, well-written thriller that examines the ethical complexities of covert operations. After terrorists detonate a car bomb in Jerusalem, the Israeli government accelerates its plans to take out the Hezbollah leader who planned the attack, Abu-Khaled, who’s based in Beirut. The operation turns into a fiasco when the veteran operative designated to pull the trigger, Ronen, fails to do so at the last moment. A year later, Ronen plans to finish the job, but this time he’s working without authorization. Gadi, who was his squad commander on the earlier mission, also goes rogue in an attempt to avoid another disaster. The irony of the setup is rendered fully plausible in the service of a suspenseful story line that doesn’t follow predictable lines. Le Carré fans will enjoy Ben-David’s look behind the scenes of government-sanctioned hits and the tension between loyalty to the chain of command and dissent. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Mishka Ben-David delivers spy thrillers with all the authenticity and inside knowledge of an ex-Mossad agent.

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Le Carré fans will enjoy Ben-David’s look behind the scenes of government-sanctioned hits and the tension between loyalty to the chain of command and dissent.
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Mishka Ben-David delivers spy thrillers with all the authenticity and inside knowledge of an ex-Mossad agent. — Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem: The Biography

From the Publisher

04/01/2015
Ben-David, already an international best-selling author, makes his English-language debut in a taut thriller about his former employer, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Maverick agent Ronen, whose earlier failure to kill a Hezbollah mastermind blighted not only his own career but all of Mossad as well, returns to Beirut to finish the job. Realizing the hellish consequences of this rash act, Gadi, Ronen's boss, races there to intervene. Ben-David, himself a Mossad agent for 12 years, braids the main plot with sensuous romances, astute social and political analyses, and intricate tracing of the agency's bureaucracy. VERDICT Suffused with deep themes reflecting Israel's national security, this novel reads like a runaway locomotive. Ronen and Gadi may have the best bromance going since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Let's hope Ben-David returns stateside for repeat performances.—Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA

Library Journal