The Jerusalem Inception by Avraham Azrieli

The book begins by setting the scene, it is midnight 1944, and Tanya, a young Jewish girl is in a car with her lover, and saviour, General Klaus Koenig. Klaus Koenig is meeting with his old school friend, and banker Armande Hoffgeitz for the last time, Germany is losing the war and the last of the jewels taken from the victims at the concentration camps must be hidden away safely.

But waiting to ambush the car are Elie and Abraham, renegade Jews, intent in wreaking revenge on the Germans for the monstrosities they are committing.

When Elie and Abraham find Tanya, they allow her to stay with them. Soon she 

and Abraham fall in love. However their happiness is brief, when Elie returns from a raid alone…

Now we jump forward 21 years, and discover that Abraham did not die, but is instead the very important leader of the Neturay Karta, a fiercely anti-Zionist Orthodox sect in Jerusalem.

Tanya is now a respected Mossad secret agent, but her feelings have never died for the handsome young man she thought she’s lost all those years ago.

Therefore, when she discovers he is alive, she has to meet him. However, he is married now, and has a 17 year old son, Jerusalem, or Lemmy, who is a Talmudic scholar. What’s more Abraham is using his important religious standing for another purpose, doing what he feels he must, in a desperate attempt to prevent a second Holocaust.

The repercussions for Abraham’s family are far reaching, and young Lemmy’s life changes in ways he could never have imagined, causing him to question his Talmudic lessons, and things he always believed were true.

Set in a turbulent, modern Jerusalem, this eye-opener of a book tells the story of three people, all survivors of WWII, and how their survival shaped their lives, and made them determined, in their own different ways, to ensure the horrors inflicted on the Jews would never be repeated again.

This book gives an amazing insight into what it was like to live in Jerusalem during those turbulent times, the differences between the Zionists and anti-Zionists, and a glimpse into the government workings, secrets, and agents behind the scenes. Also, as a non-Jewish reader, I enjoyed learning about the Jewish beliefs, and traditions, and finding out about the motivation and leadership behind such an extreme group as the Neturay Karta.

Woven within its pages are secrets and lies, loves lost and hidden, resentment and betrayal.

This amazing story develops in ways in which the reader would never have imagined, and I thoroughly recommend it to mystery and suspense thriller fans.

About the Author:

Avraham Azrieli’s new novel, Deborah Rising (Harper Collins, 2016), portrays the dramatic (and unlikely) rise of the first woman to lead a nation in recorded human history. A graduate of Columbia Law School in New York City, Azrieli tried many complex court cases before his first novel, The Masada Complex (a political thriller) was published in 2010. A full-time author since then, his other books include the Israeli spy novels The Jerusalem Inception and The Jerusalem Assassin, as well as Christmas for Joshua (a family drama dealing with interfaith conflicts), The Mormon Candidate (a political thriller), Thump (a courtroom drama featuring sexual harassment and racism) and The Bootstrap Ultimatum (a mystery involving the commercialization of Memorial Day). He also authored Your Lawyer on a Short Leash (a guide to dealing with lawyers) and One Step Ahead – A Mother of Seven Escaping Hitler’s Claws (a WWII biography, which inspired the musical By Wheel and by Wing). Azrieli grew up in Israel, where he received extensive Talmudic education, served as an intelligence officer and, after attending law school, clerked for the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Residing primarily in the United States since 1990, he currently lives near Washington DC with his wife and children. Like Ben Teller, the protagonist in The Mormon Candidate, Azrieli often rides his motorcycle in the mountainous forests of western Maryland. To learn more, visit www.AzrieliBooks.com

About the Book: On the eve of the Six Day War, in the divided city of Jerusalem, a young rabbinical scholar falls in love with a beautiful Mossad agent twice his age, breaks off the shackles of religious observance, and volunteers for a dangerous mission that will determine the outcome of the greatest Mideast war. “The Jerusalem Inception is a unique story that will touch your heart.” Frederick Ramsay, Author of Reapers and the Ike Schwartz Mysteries. “The 1967 war continues to dominate the Middle East. If you want to know what really happened (and at the same time fall in love with a striking cast of unforgettable characters) then The Jerusalem Inception is for you. In the best tradition of Eye of the Needle and The Bourne Identity, this one is a hit!” —Stephen J. Wall, author of The Morning After and On the Fly.

Available from:

Amazon in Paperback https://www.amazon.com/Jerusalem-Inception-Avraham-Azrieli/dp/14515...

Kindle https://www.amazon.com/Jerusalem-Inception-Scholar-Israeli-Victory...

and Audio format https://www.amazon.com/The-Jerusalem-Inception/dp/B00PURVKBG/ref=tm...

Barnes & Noble in Paperback http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jerusalem-inception-avraham-azrieli...

Kobo.com as an eBook  https://www.kobo.com/fr/en/ebook/the-jerusalem-inception-a-novel?op...

Apple (iTunes) https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-jerusalem-inception/id96536725...