|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Every once in a while you come across a book that haunts your thoughts after you finish it. THE MAN WHO WANTED TO KNOW EVERYTHING is such a book. This is the third in D.A. Mishani's series that features Inspector Avraham Avraham of the Holon (a suburb of Tel Aviv) police force. There are two major plot lines: the investigation of the murder of Leah Yeger, a widow who was a rape victim years earlier; and the increasingly bizarre relationship between Mazal and Kobi Bengson, a young couple with two children who are struggling to cope with the aftermath of Mazal's rape in Eilat, a coastal city in southern Israel, while on a business trip. Mazal is the breadwinner for the family as Kobi, an Australian immigrant to Israel who has dreams of being a policeman, is unable to hold down a job for very long.
There are several minor plots that are moderately interesting: Avraham's relationship with his Belgian girl friend who has just moved to Israel to live with him; Avraham's struggles with his first murder investigation as head of his unit, and the inter-workings of the police department with all the attendant politics and personalities.
It does not take a detective to deduce that Kobi Mazal has something to do with the murder of Leah Yeger. The mystery revolves around why the tragedy occurred rather than who committed the murder.
Two aspects of the book really struck me: the first is that the title of the book. THE MAN WHO WANTED TO KNOW EVERYTHING could apply to either Inspector Avraham or the suspect Kobi Bengson.
Avraham was obsessed with the hows and the whys of the crime, although he seemed to rely on his gut instincts and looked for evidence to support his hunches. Kobi Bengson was the more shadowy of the two. After his wife was raped, he developed an unhealthy fascination with rape, wanting to hear all about the specifics about what happened to his wife, as well as finding other rape victims and hearing their stories. Yet we never really find out why he is so fascinated – was it guilt? Mental illness? A perverse sexual fantasy? Did he have something to do with the original rape? We are left guessing.
The other aspect that left me scratching my head was why Mazal Bengson's rape was left unresolved. That rape seemed so pivotal to the plot – I kept waiting for some kind of resolution. Perhaps that crime will be solved in an upcoming sequel in the series.
There are a number of other unresolved plot lines in the novel: how will the relationship between Avraham and his girlfriend work out, and will Avraham get to know Mazal better?
Perhaps the reason I found this book so haunting was that there were so many unresolved issues; it was not a neat and tidy package.
§ Phyllis Onstad has been a writer, editor, civil servant, teacher and voracious reader. She currently lives in the California wine country.
Reviewed by Phyllis Onstad, February 2017
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
