The Man Who Wanted To Know

Newly promoted Inspector Avi Avraham hasn't yet developed the hard exterior common of most seasoned cops; he's a kind and compassionate man; a man of principles and for me, a breath of pure mountain air. Of course, he isn't perfect, but you know something? I think you're gonna love him.

It's a stormy night when Avi (now Head of Investigations) of the Israeli Police Force is called to the scene of a brutal murder. There's a shock waiting for him, when he realizes he knows the victim. Her name was Leah Yeger, and she was the victim of a rapist a few years before. The rapist is still serving a prison sentence, so that rules him out as a suspect. A neighbor claims he saw a policeman leaving the scene of the crime but despite all efforts, this mysterious policeman can't be found.

Avi is determined to get justice for Leah, and his investigations lead him to Mazal Bengtson, a young married mother with a troubled marriage, and from there, events take a very sinister twist.

The story is told from the dual perspectives of Inspector Avraham and Mazal Bengtson. Both perspectives give us great insight into their daily lives. We get a ringside seat to see the police procedural in action minute by minute, and the way Avi will defy orders from his superiors in order to catch the killer. In Mazal's case we see and feel her misery as her marriage starts to crumble around her.

I love how realistic these characters are, you can picture them moving through their daily lives, and that's all thanks to the minute detail provided by the author. It was so enlightening. The storyline was good and I liked the way the dual perspectives were brought together, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The story moved at just the right pace too, and if I was given just two words to describe my reading experience, they would have to be 'very enjoyable'.