Adam Lapid's Decade-Long Mystery Adventure

dmerk01: A fabulous book by writer Jonathan Dunsky with many twists and turns that keep the readers on their toes. The story set in post liberated Israel with lead character Adam Lapid will have you pulled in many directions is amazing and highly recommended!

United States on Oct 18, 2023

Judith Preissle: I enjoyed reading a mystery that developed memorable characters and that took such varied plot turns.

United States on Oct 11, 2023

Mr. D. L. Margulies: I took a risk picking a new author. I found that the plot moved at a steady pace. The characters are well-drawn. The drama is set shortly after the creation of the state of Israel, with a society still bearing the wounds of WW2 and the War of Independence. The central figure is an ex-detective who lost his family but survived the death camps. He is approached by a mother to find out the destiny of the child she was separated from ten years before. It is an Amazon publication but do not let this put you off.

United Kingdom on Sep 25, 2023

Babs: There are two parts to my review, one good and one bad:
1) I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting. It's been a long time since a book captivated me like this.
2) The premise for the reason for the murder is ridiculous. Without adding any spoilers, I found it to be totally unrealistic human behaviour and was disappointed by this after reading this otherwise enjoyable book.

Canada on Sep 10, 2023

Carolyn: 4.5 Stars. This is the first book in the Private Detective Adam Lapid mystery series. He is quickly becoming one of my favourite fictional detectives. He investigates with intelligent questions, intuition, instinct, and sometimes threats. He is ruthless in administering violence when he feels it is deserved and compassionate towards those needing help when the police avoid their cases. Before WW2, he was a police detective in Hungary. Adam, his wife and daughters were deported to Auschwitz along with thousands of Hungarian Jews. His family died in the gas chambers, and he was forced into slave labour. The horrendous conditions he endured and witnessed are described in The Auschwitz Detective (Book #6). After the death camp was liberated, Adam travelled around Europe, hunting and killing vicious Nazis. He believed killing those who deserved it was justified, and revenge allowed him to sleep without nightmares.

This story takes place in Israel in 1949; It is a well-researched history, contains intriguing characters, and a clever, complex storyline. Adam fought in the war that resulted in the independence of Israel, was injured, and was recognized as a war hero. He would...

Canada on Aug 23, 2023

Richard Zipf: Along with this being a great thriller / mystery, it’s top notch historical fiction. Learned a great deal about the early years of the newly created state of Israel and life inside it. Adam Lapid is a great , emotionally tortured private investigator trying to find his place in this new state.

United States on Aug 20, 2023

Beryl Helene: A bit unsure about the morality at times when the main character acted as judge, jury and executioner. A good sense of place with great description of the various locations. Interesting characters. I enjoyed the fact that I guessed the end before I got there.

Australia on Jul 25, 2023

CZass: Reading the book you are transported in post war Israel. Tel Aviv and its streets and inhabitants come to life. If you have ever been there, you'll recognize the smell, the heat, the noises, the pulse of the city, and if you have never been there, you willl want to catch a plane and just fly there.

Italy on Oct 23, 2022

Susan: If you like Raymond Chandler's murder mysteries, then Ten Years Gone is a similarly-written novel but with an Israeli focus. In short, this novel is an historical cliffhanger that is hard to put down.

The storyline sometimes poses a grisly tale but it is also a historical thriller that will delight your sense of being involved in a plot that has many twists and turns, plus many colorful and multi-leveled character. All is believable, since the author has well-researched the history of his settings and characters. Thus the impetus the characters and central crimes could actually have happened, in the early days of the Israeli state.

The plot describes a new, Jewish emigre from post-war Germany that has sought refuge and chance to begin life again, in Tel Aviv. However, ten years before, while hiding from the Nazis in Berlin, the woman entrusted her infant son to a school friend who was poised to find a way out of Nazi-occupied Europe and into the new state of Israel. The mother, still believing that her son is still alive and resides with the school friend, somewhere in Israel, hires Adam Lapid to find that woman and her son. The odds of a successful resolution to her...

United States on Feb 19, 2019

Glynn Young: Israel Noir.

It may be a new mystery sub-genre.

D.A. Mishani has his Avraham Avraham police detective novels, set in contemporary Tel Aviv. And now Jonathan Dunksy has published a series of Tel-Aviv-based novels, but with a private investigator as the protagonist and set in the early years of Israel’s modern history, when both the Holocaust and the recently concluded war with the Arab nations hanging heavy over the country.

The first in the series is “Ten Years Gone.”

It’s 1949, and private eye Adam Lapid spends a good portion of each day at Greta’s Café in Tel Aviv, drinking coffee and playing chess. Lapid is originally from Hungary, where he was a police detective. That is, until he was sent to Auschwitz. He survived; his wife and two daughters did not. And he blames himself for not getting his family to safety until it was too late.

Lapid also uses violence when he deems it necessary or appropriate. He killed at least two former Nazis in cold blood after World War II ended. The Holocaust changed his views of justice. He’s also something of a war hero, for his heroic actions in taking out an Egyptian machine gun nest that had...

United States on Sep 13, 2018