Kate’s 2¢: “The English Teacher” by Philip Simpson Yiftach Reicher Atir

“The English Teacher” by  Philip Simpson Yiftach Reicher Atir

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

During the self-quarantine during Covid-19, I happened across a 2016 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. It was old enough that I hadn’t remembered much of the articles, enjoying them for a second time. One of the features is recommended books. When the magazine was current, the books wouldn’t have been recorded in an accessible format for me to read, but, four years later, voila!

“The English Teacher” wasn’t available on the NLS/BARD/LOC, however, BookShare had it. Once I nestled in to hearing the synthesized speech along with some of its glitches, I really enjoyed the story.  The narrative arc jumped around from present to past to future in the blink of an eye, a possibly confusing technique employed to give the reader an omniscient pov.  I have no idea who Philip Sompson is.

From the website:

Yiftach Reicher Atir was born in 1949 on Kibbutz Shoval, in the south of Israel. As a young commando officer, he participated in Operation Entebbe and other military and intelligence operations before retirement with the rank of Brigadier General (Intelligence). More about Yiftach Reicher Atir

From BookShare:

The English Teacher: A Novel

By: Philip Simpson Yiftach Reicher Atir

For readers of John Le Carré and viewers of Homeland, a slow-burning psychological spy-thriller by a former brigadier general of intelligence in the Israeli army”Atir provides an astonishing look at Middle Eastern spycraft.”–The Washington Post After attending her father’s funeral, former Mossad agent Rachel Goldschmitt empties her bank account and disappears. But when she makes a cryptic phone call to her former handler, Ehud, the Mossad sends him to track her down. Finding no leads, he must retrace her career as a spy to figure out why she abandoned Mossad before she can do any damage to Israel. But he soon discovers that after living under cover for so long, an agent’s assumed identity and her real one can blur, catching loyalty, love, and truth between them. In the midst of a high-risk, high-stakes investigation, Ehud begins to question whether he ever knew his agent at all. In :The English Teacher”, Yiftach R. Atir drew on his own experience in intelligence to weave a psychologically nuanced thriller that explores the pressures of living under an assumed identity for months at a time.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Copyright:2013