Publisher's Weekly Review
Former Israeli intelligence officer Reichter Atir makes his U.S. debut with this absorbing thriller. After Rachel Goldschmitt, a retired Mossad agent living in London, leaves a cryptic phone message with her former handler, known only as Ehud, she disappears. Fearful that Rachael may be unstable and reveal classified information, Mossad assigns Ehud to track her down. What follows is a fascinating look at Rachel's undercover career in the Arab world as an unassuming English teacher by day, spy by night. Flashbacks chronicle the decade Rachel spent undercover, from her first assassination-an awkward but brutally swift affair in a hotel elevator-to the conflict she faces when she falls in love with an Arab man who knows her only as the sweet English teacher with the British accent. Along the way, readers are treated to all the granular frustrations, mundane indignities, and utter loneliness that can accompany undercover work, details rarely covered in most tales of espionage. Agent: Deborah Harris, Deborah Harris Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Only a few key people in Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, know of Rachel Goldschmitt, but she is one of Mossad's most effective spies. Fresh from training, Rachel was embedded in a Muslim nation for four years, teaching English there while uncovering secrets that helped keep Israel from harm. But even Ehud, once her case officer, realizes that all he really knows about Rachel is what she permitted him to see. Now long retired, a lonely widower still in love with Rachel, Ehud is shocked by a cryptic phone call from her. She then vanishes, and Ehud is called back to Mossad to help find her. Atir, a retired Israeli Defense Force general, makes his English-language debut with this nuanced, thoughtful, and powerfully plausible consideration of the emotional toll paid by lone combatants undercover in very hostile environs. The English Teacher is also a love story, portraying both Rachel's love for a Muslim man and Ehud's never-spoken love for his agent. Espionage fans will find the tradecraft engaging, but this novel will also appeal to any reader looking for insightful writing about the human condition.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2016 Booklist
Library Journal Review
After attending her father's funeral in London, Rachel Goldschmitt, a former spy for the Israeli intelligence service, disappears. Her former handler is brought out of retirement to find her in this page-turning thriller by a retired brigadier general. The book spent months with the Israeli civilian and military censorship committees, and numerous changes and omissions were made before it was approved for publication in Israel in 2013. It is the third of Atir's four novels but the first to be translated into English. (LJ Xpress Reviews, 8/12/16) © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.