A few weeks ago in a conversation twitter with the author, Brad Thor, he joked about me: “You Mossad guys b*tch about every assignment. Never, ever happy.”
@brianoflondon You Mossad guys b*tch about every assignment. Never, ever happy.
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) February 13, 2012
A few days later I came across a real Mossad guy who was talking to our dear friend, Doucheblogger™ Richard Silverstien. Michael Ross has written a book about his experiences. He arrived in Israel as a non Jew, converted, joined the IDF and then progressed into The Mossad. He gives a fascinating account of his recruitment, some of his missions in Europe, Africa and Asia and his liaison with the CIA and FBI.
What the heck I thought, I looked up the book on Amazon and it was free to borrow for Prime members via the Kindle lending library.
So I borrowed The Volunteer by Michael Ross
Headline: it’s a very entertaining and well written book (Ross credits his talented co-author, Jonathan Kay, for the style) but the stories are all from Ross. Some of the local details about place I know well like suburbs of Tel Aviv and even bits of South Africa, are highly detailed and ring true.
I should say I’m biased in favour of believing that The Mossad is, at heart, a moral organisation based on underlying Jewish ethics. I believe this in the way I think the same of Israel and all its efforts to defend the Jewish people. This is an anathema to it’s many critics and the lunatic conspiracy theorists would never believe this. This book confirms my best impressions of the organisation. If there is a criticism it is that the Mr Ross is almost too glowing in his praise and I wonder what got left out.
I would thoroughly recommend this book and if you have a Kindle and an Amazon Prime membership, go borrow it! It’s written in parts like a thriller and it’s a great story. And if you do like it, drop Michael Ross @mrossletters a note on Twitter and tell him!
