I thought this book flailed in comparison to the debut by Jonathan de Shalit. I hope to see another book in the future. I will still give that book a shot, but this was subpar compared to the first.

Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of A Spy in Exile. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Ya’ara Stein was once an agent for Mossad, the secret intelligence service of Israel. After she is forced out, Stein is asked by the Prime Minister to set up a secret unit under his direction and ultimate authority.

I was expecting a spy thriller, so I was largely disappointed by A Spy in Exile. The book is centered around Ya’ara Stein and the establishment of the team. The novel mainly goes nowhere, with none of the action or blistering pace that is usually the hallmark of a spy thriller. For these reasons, I would not recommend A Spy in Exile.

I love the story in this book but felt the translation could have been a little better. It is hard to read something similar to the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva and not compare them. A Spy in Exile was good, not great, but well worth reading and needs to be taken for what it is and what it's not. Anyone pales in comparison to Silva, but if you like your thriller fiction sophisticated, you will love this series.

I have been lucky to be able to read Advanced Copies of both of Jonathon de Shalit’s books. These are great stories written by an ex-Mossad agent, so not only are they written with an air of authority, but the have an old school spy novel feel to them that makes for a very enjoyable read. I would recommend you go get The Traitor, and follow it up with A Spy In Exile. If you like John Le Carre, or Rober Ludlum, these books will be right up you alley.

Just as the first book by Joanathan, it's a slow character building, full of action. The writing is really good. I couldn't stop reading once I started the book, The ending left you wanting more and more. Great book,

The second book in what one hopes will become a lengthy series by Jonathan de Shalit. Somewhat reminiscent of another Israeli mystery writer, Batya Gur, but more focused on the international spy side of intrigue. In this second novel, the main character is Ya'ara Stein, a former Mossad operative and a secondary character in Shalit's first thriller. The Israeli Prime Minister taps Ya'ara for a classified job so secret that she will be unknown to Israeli intelligence circles and will report directly and only to the Prime Minister.

Her first task is to recruit a unit of young men and women who can be quickly turned into seasoned spies - a tall order - and who realize that if they face imminent danger, the Israeli Government will disavow, not rescue them. Nevertheless, she succeeds in finding a cadre of followers who learn "on the job' and succeed against all odds in a fast-paced tale of violence, deception, and intrigue. Whether it's plausible that a group of raw recruits would manage this is something either to believe or not bother about if the reader wants to enjoy this gripping novel.

A Spy in Exile was not very thrilling. The slow start seemed odd, then the turn back to an earlier period interfered with connecting to the book. Sorry to say, I was bored, and that was a surprise. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Jonathan de Shalit's A Spy in Exile tells the story of lovely and deadly Israeli agent Ya'ara Stein. After being pushed out of Israel's secret intelligence service, the Mossad, she's enlisted by her Prime Minister to set up a secret unit, answerable only to him. He wants someone willing to cross the line, but might have more than he bargained for in Ya'ara.

I was very disappointed by this one... I really enjoyed Traitor and was looking forward to returning to that world, this time from the vantage point of Ya'ara, who played such a pivotal role in the way the earlier story played out. I found this one difficult from the get-go though, plagued by a forced-feeling, flat storytelling style and head-shaking decision-making that never resonated or (frankly) made much sense... It felt implausible and unlikely that the brilliant edgy agent from Traitor would make these decisions/find herself in this place, and that made it a tough read for me. It's a shame, because I think she's a great character with a lot of potential and the concept was intriguing, it just never all came together in a way that felt organic as the first did.

Suspenseful, twisty, and fresh, loaded with lots of surprises and strongly crafted characters. A thriller which delivers thrills!

I had a really hard time getting into this book. I expected it to be along the lines of I Am Pilgrim but the writing style felt very simplistic and didn't flow for me. There was way too much telling and a significant lack of tradecraft. What was there wasn't very believable. I stopped reading by 40% when the telling became too obvious for me.

I read his previous work "Traitor" and it just was too slow, kind of like watching paint dry. It is pretty in the end but kind of boring. I thought this one was a little better, not essential;y linked to the first but reading it beforehand will help. Using 6 "newbies" in the most critical State missions is unrealistic but that is why they call it fiction. Honestly Daniel SIlva has ruined me, he is just so hard to match. Still this one shows some promise.

No competent intelligence officer (let alone two competent intelligence officers working together at the direction of the Prime Minister of Israel to protect the State) would take 6 unvetted and untrained people to another country to find a woman-a woman related to a famous terrorist- who beguiled and left a senior officer in the intel service of that country. Wait- this involves Israelis going into Germany so....NO! And btw, how did this mesh with the mission Ya'ara was given? I was willing to give this a chance and enjoyed the first several chapters (and thought the GRU plot was credible) but I couldn't get past the total lack of tradecraft. Wandering around the countryside checking farms and then later breaking into one of those farms with people-no. Meeting for dinner at a restaurant and discussing what happened that day and making plans- no. Oh and the bit about Ya'ara using an actual paper map? Seriously? There's also a subplot set in 1947 which I'm sure hooked in at some point past the 40 percent mark where I gave up but which until then didn't seem to be relevant. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm sure there's a market for this but for me, it was just too unrealistic.

I missed his first book "The Traitor" but enjoyed "A Spy In Exile".

Well written, packed full of details and tradecraft and written with an obvious knowledge of Israel, its political system and secret service intrigues and in Ya’ara Stein we have a heroine for our times.
I was intrigued by her as a character and suspect that more about her will be revealed as (hopefully) the series continues.

Not in the Daniel Silva class - but who is?

A few more thrills and spills and a bit less about training and development would also have been welcome but a more than decent effort.

Jonathan de Shalit's new book, A Spy in Exile, is the story of a young Israeli agent is contacted by the Prime Minister and asked to set up her own secret group to combat any enemies of Israel. She is eager to begin and selects several young people to train. They form a small group devoted to destroying by any method enemies of Israel. Ya"ara Stein is a complicated leader who demands a lot of her young cadets who she is training to kill any enemy of Israel. The novel is thrilling and I hope Jonathan de Shalit continues to write about her.

This is an exciting story, but it is about the organization and development of an assassination team with a few real world missions injected into the training. The quality of writing is very good, and the story has much to say. It would appear to focus more on the development and interaction of the team members ad their leader. Clearly this is a book that will lead somewhere in subsequent books. All of the principle characters deal with dark issues and show development as the story continues. This is exciting and interesting, but has little of the suspense I would expect to find in a thriller.

A Spy in Exile by Jonathan de Shalit- A modern-day spy novel with frequent journeys into the past. Literary in style, but not Le Carre' or Kanon. Closer to Lawton or Goddard. A cashiered ex-Mossad agent is tasked with putting together an illegal strike team to do what the by-the-book agencies can't do. Actually sounds better than it reads. I found it too slow to get going and rather clumsy at times. Some chapters were very well done, while others were lost in pointless speculation. Too much telling and not enough showing to build the characters. Descriptive passages were very well done and the narrative flows well when its not bogged down in unnecessary back-story or obvious dialogue. I wouldn't recommend it, but it's not terrible, just not up to standard

A spy thriller with the formerly disgraced spy, Yaara Stein being brought back into the world of espionage by the Prime Minister to set up, plan and conduct missions on her own without the support of the Israeli Mossad. A black group goes on to commit several acts that upon further review appear poorly thought out at best. The book begins with Yaara selecting a group of cadets to mold into her own image and then begin conducting missions serve the goals of Israel. A very in depth book that goes beyond the fighting into the minutiae of everyday life as a spy. A well written book.

A Spy in Exile by Jonathan de Shalit

“After Ya’ara Stein is forced out of her job at the Mossad—the secret intelligence service of Israel—she is called upon by the Prime Minister for a classified job. Known for her aptitude, beauty, and deadliness, Stein is asked to set up a secret unit that will act independently, answerable only to the Prime Minister.”

First let me say that espionage or spy thrillers is a genre that I have just recently become acquainted with. So as I am probably not as familiar with the actual stories themselves I have enjoyed reading the few that I have such as Safe Houses by Dan Fesperman. Shalit writes in a manner that allows the reader to become part of the story. In a sense that you ar so engulfed in the tension that goes on between the characters. I love the fact that this is a fast paced novel and it encompasses true events along with fictional ones in the timeline that was created. The writer has a background in the Israeli intelligence department and is familiar with the ins and outs of the business so therefore his stories can become more complex with the reader knowing that this is most likely something that has or could have happened. There ar a few things that did not make sense to me but I am sure that has nothing to do with the author but rather myself the reader. Maybe a little more explanation on a few of the team members that the protagonist chose as new members to Form a.secret squad.
This is an exceptional storyline that will keep you on the edge of your seat well into the night trying to figure out what is going to happen next. I cannot wait to read more by this author and hopefully it will be a sequel to this one. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves thrillers and spy novels.
Thank you to netgalley as well as the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Please note, I'll publish the review on 07 February, 2019 close to the publication date. Please email me at manoflabook@gmail.com if you'd like to do a giveaway/guest post along with my post. If not, that's cool too - I usually ask.

A Spy in Exile by Jonathan De Shalit is a novel about an Israeli intelligence squad working in Europe. Mr. De Shalit is a nom de plume of a former high-ranking member of the Israeli Intelligence Community.

Ya’ara Stein, a disgraced Mossad agent, has been tagged by the Israeli prime minister to create a secret squad answerable only to him. The catch, of course, is that there might be times when they will be left high and dry.

Ya’ara recruits a bunch of new agents, answerable only to her, and starts going through a quick training course. The team’s first mission is when descendants of the Red Army Faction return to terrorize Europe.

I’m a sucker for good spy novels, so when I saw A Spy in Exile by Jonathan De Shalit, a novel about the Israeli Mossad I immediately requested it and put it on top of my “to read” list.

I found the book to be fast paced, filled with action and some tension. I enjoyed that the author weaved actual events within his fictional timeline to create a more believable, if not plausible story. I was familiar with many of the factual references, but for a different audience some explanations might be necessary (who is Ehud Barak and why was he dressed like a girl?). A few footnotes by the translator would be appropriate in those instances.

The team that the protagonist put together seems like they were pulled out of a Hollywood action movie, the author might have tried to create a team which is outside of the norm for the intelligence community, but it left me wandering if such a team really exist, and if they do would they be successful. After all, good intelligence usually wins the day.

I like my spies a bit more gray than the black and white world the author paints. I understand that in this type of work it helps to be an absolutist, even though all those I talked to who retired from the community realize, pretty quickly, that there are other solutions then the ones presented –and sometimes they’re better than just killing off someone.
As my father used to say “if you’re a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”.

As in many novels about intelligence professionals, the protagonist is pictures as walking on the edge of sanity, I don’t know if this is an accurate assessment of the professionals in the field but it sure makes an interesting story-line. After I finished reading this book, I realized that it is a second in a series featuring Ya’ara Stein, that didn’t bother me. The author rehashes several times what happened to her in the Mossad during the narrative and I didn’t feel I missed anything.