I picked up this novel, which bills itself as "the best espionage thriller since 'The Day of the Jackal," and it delivered what it said it would. The novel was riveting keeping me interested from start to finish. I read all 298 pages in a short two days. It was a great novel and I hope that every novel I read is at least as entertaining as "Phoenix."

The plot revolves around a Libyan assassination attempt against Moyshe Dayan, foreign minister of Israel in 1978. Moyshe Dayan is largely believed to be one of the chief architects of the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel in 1978, and was groundbreaking for the time since most Arab states has agreed to a policy of three "NOes" formulated in August 1967 at Khartoum: NO peace with Israel, NO negotiations with Israel, and NO recognition of Israel.

In the novel, the Libyans attempt to assassinate Moyshe Dayan because they believed him to be the only Israeli capable of negotiating with Arabs since he was an Arabic speaker and grew up around Arabs, being familiar with Arab culture. The same formula is still practiced in the Arab world, in a strange condition where art mimics reality, and there are still radicals trying to kill in order to derail peace agreements. Violence often does derail peace talks too.

One of the most frightening parts of the novel is the assassin, Phoenix, who is an utter psychopath and a malicious genius at the same time. He speaks half a dozen languages flawlessly without accent, can change his appearance at the drop of the hat, and will kill without hesitation. He is also a master planner, always extensively preparing before making any move.

One of the reasons the Phoenix is so convincing is that the author, Amos Aricha, is a former chief superintendent of the Israeli police force, and is very familiar with the operations of Interpol, espionage agencies, and what kind of criminals are successful. In writing about the Phoenix, he combined the traits of "successful" criminals to make a mastermind of evil.

Amos Aricha is also a wonderful researcher, which is evident in the amount of real-life political and diplomatic personalities in his book. Mr. Aricha writes:

"This story of a Libyan plot to assassinate an Israeli political leader is entirely fictitious. However, the names of some real world leaders and some actual international political events have been incorporated into the story for the purposes of creating an authentic fictional background."

I highly recommend this frightening espionage novel.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

Once enchanted - unavoidable The novel which pinned me down on my bed from dawn to dawn for the first time in my life. It's an absolutely wrong depiction that this is the best espionage novel since the old-fashioned "The Day of the Jackal". At least triple exciting double breath-taking. more sophisticated and much more intelligent and super more attractive assassins standing still. too much disappointed at the fact no one ever left recommendations yet. wonder what in the world you folks grip on in holidays and summer nights. wanna find a real hot stuff? Just find and stick to it! do Whatever it takes to get it!