Operation Joktan - Amir Tsarfati & Steve Yohn
Jan 21, 2022 0:23:58 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Jan 21, 2022 0:23:58 GMT -5
Operation Joktan (A Nir Tavor Mossad Thriller)
I classify books that I read into four categories:
D List: You get a few chapters - or maybe just a few pages - into it, you get bored because it just doesn't catch your attention, put it aside, and forget you even own it until you're cleaning house and gathering things to donate to the thrift shop.
C List: You plod through it, read a chapter here, a chapter there, and eventually finish it...largely because you don't want to waste the money you spent on it and/or you don't have any other unread books at hand at the moment.
B List: Most books I read fall into this category: you read a few enjoyable chapters each day, and finish the entire book within a week or two at most.
A List: These are the books that have you riveted from the start. You begin reading, and next thing you know you glance out the window and you see dawn breaking...but you just have to finish the book and find out what happens to the protagonist(s), and never mind that you have things to do in the new day!
There's a lot of hype about Operation Joktan, written by Steve Yohn in collaboration with Amir Tsarfati, and I'm sorry to say it falls between C and D on the list. It took me over a month to get through, and if I were to be completely honest, it's a D, but I finished it only because I wanted to write a review here for others who may be considering purchasing it.
When I think "thriller" I think of Tom Clancy, James Patterson, or Frederick Forsyth, but this collaboration doesn't come anywhere near the suspense and drama of any of those. The main character is an Israeli named Nir, who falls in love with a South African gentile woman, Nicole, who becomes a Mossad operative because of her superlative hacking skills which are discovered after she breaks into the Mossad computers to learn more about her potential beau. Believable? Not in the least. Add to that she's not only brilliant, she's gorgeous! Not girl-next-door pretty, or someone who turns your head on the street - she's a (wait for it!) SUPERMODEL!!!
What follows is a mishmash of situations: the story begins in South Africa, then picks up years later in Israel. Characters are introduced and the writers begin to develop them, but then the reader is suddenly left hanging as to what happened to them. One example is the oldest son of the American family who are among the superfluous characters that really add nothing to the story but are just a detour from it. Key characters that really should be more fully developed, aren't. Situations are usually predictable. Admittedly Middle Eastern names can be confusing and I understand that nothing can be done about that, but for some reason the writers chose to use uncommon names for all the Israeli characters as well, many of which I never heard before (although I'm a voracious reader), when an abundance of common Jewish names are available: Abraham, Benyamin, Isaac, Esther, etc. For that matter, some of the American & Canadian characters' names were unusual as well, which made it a bit difficult to keep the characters straight because you haven't quite been able to develop a picture of them in your mind.
The book began to become mildly interesting at around page 275 (out of about 360 pages), but if a Tom Clancy thriller is a roller coaster ride, in comparison this book is a Ferris wheel. Perhaps a good editor or a better collaborative writer might have made it more enjoyable, but as it stands, I wouldn't even consider buying the next book in the series.
So, why is this book a best seller? Unfortunately, it's just the name Amir Tsarfati that has made it so; had Steve Yohn (who undoubtedly did the actual writing) published it under his name alone, it would have gone nowhere. There are a lot of people who pretty near worship Amir, and hang onto every word he says - they're undoubtedly the majority of those who are purchasing this novel. Admittedly Amir does do a very good Middle East update (in which, lately, he promotes this book heavily, waving it about while insisting he's not trying to sell it to the listeners), but he's no Bible teacher, although he thinks he is - his "theology" has proven to be unsound on several issues. (I speak as a seminary grad with a Master's in Bible Studies.) If you want a thriller, look elsewhere; if you want to know more about Middle East developments from an eschatological standpoint, there a numerous good Bible scholars who have written books that are theologically sound: Andy Woods, Don Stewart, Billy Crone, David Jeremiah, Jimmy DeYoung, and others. If you want to know more about what the Bible says about End Times, study it for yourself, with the aid of some good commentaries and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I was really looking forward to reading this book; it's a shame it turned out to be so disappointing.
I classify books that I read into four categories:
D List: You get a few chapters - or maybe just a few pages - into it, you get bored because it just doesn't catch your attention, put it aside, and forget you even own it until you're cleaning house and gathering things to donate to the thrift shop.
C List: You plod through it, read a chapter here, a chapter there, and eventually finish it...largely because you don't want to waste the money you spent on it and/or you don't have any other unread books at hand at the moment.
B List: Most books I read fall into this category: you read a few enjoyable chapters each day, and finish the entire book within a week or two at most.
A List: These are the books that have you riveted from the start. You begin reading, and next thing you know you glance out the window and you see dawn breaking...but you just have to finish the book and find out what happens to the protagonist(s), and never mind that you have things to do in the new day!
There's a lot of hype about Operation Joktan, written by Steve Yohn in collaboration with Amir Tsarfati, and I'm sorry to say it falls between C and D on the list. It took me over a month to get through, and if I were to be completely honest, it's a D, but I finished it only because I wanted to write a review here for others who may be considering purchasing it.
When I think "thriller" I think of Tom Clancy, James Patterson, or Frederick Forsyth, but this collaboration doesn't come anywhere near the suspense and drama of any of those. The main character is an Israeli named Nir, who falls in love with a South African gentile woman, Nicole, who becomes a Mossad operative because of her superlative hacking skills which are discovered after she breaks into the Mossad computers to learn more about her potential beau. Believable? Not in the least. Add to that she's not only brilliant, she's gorgeous! Not girl-next-door pretty, or someone who turns your head on the street - she's a (wait for it!) SUPERMODEL!!!
What follows is a mishmash of situations: the story begins in South Africa, then picks up years later in Israel. Characters are introduced and the writers begin to develop them, but then the reader is suddenly left hanging as to what happened to them. One example is the oldest son of the American family who are among the superfluous characters that really add nothing to the story but are just a detour from it. Key characters that really should be more fully developed, aren't. Situations are usually predictable. Admittedly Middle Eastern names can be confusing and I understand that nothing can be done about that, but for some reason the writers chose to use uncommon names for all the Israeli characters as well, many of which I never heard before (although I'm a voracious reader), when an abundance of common Jewish names are available: Abraham, Benyamin, Isaac, Esther, etc. For that matter, some of the American & Canadian characters' names were unusual as well, which made it a bit difficult to keep the characters straight because you haven't quite been able to develop a picture of them in your mind.
The book began to become mildly interesting at around page 275 (out of about 360 pages), but if a Tom Clancy thriller is a roller coaster ride, in comparison this book is a Ferris wheel. Perhaps a good editor or a better collaborative writer might have made it more enjoyable, but as it stands, I wouldn't even consider buying the next book in the series.
So, why is this book a best seller? Unfortunately, it's just the name Amir Tsarfati that has made it so; had Steve Yohn (who undoubtedly did the actual writing) published it under his name alone, it would have gone nowhere. There are a lot of people who pretty near worship Amir, and hang onto every word he says - they're undoubtedly the majority of those who are purchasing this novel. Admittedly Amir does do a very good Middle East update (in which, lately, he promotes this book heavily, waving it about while insisting he's not trying to sell it to the listeners), but he's no Bible teacher, although he thinks he is - his "theology" has proven to be unsound on several issues. (I speak as a seminary grad with a Master's in Bible Studies.) If you want a thriller, look elsewhere; if you want to know more about Middle East developments from an eschatological standpoint, there a numerous good Bible scholars who have written books that are theologically sound: Andy Woods, Don Stewart, Billy Crone, David Jeremiah, Jimmy DeYoung, and others. If you want to know more about what the Bible says about End Times, study it for yourself, with the aid of some good commentaries and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I was really looking forward to reading this book; it's a shame it turned out to be so disappointing.
