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Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea #4
Keepers of the Gate
Palestinian-American detective Ben Kamal joins forces with Israeli detective Danielle Barnea to investigate the mysterious deaths of high-school students in Israel and the West Bank and uncover a link to the murders of elderly Holocaust survivors and clues leading from a Nazi labor camp to the cutting-edge of biotech research. 20,000 first printing.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2001
126 people want to read
About the author
Jon Land
128 books407 followersJon Land is an American author of thriller novels and a screenwriter. He graduated from Brown University in 1979 Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude. He often bases his novels and scripts on extensive travel and research as well as a twenty-five year career in martial arts. He is an associate member of the US Special Forces and is an emeritus board member the International Thriller Writers. John currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 28, 2015
A real page turner. Great plot, interesting setting.
November 9, 2021
Ben and Danielle again find themselves coming together on a case as they each get involved from a different angle. Danielle is being punished by a superior who keeps giving her cases of dead children to close and Ben is asked by an old woman to find out about her teenage son who was killed. They find that 4 teenagers who have a connection have been murdered. As they dig deeper into the case they find things that send them in many different directions.
Ben has also been helping out the Colonel who is head of the special department in Palestine that most people fear and the Colonel aids him in return. They have nabbed a suspected terrorist who was passing on some information but when the Colonel looks at it he says it wasn't what he was hoping for but it turns out to be helpful later on.
Ben and Danielle have a few other things to contend with including developments in their personal lives. They discover the baby that Danielle is carrying has some genetic anomaly that will significantly shorten it's life and they are at odds over what to do. Their relationship is defined by the struggles they have because of the difference in nationalities. Danielle also has some questions concerning her late father as it has been suggested that he was not the true Israeli hero she thought he was and that he was possibly a Nazi. She had been assigned to a case of a prominent Israeli businessman whose son was killed and then abruptly taken off the case. She is investigating it anyway and it leads to a group who is going after Germans who took on Jewish identities to hide themselves after the war. Her life is put at stake by several different people on her quest to find the truth. The prominent businessman is hiding some secrets of his own and dealing with his son's death.
Love this series. It has very well defined characters and in each book you learn a little more about them. The settings range across several countries and deal with a lot of issues between Israel and Palestine. The mystery is always good with many twists running throughout the story. The story moves along at a good pace and keeps your attention thru the whole thing.
Ben has also been helping out the Colonel who is head of the special department in Palestine that most people fear and the Colonel aids him in return. They have nabbed a suspected terrorist who was passing on some information but when the Colonel looks at it he says it wasn't what he was hoping for but it turns out to be helpful later on.
Ben and Danielle have a few other things to contend with including developments in their personal lives. They discover the baby that Danielle is carrying has some genetic anomaly that will significantly shorten it's life and they are at odds over what to do. Their relationship is defined by the struggles they have because of the difference in nationalities. Danielle also has some questions concerning her late father as it has been suggested that he was not the true Israeli hero she thought he was and that he was possibly a Nazi. She had been assigned to a case of a prominent Israeli businessman whose son was killed and then abruptly taken off the case. She is investigating it anyway and it leads to a group who is going after Germans who took on Jewish identities to hide themselves after the war. Her life is put at stake by several different people on her quest to find the truth. The prominent businessman is hiding some secrets of his own and dealing with his son's death.
Love this series. It has very well defined characters and in each book you learn a little more about them. The settings range across several countries and deal with a lot of issues between Israel and Palestine. The mystery is always good with many twists running throughout the story. The story moves along at a good pace and keeps your attention thru the whole thing.
October 16, 2021
I gave up after the torture porn.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2022
I am hooked on this series and I don't know why
August 10, 2023
Good ending but slow going all the way through.
June 29, 2015
Keepers of the Gate (Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea, #4)
by Jon Land
Land writes a darn good mystery/action/thriller. I jumped into this series with Book 3, "A Walk In the Darkness," so I'm still learning about the two lead characters. Lots of new backstory in this novel, which helps flesh out the main characters well.
And this book is quite the adventure -- almost a travelogue -- ranging from Ben's Palestine and Danielle's Israel to Poland, Germany and the United States. What connects the deaths of 4 high school students from a joint Palestinian/Israeli high school with the deaths of three Holocaust survivors, and a young American businessman? Approaching the mystery often from diametrically opposing angles, Ben and Danielle are not letting anything stand in the way of uncovering the truth, not even a shadow organization hunting and eliminating war criminals, although not the usual type. What secrets will be uncovered and how will those secrets impact Ben and Danielle?
As usual, very good editing and proofing, excellent research, exciting plotting, fully developed characters, smoothly flowing style, and a good, deep read.
by Jon Land
Land writes a darn good mystery/action/thriller. I jumped into this series with Book 3, "A Walk In the Darkness," so I'm still learning about the two lead characters. Lots of new backstory in this novel, which helps flesh out the main characters well.
And this book is quite the adventure -- almost a travelogue -- ranging from Ben's Palestine and Danielle's Israel to Poland, Germany and the United States. What connects the deaths of 4 high school students from a joint Palestinian/Israeli high school with the deaths of three Holocaust survivors, and a young American businessman? Approaching the mystery often from diametrically opposing angles, Ben and Danielle are not letting anything stand in the way of uncovering the truth, not even a shadow organization hunting and eliminating war criminals, although not the usual type. What secrets will be uncovered and how will those secrets impact Ben and Danielle?
As usual, very good editing and proofing, excellent research, exciting plotting, fully developed characters, smoothly flowing style, and a good, deep read.
March 10, 2018
Finished 06/07/2012. Once again Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea get into the same investigation via entirely different paths. A CDrom disc is handed off to a Palestinian soccer star, 4 teenagers are killed, Danielle (Pakad) is informed that her fetus will be defective, 3 old men are murdered and it all ties back to slave labor camps run by the Germans in World War II.
Land's novels do not lack for suspense or evidence of man's inhumanity to man. This one finds Ben & Danielle at odds with their superiors, each other & eventually with Nazi/anti-Nazi vigilantes. Paul Hessler, an American Jew has been a huge benefactor to the state of Israel. When his son is murdered it sets off a series of events that seem independent of each other, but each is important in its own way. 4 high school students are murdered in a short period of time. 3 holocaust survivors are murdered in a short period of time. Surely none of these events relate to each other.
Land's novels do not lack for suspense or evidence of man's inhumanity to man. This one finds Ben & Danielle at odds with their superiors, each other & eventually with Nazi/anti-Nazi vigilantes. Paul Hessler, an American Jew has been a huge benefactor to the state of Israel. When his son is murdered it sets off a series of events that seem independent of each other, but each is important in its own way. 4 high school students are murdered in a short period of time. 3 holocaust survivors are murdered in a short period of time. Surely none of these events relate to each other.
June 20, 2012
For what it was - it was quick, fun, I couldn't stop reading and I liked the story. Also, for this type of book what usually stops me reading is the dialogue. There are many who want to be what Ludlum was in his prime and will never get there. This one is tolerable. One has to accept a level of James Bond-caliber suspension of disbelief, but that's part of the fun of the genre, isn't it? I need to break up all my serious reading with some good old fashioned plot with good characters. This does it without me having to tolerate horrendous cringe-worthy writing. Mr Land can write decently.
April 18, 2013
Once again in Keepers of the Gate Danielle and Ben have to team up to fight those who oppose peace in the Middle East. Neither is really accepted in their perspective countries.... but especially, Danielle because she love Ben a Palestinian.
Danielle finds herself pregnant with Ben's baby but is going to raise it alone rather than have him be rejected by both the Palestinians and Israelis. Their adventure takes them to the U.S. where the life of Danielle and her son in in peril.
Danielle finds herself pregnant with Ben's baby but is going to raise it alone rather than have him be rejected by both the Palestinians and Israelis. Their adventure takes them to the U.S. where the life of Danielle and her son in in peril.
June 5, 2015
Danielle is working on the attempted murder of an important man from the US and the murder of his son. Ben is working on the murder of 3 teenage classmates. Soon they realize that both cases are connected and began back in a Nazi war camp. Now they running from the Gatekeepers, hunters of Nazi war criminals, while trying to solve their cases.
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July 29, 2011A quick read, fast pace, hard to put down.
August 23, 2011
I love Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea. Hope to find them all.
June 13, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. I liked the cross cultural relationship that was presented as a subplot. Another series I need to start reading.
January 18, 2010
Enough with the "kids stumble across secret while hacking a computer system" crap. Yawn.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews