Bashert

The Homeland Connection #1

by Lior Samson, Tal Paz-Fridman (Photographer)

2015 Eric Hoffer Book Award (Honorable Mention)

A gifted and inquisitive student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology stumbles on a storage room filled with unusual supplies. What begins as a student stunt soon explodes into a life-changing misadventure. Decades later, an unexpected encounter with a college classmate shakes a world-weary computer consultant out of his routine and brings him face-to-face with a distant past that he must quickly decipher-or die.

Bashert , meaning fate, is an intricate and intense political thriller, a tale of intrigue and innocence, devotion and destiny. Inspired by real events, Bashert is a page turner that caroms between continents and across timeframes as it narrates a story of betrayal and self-sacrifice set against the backdrop of Israel's emergence as a nuclear power.

Also available in the four-volume Kindle set The Homeland Connection (ISBN 978-0-9885275-1-5).

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 10, 2010

Reviews

[Johanna Rothman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sped through this book, and then I re-read it, even though I knew how it would end. For a suspense action novel, that's the highest praise.

Why could I do that? Because the novel was engaging. Not just the plot, although that was engaging. I loved the characters. I've met these people--at temple, at work, on bicycle trips, in workshops, in life. They are real people, who do what real people do. They are not perfect characters. Nor are they too-stupid-to-live characters. They are real.

For me, the romance made the novel complete. There was just enough romance that the novel felt finished.

You don't have to just buy this book for summer reading, although it's perfect for the beach. It's also perfect for a snowy day. Or for a fall day when you don't want to rake leaves. Or for a spring day when you want to escape chores. If you want a few minutes to escape into an alternative suspenseful action novel with great characters, with just a little romance, buy this book. You will not be sorry.

[Barbara Brink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bashert is a tale of intrigue, suspense, and the "foolish" plans of brainy college students gone awry. Or have they gone awry? Bashert means fate, so apparently everything is just falling into place:)
I enjoyed the story and writing style of Mr. Samson. Bouncing between the past and the present, America, Europe, and Israel, the story moved quickly, with many plot twists and turns. I must say that there were a couple of things toward the end that surprised me, and that's a good thing. I can usually figure things out before they happen.
If you like thrillers with real, fleshed-out characters and not just cardboard cutouts blowing things up, try Bashert.

[Farha Hasan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the writing style and dialogue to be a little stiff, especially with phrases like "your neighborhood nice guys." It made we wonder if this books was a translation. The plot moves along nicely until the 3 MIT students are killed. Still, you had to wonder didn't school or parents wonder what happened to Wasserman, Deborah and Jeff, not to mention a huge yacht.

When Karl meets Shira all the clues get put together too easily and too quickly. I found the fact that a friend comes back from the dead to exact revenge to be very cliche. I also found it hoaky that Karl and Shira end up together especially when she keeps talking about how Migdal/Mitchill is her Bashert/Destiny.

[Michal · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a well told tale about the crazy things things geeks get up to.
Some of the stuff was a little too neat to be believed, but overall it worked. Some good plot twists.