The Fury of Rachel Monette

by Peter Abrahams

Rachel Monette journeys through France, Israel, and Africa attempting to ascertain who murdered her husband, becoming ensnarled in an Israeli politician's ambitions, and learning that her husband's book was responsible for his death

Genres: Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Peter Abrahams is an American author of crime fiction for both adults and children.
His book Lights Out (1994) was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel. Reality Check won the best young adult Edgar Award in 2011. Down the Rabbit Hole, first in the Echo Falls series, won the best children's/young adult Agatha Award in 2005. The Fan was adapted into a film starring Robert De Niro and directed by Tony Scott (1996).
His literary influences are Vladimir Nabokov, Graham Greene, and Ross Macdonald. Stephen King has referred to him as "my favorite American suspense novelist".
Born in Boston, Abrahams lives in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. He is married and has four children including Rosie Gray. He graduated from Williams College in 1968.

Peter Abrahams is also writing under the pseudonym Spencer Quinn (Chet and Bernie Mysteries).

Reviews

[Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jo men bra. Intressant. Kommer nog läsa igen nån gång.

[Flo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review from August 2023

I didn't like this strange thriller 2nd time around. The main protagonist is a politician in Israel who wants to bring Sephardic and Oriental Jews closer to the Palestinian population. He is tied to a secret concentration camp set up in North Africa. He also is acquainted with the Germans and French involved with the camp during the war. Rochel Monette 's husband is killed and her son kidnapped. Why? How were they involved. A complicated thriller that is a little too long.

Review from May 2018

I enjoyed reading another thriller by Peter Abrahams until I got to the end. There does not seem to be rhyme or reason behind a plot filled with fantasy.
Rachel Monette, her husband Daniel and son Adam, live a normal, happy life. Daniel has just finished writing about the plight of French Jews during WWII when he is murdered and Adam kidnapped.
What this had to do with a German Jew, a death camp for Jewish women and children in North Africa, the political situation between Ashkenazic and Sephardi Jews in Israel, may be prescient and is part of the mystery which causes the fury of Rachel Monette--never clearly answered in a well written but essentially disappointing thriller.

[Deanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok... I found it confusing sometimes, the way things were worded or the way it was written... a couple times I had to re-read a paragraph just to get what was going on! I almost gave up on it, but I really wanted to know what happened.... unfortunately it wasn't anything too exciting and the book ended kinda flat.

[Eric Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this as a teenager and decided to reread. The suspense and story hold up well, as one Jewish woman seeks for the truth of her husband's murder and her son's kidnapping. The storytelling itself does a lot of jumping around mid scene between people's perspectives, not as streamlined as many of today's thriller writers.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Old-style spy book. A woman's husband is killed and her son kidnapped and she becomes a tiger (metaphorically) to get him back. Intrigue, Jewish, Israel etc.