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Shake Off by Mischa Hiller (view source)
Revision as of 11:23, 31 August 2020
, 11:23, 31 August 2020no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Shake Off
|author=Mischa Hiller
|reviewer=Kerry King
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=328
|publisher=Telegram Books
|date=January 2011
|isbn=978-1846590887
|websitecover=1846590884|videoaznuk=|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846590884</amazonuk>|amazonusaznus=<amazonus>1846590884</amazonus>B00796LHI2
}}
''Shake Off'' is the latest from the pen of Mischa HellerHiller, a student of the John Le Carre universe where the Spies had to Come In From The Cold. Set in the 80s against a backdrop of daggers and cloaks, wests and easts and defectors and double agents, HellerHiller's protagonist, Michel Khoury, hooked on pain killers and posing as a student, has been tasked with the unlikely mission of scouting for a Cambridge location in which to host secret talks between those Palestinians and Israelis who seek a ''secular democratic state for Jews, Christians and Muslims''.
In a Le Carresque landscape of anonymous calls from phone boxes and dead letter drops, Michel, a displaced Palestinian who has been fortunate enough to be taken under the wing of wealthy adoptive parents, who in turn were PLO funded by a man known only as 'Abu-Leila', would not sit out of place. Dedicated and grateful, Michel's multilingualism honed in the years since his espousal, has made him the perfect foot-soldier for Abu-Leila and The Old Man.
And so a certain pencil-and-paper innocence has become lost and I must report a certain level of satisfaction wrung from reading this novel that harks back to ''simpler'' times. The plot is superb and certainly an area of history of which I have not previously had much experience, largely due to being in my early teens at the time and being consumed by a healthy fascination with the boy bands of the day, rather than the news stories! I have given ''Shake Off'' three and a half Bookbag stars and need to point out that it would certainly have been more if I had felt more empathy with Michel Khoury. He was, at times, not very likeable and whilst I am sure this was probably the point, it did not endear him to me. Similarly, I found some of the passing female characters a little empty and prosaic. There are depths in every human, even if they are shallow ones.
For further reading, we'd like to suggest you take a look at [[Palestinian Walks: Notes from a Vanishing Landscape by Raja Shehadeh]] and perhaps [[Unveiled: A Womans Woman's Journey Through Politics, Love, and Obedience by Deborah Kanafani]], both relevant and beautiful novels of their time. Now, if the Le Carresque spy thing is your bag, you should have a look at [[The Spy Game by Georgina Harding]] or if that's not meaty enough for you [[The Terminal Spy by Alan Cowell]], a Pulitzer-winning journalist charting the life and death of a certain Alexander Litvinenko. If that still leaves you thirsty for more and you really want to ''get in to into it'', you should have a look at [[Interventions by Noam Chomsky]]. Older teens might appreciate [[Going Over by Beth Kephart]].
Lastly, we at Bookbag would like to extend our thanks to the fine ladies and gentlemen at Telegram Books for sending us this copy to review.
{{amazontext|amazon=1846590884}} {{waterstonestextamazonUStext|waterstonesamazon=7931595B00796LHI2}}
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[[Category:Thrillers]]