Howard Kaplan

The Damascus Cover (The Jerusalem Spy Series Book 1) by Howard Kaplan

Agent Ari Ben-Sion is on a mission to smuggle Jewish children out of the Damascus Ghetto. Once he gets to Damascus he meets a beautiful photographer named Kim, and he falls in love with her. But soon things don't seem right. Kim asks a lot of questions, his communication equipment disappears, his contact never shows, and nothing is going as planned.

Plus he fears his cover will be blown, and he and the lives of the children will be in great danger. Not knowing who to trust, Ari must be as sharp as ever to pull this off without ending up dead.

The attention to detail and intense dialog pulls you right into the story. Ari is likable, even though he is flawed. He is put in many dangerous situations, and has to use his sharp wit to pull himself out of tough situations.

The story moves at a steady pace, with so much tension, Ari soon finds himself unable to trust anyone. There is plenty of drama, action, tension and "edge-of-your-seat" moments I could not put it down. Overall The Damascus Cover is a fantastic read. I highly recommend to all.

The cover is amazing , so is the story and I am excited to hear it will soon be a major motion picture!… (más)

There are some beautiful lines in this book. It is clear that Kaplan is a poet at heart: "Every house has a story waiting to be heard." Sometimes I found his poetic turns of phrase distracted from the feeling. For example, Kaplan euphemistically refers to his mother's death: "...she passed through the ring of the world and died." By the time I read the last word, I was distanced from it by the "ring of the world." How did she die? The mother seemed aloof while his father seemed more tangible. His father wrote funny songs and entertained friends. The mother cooked and stood behind him if he made mistakes playing the piano. The father tucked him in at night, bringing him his favorite cup to sip some water before bed. The mother had blue eyes and liked the ocean. I wonder if this is the result of losing someone so young; they become mythic abstractions. The mourning is real, but the memories are fuzzy.
The artwork is wonderful and reminiscent of Art Deco posters. It helps readers unpack Kaplan's metaphor about musical notes as birds.
The note at the end about Beethoven was interesting, but only the Goethe quote connected to the book's theme.… (más)