Cut Throat Dog is a new title (2010) for an international thriller published by Joshua Sobol as Whiskey Ze Be-Seda in 2004. Translated from the Hebrew by Dalya Bilu, the novel is an exciting suspense story, a psychological study of action and imagination, and a remembrance of the history of a survivor culture.

The suspense story involves a chance meeting by an Israeli, Hanina, a former member of a world-ranging assassination squad, with a target the team had missed in the past. The man, code name Adonis, had not only escaped but was responsible for the death of one member of the team. Hanina is not sure it is the former target and attempts to identify him with the goal of termination. An illusive enigmatic young woman Melissa helps him inadvertently. The suspense story is somewhat reminiscent in style and descriptions of Stieg Larsson's novel, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.

The psychological description of Hanina, and to a lesser extent the other characters, shows that motivation, whether extreme or mundane, involves direct immediate action and the creation of stories from patchy memories to fulfill our wishes. Hanina is a man of action and imagination who learns that the two aspects of his being are irreconcilable but not mutually exclusive. Although he cannot integrate the two states into a cohesive self, both are motivational forces he has to deal with.

The remembrance of the history of a survivor culture is a general social influence that affects Hanina. He realizes that the most powerful thing on earth is a story well told. Code name Shakespeare given during his assassination years, Hanina uses allusions from the bard's work to tell the story of the Jewish people, survivors no matter what happens to them. They are a people of action and imagination with one of the most powerful stories of all time that cannot be denied. Hanina's redemption is achieved through his imagination, the result of inculcation of stories from his personal family history and the great story of his culture.

I highly recommend this novel to readers who enjoy suspense thrillers and enjoy international perspectives. Holocaust deniers beware of the sound and the fury of Mr. Sobol's story well-told. ( )