Customer Reviews

The Hunt for the Engineer: How Israeli Agents Tracked the Hamas Master Bomber

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Ever since 9/11, hundreds of armchair terrorism experts have taken up the pen. But Katz has been living in this world and writing about it for decades, and The Hunt for the Engineer is probably the only true life thriller I've ever read on the subject. Katz takes us right down into the drainpipe of homicide-bomber mentality and tells the real story of what it takes to thwart and defeat the twisted minds and fingers of the master terrorists. If you're looking for a primer on what truly has been going on in the Middle East, this is it.

This latest book by Samuel M. Katz is the culmination in a body of superb work on military and intelligence matters. His recounting of the most bloody events in recent Middle East history is not only informative, but paints a vivid picture in depth of the heroes and villains, often interchangeable, who danced a macabre tango of death during the hunt for one of the world's most determined and lethal terrorists. Given Katz' other books, such as The Elite and Soldier Spies, I fully expected a biased vew on the subject. But Katz has deftly probed the psyches of Israeli intelligence agents as well as those of the Islamic bombers determined to scuttle any Middle East peace, which ultimately leads the reader to sway between the hunters and the hunted. Like the very best of thriller fiction, this book is a breathtaking page-turner!

In a book that could pass for a Le Carre spy novel, we are introduced to a world of fanatic terrorists, exhausted and overworked counter-intelligence operatives and cops, and a back-drop to the violence and chaos we see on CNN. When I bought this book at the suggestion of a friend who is a cop, I thought that this book would be an interesting movie-of-the-week type story of a bad guy and those who chased him to exact justice. I was, however, most pleasantly surprised. This is a very balanced and beautifully written travel guide through the hell of counter-terrorism that makes the reader feel like he is on the front lines, lining up on a ridge on a darkened night, ready to storm a terrorist safe house. Buy this book!

This is one of the very few books I've EVER read that I actually hated to finish. It is that good.

This is very much a work of history. It basically is the story of Israeli from about 1990 to 2000 (after the author's update). This turbulent decade almost brought about the collapse of the government, and Hamas, along with Yahya Ayyash--"The Engineer," were a major reason as to why. The Engineer is described here to the best of the author's ability, but, due to the terrorist's secrecy and a need to live in the shadows, a complete understanding of his character is simply not possible. This book imparts a wide variety of knowledge as the reader will walk away with a ton of information about Israeli government and culture. Before reading it, I really didn't understand what Shin Bet was, but now I am well-versed in their functioning. This book is the perfect complement to anything concerning the Mossad.

As far as its narration goes, and I know this probably is a cliché, I honestly couldn't put the pages down. If I didn't have a job I probably would have finished it in a day. Katz is a fine writer and aptly outlines both emotion and the logical flow of ideas in his chapters. His text manages to be informative and riveting at the same time. The only problem I had with him was towards the end where he really seems to buy into the notion of a "cycle of violence" is to blame. He honestly believes that only a peace process will solve Israel's problems, but no armistices are possible with the likes of Hizbollah and Hamas. They will only be satisfied with Israel's complete extinction. Anything signed with civilian entities, that have no authority over the extremists, will be worthless. It is unfortunate that the author, given his intelligence and extensive education, has remained an idealist to this day.

As some others have said, the title of this book might be a bit misleading. This book has much more about "the hunt" than it does about "the engineer." Even more broadly, this book is about the Israel politics in the 1990s, the attempts at peace, attempts by terrorist groups to thwart that peace and Israel's attempts to stop those terrorists. At times, Ayyash (the engineer) seems like a bit player in this narrative. There is very little biographical information available about Ayyash, so Katz makes do with what he has.

I agree with another review who was concerned with Katz's overly vivid descriptions of events and scenes he didn't witness. I also found some of the bombing scene descriptions redundant and cliched.

As a whole, however, this book is a good choice for those interested in modern Israeli affairs, terrorism and counter-terrorism and peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

The title of this book is misleading. While the crux of the book is indeed Shin Bet's efforts to eliminate Yehiya Ayyash, Katz presents the hunt for the Engineer more in the context of how his deadly devices affected the Israeli-Palestinian peace process rather than the actual manhunt for Hamas's bomb master. There's not that much about the techniques that Israel employed to track down Ayyash. The way Katz tells the story, a frustrated and increasingly desparate Shin Bet caught a lucky break in its search for Ayyash. The strength of the book is that it provides an excellent synopsis of Hamas's emergence as a force to be reckoned by both the Israelis and Arafat in the middle east peace process.

I recently traveled to the Middle East and picked up a copy of this book on my return. What a terrific account of the hatred and bloodshed. It is written like a spy novel, though you only have to turn on CNN to see that this is all very real. I couldn't put this down.

Wow!!!! This book reads like Rogue Warrior meets the latest headlines on CNN. A dramatic read through a dark chapter of modern Middle Eastern history--complete with spies, double-agents, terrorists and politicians who are sometimes victims of their emotion and lesser judgement. A must for everyone who is interested in the dispute between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

I started reading this book on a flight from Los Angeles and Washington DC and I couldn't put it down. The book is written like a novel but is filled with so much fact you want to have a vault of intelligence agency goodies on hand to let you keep track of all the players. The story of vengeance and the ticking clock is captivating enough. The fact that this all happened is amazing and it is written with a fair stroke of the pen that makes heroes of both Arabs and Israelis and villains of those who killed innocents. You are taken so inside the world of counter-terrorism that it is often scary and you want to get out. Buy this book!!