Customer Reviews

Vengeance

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I really enjoyed this book. It was well paced throughout. After reading quite a few "non-fiction" spy books, to me Vengeance has the ring of truth to it, reminding me more of the Falcon and the Snowman than Vise's The Bureau and the Mole.

I had the luxury of reading Vengeance when it first came out, and reread it after viewing the movie Munich, of which this book was the primary source.

Our "hero" Anver, was a Mossad agent who was asked to leave the agency by Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel, to lead a team of men. This team was to attempt to take the lives of 11 men who were responsible for the Black September terrorist group's act of killing Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.

The book follows the freelance team during their strong, early times, and their weak moments, both personal and professional. We meet not only the team, but also their sources, who are also personalized.

Although the author had to rely on a single source for some sections of the book, he is honest about this. When there are questions about his interpretation, he explains the different theories in the footnotes.

I bumped my review from 4 stars to 5 because of the "Notes on a Controversy" and footnotes that follow the main text in this volume. Questions raised about the author's perspective and sources are answered well in these two sections. I found Jonas to be honest about relying on his source. He also debates articles that attacked his book with his perspective without name calling.

This is one of those books that leaves you wondering, on several levels, about its contents. I don't think this is bad: actually, since it gets you thinking about the issues involved, I think it's a good thing. Vengeance purports to recount the efforts of a group of Israelis sent by the Mossad to Europe to kill various PLO figures who had aided, supported, planned, or otherwise enabled the 1972 Munich massacre of the Israeli Olympic team. The whole book apparently, at the time, raised a considerable controversy: many of the events in the story are uncorroborated, and of course this would lead to some readers being skeptical.

On the other hand, this book represents the sort of thing you'd expect would happen. We know the Israelis at least tried such operations: the killing of a Morrocan waiter in Lillehammer Norway was certainly an attempt to kill one of the PLO's top guys, and some of the supporting Mossad operatives were caught, tried, convicted, and sentenced to jail for their part in the plot. The whole thing sounds believable, down to the team having specialists for various aspects of operations in Europe, to their using small pistols because of the lack of loud noise (.22s with reduced powder for even less noise), the bombs that don't work exactly as planned, and the lack of exact information as to who was behind the retaliation once it began.

This book reads as a spy novel, and perhaps should be read at least partially as if it is one. After all, does anyone think that the writings of John Le Carre are completely fictional. He was, for a short time anyway, in the intelligence community, as were Graham Greene and Frederick Forsyth. You have to think that those authors include things from their own experience, and from the experiences of acquaintances, in their writings. This book, in an odd way, is similar. The author apparently writes the story with (as far as he knows) all of the main action recounted accurately, but he revised personal characteristics in order to conceal identities. As a result, the book is a history with novelistic elements, as opposed to a novel with historical elements.

I found the main premise of the book to be believable, however. While there's some doubt that Israel killed off as many people as this book says they did, in the fashion recounted here, the whole thing sounds plausible to me. The idea that they would have initial success and ultimately unravel is completely believable, and the premise that there were other teams, who eventually assasinated other PLO functionaries, is completely believeable. The anecdotes involving the main character negotiating with his bosses in a somewhat adversarial relationship sounds very convincing, while at the same time not being exactly what you'd expect in a professional intelligence agency. While unconfirmed, the whole story sounds credible, and that may be the best argument that it happened: at this point corroboration seems less likely, though I suppose that the Israelis could have a change of heart and come out and admit that what is recounted in the book actually happened. The end of the book makes it clear this is unlikely, though.

All in all, a good book, interesting, intelligently written, and confronting one of the great dillemmas of our time: what do you do when terrorists target innocent civilians and kill them? The author quotes Ghandhi as saying that an eye for an eye leads to a world of blind people. One might respond that no eye for an eye leads to a world of righteous blind people, and sighted victimizers. Very very interesting book.

Glad it's being re-printed. I read the hard-cover original book about 7-8 months ago, and it was an enthralling, yet disturbing and ultimately very sad story -- a book I didn't want to put down. Being re-released due to Spielberg's movie "Munich" - try to read the book first.

While presenting the intrigue and excitement of a good espionage thriller, it simultaneously chronicles the growing personal and ethical conflicts of the young Israeli Mossad agent chosen to lead a Kidon squad sent to hunt down and assassinate the Black September terrorist masterminds behind the 1972 Munich Olympics murders of 11 Israeli athletes.

In hindsight, and by comparison with other,later semi-official accounts, there are some careful but obvious fabrications to protect the way Mossad actually operated in Europe - but the bulk of the story appears to be pretty accurate, and you will easily recognize the real episodes that emerged in fictionalized form in novels by Daniel Silva, Steven Hartov, and others.

There is an abstractness and detached matter-of-factness about "Vengeance" that I suspect reflects the lead character's subsequent emotional dissociation - but that aloof coolness permeates the whole enterprise. The assassin 'officially' can not be an agent of Israel or Mossad and thus is immediately isolated from his support system and from any idealistic moral compass that persuaded him to take the job. We watch his dawning cynicism, grief, and guilt - but not remorse - as he realizes how equally expendable he is to his handlers, and in the end, he and his team are as hunted as their targets had been.

The book sticks with you afterwards -- I have found myself wondering how the lead character in this story has fared over the years - I hope he found some degree of safety and peace.

It really is a shame that this book is no longer in print. Jonas provides readers with a wild ride through the fear, depression, grit and glory of a spy/assassin driven by the sole mission to avenge terrorism by killing the individual perpetrators.

Of particular interest to me was the weapons training recieved by the Israeli team who went after their targets. Using only .22 pistols, and occasionally no more than homemade slap-fire zipguns, they systematically tracked down and executed hardened terrorists. The level of training, focus and determination portrayed is something you have to read to believe.

It also gives me hope that there is a response to terrorism beyond the 'bomb it and pave it' strategy. Knowing that terrorists will be hunted down, no matter where they go, and killed in a grimy alley or a deserted tenement instead of in a blaze of glory may be a more effective approach to take.

I also appreciated the insight into the psyche of a trained assassin who wrestles with the mission he has been given, and watches as others around him begin to crack up from the strain. His account of how the lives of his fellow team members ended is a sobering picture of the biblical axiom that those who live by the sword die by it also.

If you can get your hands on this book, I would highly recommend it. It is a great story, comparable to any spy thriller and action novel you have picked up, but with the added bonus that it is true.

Jonas's book is an engaging account of a special unit formed under the unofficial auspices of the Mossad to track and kill the people they determined were responsible for the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes in 1972.

This book is an especially important read after 11 September. That this 5-man unit was able to eliminate 8 terrorist leaders with no "collateral damage" in a little over two years is something I hope our security agencies will take to heart.

I, too, read this book back in the mid-1980s and found it to be absolutely fascinating. It contains an account of the Israeli revenge operations against the "Black September" movement during the years 1972-1973, although it touches on events outside that time frame. The book does make its mark indelibly on the soul; while I have flipped through it a few times since then, I have never found it necessary to read it again because I remember the story so well.

The details of the times are extraordinary: the vast cultural differences between Israeli immigrants from Eastern and Western Europe ("Avner" claims that Eastern Europeans had to be taught that you did not wear tennis shoes with business suits while on a deep cover assignment, and relates a very funny story involving cream puffs), the choice of weapons used (the assassins did not get to use the "big" guns), the paperwork and receipts; the requirement that no one who was not involved was to be killed.

But, what makes this story work as a drama is its depiction of the slow psychological breakdown of the participants, how they lost their way from what appeared to be a clear set of directives, and how their desire to efficiently complete the mission eventually led them into a trap where results go to the highest bidder.

Altogether a great book and story. If you absolutely must see these events depicted (fairly well) on a small screen, I suggest that you find a copy of the movie "Sword of Gideon," a HBO made-for-TV movie, based upon this book.

This book, the inspiration for Steven Spielberg's Academy-Award-nominated "Munich," reads just as chillingly today as it did when it was first published in 1984. When I read it then, it was at a time when the West was still relatively "innocent." A time when terrorism was "Israel's problem."

The story of the five Israeli agents who were sent to avenge the butchering of 11 innocent athletes recalls an emotional time when revenge seemed a logical response to terrorism.

As the agents, and their operators, eventually realized, the vengenful assassinations did little to deter Islamist killers from executing their sinister plans.

The story reads like a masterful spy novel while it tackles the inner conflicts of the people involved.

And, as is usually the case, the book was much better than the movie. Don't miss it!

This book is brilliant in it's stunning exploration of the outcome and consequences of terrorism, not only in the repursussions of the terrorist acts but of the ongoing missions to fight back. I was breathless reading this well researched account of Israel response to the Munich massacre, as Golda Meier put it, "to cut off the hand of the ones who hurt us."

The heroes of this book and this historical event are everyday men with a passionate patriotism to their homeland. As they undertake their mission they begin asking the questions that their violence has hidden deep inside their hearts. "Vegeance" is a gutwreching account of current affairs and the devastating effects of terrorism regardless of it's "reasons or religion." I highly recommed this book for anyone who is fascinated with Israeli history or a brief overview of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

For those who are curious, this book inspired the Steven Spielberg film Munich and the film is dead on with the details presented in this book.

Vengeance is the book which Spielberg's "Munich" is based on. Haven seen the movie first, I was eager to see the difference between the book and movie. The movie has more tension than the book, and the drama is different. Avner has tensions coming from different directions in the book vs the movie. I don't want to spoil either.

The book itself is fascinating. If taken at face value, the story of running around Europe trying to kill terrorist leaders in amazing. It's mind-blowing there was a privateer group, 'Le Group' operating as a private spy agency. The book is very detailed about Avner's methods & each hit is also very detailed. In addition, the book will make you think about how to combat terrorism.

This book shouldn't be automatically taken at face value. George Jonas didn't automatically believe Avner. There are detailed footnotes showing how Avner's story matches or disagrees with other sources. Of course, Avner admits to protecting some identities. So, there's a layer of the onion beneath Avner's version of the story. How much of it is true? He could, for one reason or the other, be protecting or impugning all sorts of different people or organizations. Since I have no special insights about Avner's veracity (and I doubt anyone else posting a review has any special insights), I recommend simply reading and enjoying the book. Take everything with a grain of salt.

While integrity in the publishing business is severely inconsistent this account seems believable. Admittedly, by the author, this was a clandestine operation so certainly it is impossible to verify everything. But as the the story goes, in retribution for the Munich Olympic tradegy, a hit squad is put out by Israel with money and a list of names. The story recounts the Leader's (Avner) upbringing and how he found himself in the position of being in charge of a hit team. Then chapter by chapter it recounts the hits and all the operational difficulties, innerworkings and ulitmately success' and failures. Also the book provides insight into the moral and political questions surrounding such an undertaking. All in all a very interesting read. The author, in the latest version on the shelfs, replies to criticism about the authenticity. I find his research methods sound and him believable when he says he believes "Avner's" Account. Certainly these guys were not dying of natural causes. Anyway, having read some junk lately this book I can definitely recommend as worth the cost of purchase.