Eitan Enoch — nicknamed "Croc" — is a thirty-something Tel Aviv yuppie whose life is turned upside down one morning when he narrowly escapes the suicide bombing of the bus he takes to work. Two days later, Croc finds himself in a second explosion, and manages to again emerge unscathed. A week after that, he's sitting in a café in Jerusalem when another suicide bomber strikes. Again he survives. With the coincidence of these three attacks, Croc is turned into a (reluctant) media celebrity. To the Israeli resistance, he is "The Man They Couldn't Kill!" So, of course, the Palestinian terrorists who have been organizing the attacks feel he must be taken out. Meanwhile, Fahmi, a young Palestinian bomb-maker with a conscience, is lying in a coma in a hospital somewhere in Israel. As Fahmi tells us his own story, we begin to realize that there is a fourth bombing to come — one that involves both Famhi and Croc.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
November 29, 2010 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781443400343
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781443400343
- File size: 2558 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 22, 2010
Israeli author Gavron offers an unusual perspective on Palestinian suicide bombings in this offbeat, often satirical political thriller. While riding a bus one morning, Eitan “Croc” Einoch, who works for a Tel Aviv consulting company that helps clients save money by teaching them ways to shave seconds off customer-service calls, tries to reassure fellow passengers that a suspicious-looking man isn't a terrorist. Soon after Croc gets off the bus, the man explodes a bomb. When Croc survives two more terror attacks, he becomes a celebrity, a nationalist symbol of defiant survival. While Croc looks into why one of the victims was on the bombed bus, a Palestinian bomber hospitalized in Jerusalem, Fahmi Sabich, plots his revenge. Without resorting to moral relativism, Gavron (Hydromania
) sheds light on the region's intractable conflict by allowing readers to relate to Fahmi as well as Croc. -
April 15, 2010
Eitan Einoch, nicknamed Croc, is an ordinary Israeli thirtysomething. He works as a time management expert, lives with his girlfriend, and goes about his life. Then, he narrowly escapes dying in three separate terrorist attacks. Suddenly, Croc is a national celebrity and he finds himself re-examining his relationships and his life. Meanwhile, a young Palestinian suicide bomber lies in a coma, alternately aware of his surroundings and lost in the past that led him to become an unwilling terrorist. What is the connection between this man and Croc? Are more attacks to come? The dual story line creates two equally sympathetic and interesting characters, while adding a sense of suspense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)
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