Editorial Reviews for Nominees
|
|
Editorial Reviews for Nominees
|
|
Score: 91+/100 (9.1+ out of 10)
One of the most frustrating things about American law enforcement and the justice system is how slow, bogged down, inefficient, and—sometimes—unconcerned and ineffective they are. Crimes occur in broad daylight. Evidence can be clear as day, and detectives and district attorneys will find some cockamamie reason to dismiss it so they can move on to the next thing on their docket because to many it's just a checklist and a payday. And that's not even mentioning how handcuffed they already are by rules and regulations. To the average citizen who knows right & wrong/good & evil, it can be extremely frustrating as justice can seem so far away. And that's where private investigators like Benjamin (“Benny”) Gold come in—to pick up the slack that law enforcement and the justice system leave in their wake: to help provide answers and justice for victims of crime. And there has been, perhaps, no bigger crime in human history than the one perpetrated by the Nazis on Jews. Many of the perpetrators and their collaborators fled Europe after the war, adopting alternate identities and attempting to escape any accountability for their heinous crimes. Past Imperfect by Joshua Cohen is a thrilling cat-and-mouse detective journey that follows private investigator Benjamin Gold as he hunts down a suspected collaborator of the Nazis, Mendel Kahn. If the suspicions are true, Kahn would be Yitzah Fried, a Nazi collaborator who led many Jews into captivity and to their eventual death. Kahn, a former restaurant worker, suspiciously became a real-estate mogul seemingly overnight. Following Yom Kippur, it is even expected that Kahn will raise his stock with the local Jewish community as the benefactor of the building of a new temple, which may even bear his name. Could someone potentially responsible for the deaths of so many Jews be honored by them? Benny refuses to allow that to happen. Throughout the book, he interviews people entangled with Kahn including a potential long-lost sister and a former employer, digging deeply for evidence and the truth. Along the way, he faces the threat of physical violence by Kahn's hired thugs, namely the hulking enforcer, Jerzy Dudek. He also faces financial and legal threats as a target of a defamation lawsuit. Making matters worse, Benny faces a failing relationship with the love of his life, Sylvia, who has started to believe lies spread by Kahn of infidelity. Sylvia finds herself in Kahn's crosshairs as well, a target of his seeming affection. However, as you might expect from a good detective mystery, not everything is as it seems. Past Imperfect is a solid detective book with a good lead character and a good villain. There were times when it dragged a bit and felt more convoluted than it had to be. We really did not like Sylvia as a love interest. Perhaps that was intentional, but she really got on our nerves and made us want to turn the page whenever she showed up. To us, she was frustrating, annoying, and kinda dumb, jumping to conclusions and believing a clearly-crooked/corrupt/evil man over a man she has known for much of her life. Benny himself is a passable and adequate protagonist. One thing that stands out about him is that he is a Jew and, despite missing some services and ceremonies here and there, still holds to his convictions. For example, when Sophia comes about and the temptation emerges, Benny reminds himself that he is monogamous. As frustrating as that seems (given what we said about Sylvia), it is commendable and respectable on Benny's part to stick to his principles. Joshua Cohen was the right author to write this book, given his experience in law and his knowledge of Jewish culture, history, and customs. It is interesting to see the dichotomy of Benjamin, a relative outsider in his own community, and Kahn, a supposed traitor to his people who is beloved. There's a real question as to what makes a Jew Jewish: is it customs or is it belief? Is it what we see on the outside or what's in the heart? Check it out on Amazon!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
February 2025
Categories |