The Volunteer
The Incredible True Story of an Israeli Spy on the Trail of International Terrorists
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
When Michael Ross decided to go backpacking across Europe, he had no inkling that his vacation would lead to a life tracking down the world's most dangerous terrorists. In Israel, out of money and alone, Ross began working on a Kibbutz—and fell in love with both the country and an Israeli woman. After converting to Judaism, Ross was recruited by the country's secret service—the Mossad—as an undercover agent. In the years that followed, he played a significant role in capturing al-Qaeda members responsible for the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, and worked jointly with the FBI and CIA to uncover a senior Hezbollah terrorist living in the United States. His never before revealed story makes an action-packed biography.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's not surprising for an ex-spy to have an uncomplicated, us-them worldview. Accordingly, Ross, former member of the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, allows for little nuance in this memoir, which maintains a nearly colonialist view of the Muslim world, positing Israel as "a microcosm of the civilized world's struggle against a murderous ideology" and drawing unsupported parallels between Palestinian nationalist Islamism and al-Qaeda's world-spanning nihilism. Canadian-born Ross is clearly proud of his service to his adopted homeland and accepts Israel's view of its place in the Middle East. He discusses Arab torture without mention of its Israeli (or Western) counterpart and claims Israel has "given" the Palestinians a state, though Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands remains intact. When describing his operations, Ross's tone is engaging, and details of spycraft remind readers that real spies don't live in movies "everyone," for instance, "talks when tortured." Readers looking for such tales will be better served than those looking for a cogent analysis of the region.
