Mishka Ben-David Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Mishka Ben-David is a noteworthy author from Israel, who is well known for writing thrillers and philosophy novels. He has written several standalone of novels in his career in Hebrew language, which have been translated in English and published all over the world. Author Mishka was born on March 20, 1952 in Giv’at Shmuel, Israel. Before taking up writing as a full time career, he used to serve as a Mossad agent. Author Mishka has given 12 years of his life to the Mossad. During the time of his service, he had risen to the post of a high-ranked officer. But now, he has left the Mossad service and works as a full time novelist just outside Jerusalem. Author Mishka is known to have written around 8 books in his literary career so far and five of them are spy novels. Mishka holds a Master of Arts degree in the subject of comparative literature from the Wisconsin University as well as a PhD from Jerusalem’s Hebrew Unviersity in the Hebrew literature. Besides being a writer and a Mossad agent, the other professions of author Mishka include working as a principal at a high school in Jerusalem and as a director at a community center. Author Mishka has even delivered a lecture at Open University. As many as 4 books written by him have become bestsellers. His literary work also includes short stories, research studies, and novels. A German-Israeli-Canadian co-production company has decided to adapt the spy novels of author Mishka for a television series at the international level. This adaptation is being done in association with the Bavaria Pictures. Mishka’s book, Duet in Beirut, is going to be the first one to be adapted into the television series. Author Mishka has been awarded with the Harrey Harshon Prize for two times in his career in the year 1976 and 1977. Several other prestigious awards won by him include the Rabinovich Award, the Prime Minister Prize, the Gold Prize by Book Publishers Association, and the Platinum Prize by the Publishers Association.

During the twelve years of his service in Mossad, Mishka was involved in secret operations all across the Middle East and Europe. He even played an important role in a high profile assassination fiasco during the 1990s. The job of author Mishka in his team was to deceive and manipulate. Mishka says that sometimes he experienced acute loneliness because he was the only one knowing his real identity being an undercover agent. Now, after quitting the spying job, he has established himself as a noteworthy writer of thriller novels. He has even made his debut in the United Kingdom after one of his spy novels was translated into English. Author Mishka travels extensively all over the UK and shares his writing experiences with his fans. Duet in Beirut is an excellent book written by him. This book centers around an agent who gets the blame of a failed operation of the elimination of a Hezebollah leader, after he chooses not to pull the trigger when the daughter of the target unexpectedly appears in the shooting range. The agent gets dismissed from duty. Then, he decides to finish the job all by himself, but is stopped by his former commander. While writing this book, author Mishka remembered his own days of service. He says that he took the right decision of reconnecting with his family and his normal life after serving for twelve long years. Now, he spends more time with his friends and family and writes books. Mishka does not regret anything in life. The issues that he came across in Mossad were solved with possible solutions. Hence, there is nothing that troubles his conscience.

The debut novel written by author Mishka Ben-David is entitled ‘Duet in Beirut’. This book was released by the Overlook Press in the year 2015, following its initial release in 2002. The story is set in Lebanon and Israel, and shows the main characters as Ronen and Gadi. These two men were squad mates in a direct action unit of Mossad. They turn into bitter rivals following a failed task in Lebanon. The mission was to assassinate Abu Khaled, the overseas operations chief of Hezbollah, and it was planned by Gadi. Ronen was to pull the trigger when Khaled was spotted, but when he is about to do so, one of Abu Khaled’s daughters wanders into the fire line. Therefore, Ronen’s conscience tells him not to take a hit as he didn’t want to injure or kill the daughter. Eventually, the mission ends in a failure. Upon coming back to Israel, the men undergo commissioning investigation and it results in the ending of Ronen’s career. After his removal from the squad, Ronen is not able to adjust to his life outside and therefore, he decides to take up a personal, secret mission to travel to Beirut and finish the job he left unfinished. Gadi is also upset with the outcome of the investigation and feels let down. He even struggles with the rising sexual tension with Naamah, the wife of Ronen, with whom he had an affair when she used to work in his squad as an agent. Gadi learns from Naamah that Ronen has planned to kill Abu Khaled on his own. Gadi realizes that killing Abu Khaled now can cause an international row as he has now been promoted to a public and political role. So, he undertakes the unauthorized mission of stopping Ronen. The story goes through a lot of twists and turns before finally coming to an end.

Another thrilling story written by author Mishka is called ‘Final Stop, Algiers’. It was released by the Halban publication in 2017. The primary characters shown in the book include Mickey Simhoni and Niki, and is set in Tel Aviv, Toronto, and Tokyo. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted that Mickey Simhoni’s life gets disrupted because of a terrorist attack that takes place in Tel Aviv. As a result, he decides to give his plans of becoming an artist and gets recruited as an Israeli agent in Mossad. Mickey starts learning the art of spying and the building a cover through a painstaking process. Eventually, he takes the role of someone he resembles closely and is presumed dead. On his first mission, Mickey is sent to Toronto, where he comes across a girl named Niki, with whom he has in a relation around 10 years ago in Tokyo. Mickey finds himself torn between his intense love for Niki and his loyalty towards the Mossad. Niki resolves this dilemma for Mickey Simhoni by taking an unusual decision. However, the dilemma never ends for Mickey. And when his commanders learn that he is finding it difficult to focus on his job, they threaten to kill Niki. Mickey’s final task in Algiers end in failure, causing hatred and rage in the Mossad, and eventually ending with a dramatic conclusion.