The Missing File
Inspector Avraham “Avi” Avraham is a veteran cop in Holon, a quiet suburb of Tel Aviv. Experience tells him that crime in Holon is pretty simple: no serial killers, and murder and rape are rare. So, when a distraught mother reports that her 16-year-old son didn’t return from school, Avi assures her that the boy will turn up. But he doesn’t, and Avi, a man filled with self-doubt and perhaps numbed by his town’s lack of unusual crime, agonizes as the investigation lurches on. A primary source of his discomfort is a high-school teacher who had previously tutored the missing boy and proceeds to insert himself into the investigation in a way that seems inexplicable. The sense of place here is fascinating (Tel Aviv’s suburbs seem both familiar and exotic), and the focus on Avi’s state of mind, which is plumbed continuously, brings psychological depth. Procedural details are intriguing, too, suggesting that policing, at least in Holon, is a more humane enterprise than in the U.S. Armchair-traveler crime aficionados will welcome Mishani’s debut and look forward to Avi’s return. --Thomas Gaughan