The Wish to Kill

Rating:
Summary: A well and cunningly crafted mystery/suspense novel.
Review: Janet Hannah, a Toronto native who earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry and physiology from Rutgers and now works at the University of Jerusalem as a biochemist, has published her first Alex Kertesz mystery. It is not surprising that the action takes place in a biochemistry lab, and the reader is treated to an inside peak into that environment.

Set at the University of Jerusalem, Hannah's The Wish To Kill features Alex Kertesz, who is unfortunate enough to find the body of Professor Ilan Falk, all around academic bad guy with a lot of power. It seems that Falk lit a cigar in his own lab, which is naturally against all the safety rules. But was it murder or suicide?

Alex is handsome, brilliant, self-deprecating, and is stuck in a loveless marriage for the sake of his son, Daniel, whom he adores. Much of the story is given over to passages of heartbreaking nonchalance and apathy between Alex and his self-centered artistic wife Varda. Alex nearly lost his life rescuing a wounded soldier and spent weeks in the hospital alone fighting for life before Varda saw fit to pay him a visit:

"Oh!" she had said. "Are you all right? I hope they're taking good care of you." And had proceeded to tell him all about her trip. He hadn't had the strength to pay attention but it didn't matter, because he wasn't required to say anything. He decided that when he regained more energy it would strike him as funny, but in the meantime he had hoped she wouldn't come again."

Hannah cleverly weaves layers of common issues we all face into her story. The murder is almost de-emphasized as Alex picks his way through the brambles of the human condition. He falls in love with Shosh, who thinks she murdered Falk with bad thoughts. Alex ponders the possibilities of mind control. Varda flits in and out of the story in an infuriating way, and Alex slowly sees himself as her victim.

In the meantime, everyone's first choice as Falk's murder, a venomous man named Elisha tries to murder Alex. Alex is one step ahead of him, and when he confronts him, Elisha falls into his own trap and is electrocuted. Was Elisha the murderer? Hannah isn't telling until the end.

-- Shelly Glodowski, Reviewer