An Eye for An Eye

Lizzy Badihi, reporter and editor for a local paper in the south of Israel, is blessed with sharp detective skills. In this fifth volume in the series that bears her name, Lizzy is no longer alone; she now has a boyfriend, Ronnie, a young Tel Aviv lawyer who aids her in her investigations. This time around, the young sleuth has a number of mysteries to solve and they are more complex and dangerous than ever before, with blood revenge the motive behind everything. It all begins when Ehud Leon, a wealthy Be’er Sheva contractor, decides to run for mayor. Lizzy’s decision to check into his military past leads her to a meeting with professor of Middle East Studies Moshik Bamberg, who served with Leon in the same military unit thirty years before. Moshik tells Lizzy that Leon was involved in drug trafficking when he was young, but he never went to prison. Lizzy meets Moshik’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Dina, at the professor’s secluded and well protected home. He also meets her boyfriend Effie, a successful pop star who has left his wife Siggy to be with Dina. Lizzy volunteers to drive the two to their home in a nearby town, but the trip turns into a nightmare. Not only do Siggy’s violent brothers beat up Lizzy and Effie, but they also attack an elderly man who tried to help the two. When all is said and done, Lizzy finds the dead body of Dina, who has been cruelly raped and murdered. Effie, unable to cope with his grief, is overcome with madness.

As if in an ancient biblical scene, he cuts his lover’s body into 12 pieces, intending to forward them to those he thinks are the perpetrators. The two murderers are shot down by an anonymous sniper, but Lizzy is convinced that someone has hired the snipers. Her investigation leads her and Ronnie to Switzerland where Ehud Leon is vacationing with his wife and friends. Has Leon, who has failed to take control of Moshik’s land, vindictively given instructions to murder Dina in order to punish her father? Is he responsible for the other killings, including those of the senior police commander? A turn in the investigation leads in a completely new and unexpected direction, focusing on Professor Bamberg and his family. Despite appearances of respectability, they have always made a point of avenging those that have harmed them: An eye for an eye.