Assassin’s Lullaby by Mark Rubinstein | Book Review

“Is the worth of your life measured by the number of people who mourn for you? Perhaps it is.”

In every life, there lurks catastrophe. So believes Eli Dagan, a thirty-nine-year-old man whose traumatic past led to his service as an assassin for the Mossad. He now lives in New York City, where under various assumed names he’s a contract killer.

Anton Gorlov, the head of the Brooklyn-based Odessa mafia, has a new and challenging assignment for Eli. Gorlov wants to leave the country permanently, so all loose ends must be eliminated. He’s willing to pay $1 million for a task divided into two parts. The job involves extreme measures along with unprecedented danger for Eli, who has lived a ghostly existence over the last ten years.

Is accepting Gorlov’s offer a subliminal death wish? Or is it a way to reclaim part of his damaged soul?

For the first time since his pregnant wife and parents were killed by a suicide bomber years earlier, Eli Dagan faces challenges that will reconnect him with his blighted past and may yet offer hope for a new and better life.

I’d always wanted to read a Mark Rubinstein thriller but they were not available in India so I gave up looking for one. When I received an email offering a review copy a few weeks ago, I could hardly believe my luck.

Eli is legendary in his area of expertise but he decides to change his rules and reveal his identity, one he has protected with great care. When he is hired by Gorlov, he expects it to be his final mission before he gets out. But his game of life has other plans.

Assassin’ Lullaby reads like a playbook of a professional hit man’s routine. As we become familiar with Eli’s journey from Israel to New York, he dodges threat after threat with double crossing on all sides.

This spy thriller is intricately rolled in psychological suspense. The focus lies on the emotional aspect of being an assassin for hire amidst the paranoia, the thrill of the chase, the lure of unlimited money, and the greed for supreme power.

An edge of the seat action thriller, this is relentlessly paced and keeps you guessing with out-of-the-blue plot twists. As a longtime reader of the spy-thriller genre, I am curious to see where Eli goes next.

Assassin’s Lullaby by Mark Rubinstein. Published in June 2022 by Thunder Lake Press. This ARC courtesy of FSB Associates.

Book 33 of 2022.

Aquamarine Flavours Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟.

Available on Amazon*.

About Photo: Between the two Russian mafia leaders, Eli is caught in a maze with no one to trust and no way out.

This labyrinth pattern is made in cross-stitch on 14 count aida using stranded cotton embroidery yarn.

About the Author: Mark Rubinstein, a novelist, physician, and psychiatrist, has written eight nonfiction books, including The Storytellers. He has also written eight novels and novellas, including the Mad Dog trilogy and The Lovers’ Tango. He lives in Wilton, Connecticut.

You can connect with him on Twitter and Goodreads.

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