"He's thinking that the moon is the most beautiful he's ever seen when he hits the man." The opening line of Ayelet Gundar-Goshen's intense, edgy Waking Lions perfectly captures the moment when Dr. Eitan Green's life changes forever. Eitan, a successful brain surgeon and father of two, has always been a kind and caring person. But his recent forced transfer from Tel Aviv to small town Beersheba (after he threatened to expose corruption in the Tel Aviv hospital) has embittered him. One night, in a fit of rage after an endless shift, he drives recklessly through the Israeli desert on his way home, and hits and kills an illegal Eritrean immigrant.
Knowing that his family's life would be forever altered, Eitan makes the split-second decision to flee the scene of the accident. But the next day the immigrant's widow shows up at Eitan's door, holding his wallet and making extraordinary demands. As Waking Lions unfolds, Eitan must decide how far he will go to keep his actions a secret from his wife, Liat, a police detective.
Tense from the very beginning, as Eitan's anger seeps through the page, Waking Lions is immensely suspenseful. Ayelet Gundar-Goshen's (One Night, Markovitch) alarmingly realistic and superbly written novel will leave readers wondering what they might be capable of under duress, and what makes a good person do such an awful thing--and if a marriage can survive such deception. The difficult decisions faced by Eitan, Liat and the Eritrean community are haunting. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm