"The Collaborator of Bethlehem" by Matt Rees Book Review
This month I decided to take a slight departure from my usual reading fare and venture into a murder mystery. I am no stranger to the genre as I am familiar with Agatha Christie, of course, and the Hamish Macbeth series by M. C. Beaton is a favorite of mine. “The Collaborator of Bethlehem” by Matt Beynon Rees is a murder mystery based on current events. It was this fact that drew me to the book. “The Collaborator of Bethlehem” is the first in a series where “Omar Yussef” an aging Palestinian teacher is the main character. Just before the first chapter starts, a disclaimer states that all the crimes in the book are real, even though the names have been changed. This truly does set the tone for the entire book. The story begins with Omar Yussef having lunch with one of his former students and shortly after establishing the characters, the violence commences. Omar Yussef is an artfully developed protagonist. He is neither the typical hero nor the typical anti-hero. He is an...