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The Menorah Men
Vintage paperback
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
About the author
Lionel Davidson
47 books90 followersAka David Line
Lionel Davidson was a three-times winner of the Gold Dagger Award (for The Night of Wenceslas, A Long Way to Shilo and The Chelsea Murders). His thrillers and adventure novels have won him enormous international acclaim. He also wrote children's books under the name of David Line.
See also Obituary at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obitu...
[this reference added 12-Aug-2013].
Lionel Davidson was a three-times winner of the Gold Dagger Award (for The Night of Wenceslas, A Long Way to Shilo and The Chelsea Murders). His thrillers and adventure novels have won him enormous international acclaim. He also wrote children's books under the name of David Line.
See also Obituary at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obitu...
[this reference added 12-Aug-2013].
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
April 5, 2026
Davidson is a strong writer,* but for me at least his plots have been a bit hit-or-miss. I first read The Rose of Tibet, which remains my favorite (as Tibet is a favorite setting); but then Kolymsky Heights (with its third act ) and The Night of Wenceslas were just so-so, plot-wise. And so I'd actually put off reading this one, as I've never been particularly enamored of the Middle East (much less Israel specifically) as a setting. But after an excruciatingly slow start, Davidson redeems himself here with a very Indiana Jones-like tale, with a little more realism and a lot less melting Nazis. So 3+ stars rounded up for being a pleasant surprise.
Aside from a few dated Danny Kaye and Marlon Brando references, the story and setting hold up pretty well sixty years later, since sadly, things haven't changed that much in the Levant. The main signs of age are the endless smoking and drinking, and an unfortunate, pre-"no means no" machismo bordering on sexual abuse that is all too reminiscent of Sean Connery forcing himself on Honor Blackman just two years earlier.**
Davidson was disappointingly...unprolific? Non-prolific?? Anyway — he didn't write a lot; producing only 5-6 "major" books in a 35-year career. So with this one, that's probably it for me — although I will go back and reread Tibet sometime soon.
ONE QUICK NOTE, as this is also something I was going to mention in an earlier review of some spy novel, but forgot to. Our hero here notes that "the hairs on the back of my neck began to bristle. I suddenly knew in my bones the area was right." (Similarly, in that forgotten spy story, that hero could just "feel" that he was being followed — as I recall, another "hairs on his neck" deal.) Yeeeaah...that's not how that shit works.
* I do like writers who introduce me to new vocabulary; in this case bilharzia, pakad, inspissated, and bouton; which as he uses it here, I STILL haven't figured out.
** It's amusing to note that in Anthony Horowitz's fairly recent "sequel" to Goldfinger, he has Bond and Pussy back in London and at least temporarily living together — and they are driving each other CRAZY.
____________________________________________
(This is the second of a half dozen used/cheap "read and toss" books brought on my current trip back to Taipei)
Aside from a few dated Danny Kaye and Marlon Brando references, the story and setting hold up pretty well sixty years later, since sadly, things haven't changed that much in the Levant. The main signs of age are the endless smoking and drinking, and an unfortunate, pre-"no means no" machismo bordering on sexual abuse that is all too reminiscent of Sean Connery forcing himself on Honor Blackman just two years earlier.**
Davidson was disappointingly...unprolific? Non-prolific?? Anyway — he didn't write a lot; producing only 5-6 "major" books in a 35-year career. So with this one, that's probably it for me — although I will go back and reread Tibet sometime soon.
ONE QUICK NOTE, as this is also something I was going to mention in an earlier review of some spy novel, but forgot to. Our hero here notes that "the hairs on the back of my neck began to bristle. I suddenly knew in my bones the area was right." (Similarly, in that forgotten spy story, that hero could just "feel" that he was being followed — as I recall, another "hairs on his neck" deal.) Yeeeaah...that's not how that shit works.
* I do like writers who introduce me to new vocabulary; in this case bilharzia, pakad, inspissated, and bouton; which as he uses it here, I STILL haven't figured out.
** It's amusing to note that in Anthony Horowitz's fairly recent "sequel" to Goldfinger, he has Bond and Pussy back in London and at least temporarily living together — and they are driving each other CRAZY.
____________________________________________
(This is the second of a half dozen used/cheap "read and toss" books brought on my current trip back to Taipei)
July 12, 2016
I did not enjoy this one much. It started of well but went down for me. I got so bored with it, at around two-thirds of the book that I was literally waiting for the book to end. And now it had ! Finally!! Thank Goodness.
I started this one, because the location was in Israel, Israel as in the early 1960s, and that was the only good part although not great, ... simply good. The plot was okay. But dips down later. Ending was worse.
I did not like or even enjoy the author's writing style. Sometimes got really confusing. Descriptions were boring. I will not be reading any of his books again, considering there is so much else to read.
Suggested only if one likes or loves reading a thriller (and one might just find giving it at least a 3-star), or if one wants to simply read a story set in the early 1960s in Israel. :)
I started this one, because the location was in Israel, Israel as in the early 1960s, and that was the only good part although not great, ... simply good. The plot was okay. But dips down later. Ending was worse.
I did not like or even enjoy the author's writing style. Sometimes got really confusing. Descriptions were boring. I will not be reading any of his books again, considering there is so much else to read.
Suggested only if one likes or loves reading a thriller (and one might just find giving it at least a 3-star), or if one wants to simply read a story set in the early 1960s in Israel. :)
August 14, 2011
A British archaeologist is asked to help in the search for an ancient scroll buried in Israel. At first, I thought the writing a bit dated (the book was published in 1966), but it didn't take me long to get used to it. The fun of reading this is in the story and in watching the puzzle unfold, not in the characters. Many of the characters weren't well-developed at all. And I actually didn't find the protagonist very likable; but I still eventually got caught up with him in the search for the scroll and the secret it would reveal.
May 9, 2023
I was expecting to roll back the years and enjoy a rollicking adventure yarn. I was sorely disappointed.
This book was the first one I heard under the covers in bed squeaking from my radio earphones. It seemed to convey me to a magical place in a kingdom far away.
In fact it instilled a long love of audiobooks and radio drama.
Sadly, those cherished memories did not spring to life, they were instead somehow enervatingly weak. The tale of hidden treasure in Israel has won plenty of plaudits and took a dagger award but I felt it far too pedestrian for a supposed thriller.
This book was the first one I heard under the covers in bed squeaking from my radio earphones. It seemed to convey me to a magical place in a kingdom far away.
In fact it instilled a long love of audiobooks and radio drama.
Sadly, those cherished memories did not spring to life, they were instead somehow enervatingly weak. The tale of hidden treasure in Israel has won plenty of plaudits and took a dagger award but I felt it far too pedestrian for a supposed thriller.
March 14, 2018
A Long Way to Shilo starts with a fascinating opening chapter that sets up the plot. Without giving too much away, the action takes place in Israel and Davidson's vivid descriptions read more like a travelogue than a vehicle for the plot. Written in 1966, its very much of its time, dialogue falls occasionally flat along with characterisation. But not a patch on his previous works. It does though give a taster of what is to come when his writing truly takes off in Kolmysky Heights.
May 16, 2018
Didn't enjoy this at all, which is a shame because the actual plot could have (and should have been) excellent. Not a spy thriller, more an adventure novel. Boring, dull, tedious, flat. Oh and the lead character is a DICK. Even more so then the one in the other boring Davidson novel I read. I won't be picking up any more Davidsons, sorry Lionel.
April 12, 2018
One of the most fascinating books I have read on "history". Fascinating account of the life and times of the day. Beautifully written and easily read. Highly recommend.
June 14, 2018
The book is a Pure Joy ! Witty, Intelligent & a genuine Thriller ! The construction is superb, taught & pacey ! It has become firmly established as my Favourite novel !!
February 10, 2026
A couple of years ago I re-read Lionel Davidson’s Kolymsky Heights from the 1999os and confirmed my first impression of it as one of the greatest thrillers I’ve ever read. I decided to try A Long Way to Shiloh, first published in 1966 and widely acclaimed as another of his best books, which I somehow missed out on. It is very good indeed, but Kolymsky still gets my gong!
A young British professor academic is invited to Israel to follow the clues from a newly discovered Scroll to the location of an historical artefact of inestimable value to world Jewry. Initially reluctant, he goes to Israel and is soon fighting Israeli bureaucracy as well as the obstacles provided by military security in this most paranoid of states (with some justification). Rather a naughty boy, Caspar relentlessly pursues a young female interpreter on the team even though she already has a fiancé.
The writer who kept coming to my mind was Hammond Innes, whose adventure stories I read avidly in the 1950s and 60s. Writing about an Arctic landscape, Innes could make you shiver on a midsummer Mediterranean beach. Lionel Davidson has a similar gift for evoking a location so vividly that he takes your senses there. The Judean wilderness is “a place of jackals and prophets, very old, very dry, very dead.” The chapter in which Caspar hunts for a hidden cave in the hills above the Dead Sea has all the nail-biting tension of an Indiana Jones movie.
Lionel Davidson died in 2009 but his thrillers are still in print. You’ve got a major treat in store if you’ve not read him before. I intend to catch up on some more of his books.
A young British professor academic is invited to Israel to follow the clues from a newly discovered Scroll to the location of an historical artefact of inestimable value to world Jewry. Initially reluctant, he goes to Israel and is soon fighting Israeli bureaucracy as well as the obstacles provided by military security in this most paranoid of states (with some justification). Rather a naughty boy, Caspar relentlessly pursues a young female interpreter on the team even though she already has a fiancé.
The writer who kept coming to my mind was Hammond Innes, whose adventure stories I read avidly in the 1950s and 60s. Writing about an Arctic landscape, Innes could make you shiver on a midsummer Mediterranean beach. Lionel Davidson has a similar gift for evoking a location so vividly that he takes your senses there. The Judean wilderness is “a place of jackals and prophets, very old, very dry, very dead.” The chapter in which Caspar hunts for a hidden cave in the hills above the Dead Sea has all the nail-biting tension of an Indiana Jones movie.
Lionel Davidson died in 2009 but his thrillers are still in print. You’ve got a major treat in store if you’ve not read him before. I intend to catch up on some more of his books.
November 11, 2017
A Long Way to Shiloh lacks the dramatic tension in Lionel Davidson's other novels but the search for a lost treasure in Israel is interesting and has some successful aspects.
The search for the Menorah from the The Temple is challenging as the archaeologists try to decipher an ancient text and attempt to locate the landscape in the text but there is no sense of threat from any source and that is a weakness in the novel. There is a suggestion that another group are seeking the same treasure but they provide no dramatic opposition to the team at the centre of the story.
The central character of Caspar Laing is unsympathetic and it is difficult to feel any sense of engagement with his search for the hidden treasure - I was not sure that I wanted him to succeed!
The search for the Menorah from the The Temple is challenging as the archaeologists try to decipher an ancient text and attempt to locate the landscape in the text but there is no sense of threat from any source and that is a weakness in the novel. There is a suggestion that another group are seeking the same treasure but they provide no dramatic opposition to the team at the centre of the story.
The central character of Caspar Laing is unsympathetic and it is difficult to feel any sense of engagement with his search for the hidden treasure - I was not sure that I wanted him to succeed!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2019
This one is old-style thriller. Pace is intentionally slowed down for the sake of side-quests so to speak - like romance between a main character and soldier woman tasked with protecting him or constant verbal battles between main character and his academia opponents - and this has a direct effect on the story itself.
If you like slow paced thrillers that takes time to give you background on a society (be it England or Israel) then this is book for you.
If you are expecting fast paced action story - then you might want to skip this one.
Action scenes are frenetic and very realistic. I truly enjoyed them, just wished there was more actual action than talk.
All in all highly recommended to all fans of good adventure story.
If you like slow paced thrillers that takes time to give you background on a society (be it England or Israel) then this is book for you.
If you are expecting fast paced action story - then you might want to skip this one.
Action scenes are frenetic and very realistic. I truly enjoyed them, just wished there was more actual action than talk.
All in all highly recommended to all fans of good adventure story.
January 15, 2022
This book was written in 1962, according to the copyright information, though Wikipedia says it was first published in 1966. Whichever date is true, and of course they both could be, this is set before the seven days war in 1967 when the boundaries in the area changed somewhat.
There are parts of this book that I really liked, the history of the area is fascinating, but for me there are two main drawbacks to it. Probably the most important, for me, is that I really didn’t like the main character, sometimes you can overlook that, but here the main character is the narrator of the story. The other drawback is the way the book starts and ends. Why were the Birkett’s introduced, what was their role, just why? And the being was disappointing, maybe realistic but very disappointing.
There are parts of this book that I really liked, the history of the area is fascinating, but for me there are two main drawbacks to it. Probably the most important, for me, is that I really didn’t like the main character, sometimes you can overlook that, but here the main character is the narrator of the story. The other drawback is the way the book starts and ends. Why were the Birkett’s introduced, what was their role, just why? And the being was disappointing, maybe realistic but very disappointing.
August 12, 2022
A scroll is found in the Judean desert that hints at the place where a menorah from the Second Temple is buried. In comes Caspar, the professor of antiquities, to help find it. Straightforward plot. Some Indiana Jones. Caspar is a womanizer and drinker. Too much of the book is about his drinking and trying to seduce his 21-year-old female driver who happens to be an Israeli solider. Not a great book.
Saving grace is a well-researched history of the time around destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) and the wonder of Israel. The book was published in 1966 so Israel - history, geography, people - is still something of a novelty.
Saving grace is a well-researched history of the time around destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) and the wonder of Israel. The book was published in 1966 so Israel - history, geography, people - is still something of a novelty.
December 10, 2022
3.5/5
An odd book to review. I enjoyed the setting, based in Israel and some aspects of the bordering countries, it was interesting to experience the history of that part of the world. I wasn't overly fond of either of the main characters as the lead was a rather arrogant scholar and his assistant changed her personality almost entirely throughout the course of the book. The plot was interesting but not that exciting, they have an ancient scroll with missing passages and they are on the hunt for a priceless religious artefact.
Overall, it was OK, the religious intrigue and how it all linked together was probably the best part!
An odd book to review. I enjoyed the setting, based in Israel and some aspects of the bordering countries, it was interesting to experience the history of that part of the world. I wasn't overly fond of either of the main characters as the lead was a rather arrogant scholar and his assistant changed her personality almost entirely throughout the course of the book. The plot was interesting but not that exciting, they have an ancient scroll with missing passages and they are on the hunt for a priceless religious artefact.
Overall, it was OK, the religious intrigue and how it all linked together was probably the best part!
June 11, 2017
Though not as good as Kolymsky Heights, the book is still pretty good. The search for the Menorrah with the help of a nubile Israeli Army soldier, leads Caspar Laing through hair raising adventures, as the Arabs have got wind of the search and are prepared to kill for it. The clues to the search are convulated leading to several dead ends. The protagonist is at times hindered by his own people as his instincts are at times contrary to logic. The book is worth reading as it keeps you glued to its pages
January 27, 2022
This book was rather dull until the last 45 pages or so and ended again on a dull note. The characters were quite flat and the plot ended essentially where it had started, leaving little arc for character growth or development. I gave it 3 stars because there were sparse areas of the novel where I did want to continue reading but for the most part, I was reading to finish the book, not for enjoyment.
August 11, 2019
Quite an eccentric thriller with a strong whiff of the 60s. The author seems to delight in a grotesque, sadistic humour which reduces the protagonist to his bare essentials - literally at the climax of the story. Reminiscent of Greene and Ambler, but with a distinctive, unusual voice and vision particular to Davidson.
August 15, 2019
Not as good as some of his others and quite dated. I think it was written in 1966. However, it is a lot of fun and some of the language is genuinely poetic.
The descriptions of the desert landscape are really evocative and the author is obviously a real authority on Jewish and middle Eastern history.
I enjoyed it immensely.
The descriptions of the desert landscape are really evocative and the author is obviously a real authority on Jewish and middle Eastern history.
I enjoyed it immensely.
August 4, 2019
First published in the Sixties and the style reflects that fact. Short on violence and what sexual encounters there are are low key and not described in detail. That doesn’t detract from the story however which is written intelligently and with respect for the reader.
November 13, 2017
a good read but not as good as other Davidsons.
August 6, 2018
Looking for a Menorah in all the wrong places.
November 6, 2018
A truly great ripping yarn.
April 28, 2019
A clever-clever book. Like wading through mud. Avoid.
Read
June 17, 2023Furchtbar geschrieben....
Read
February 13, 2024DNF
March 1, 2024
That was strange. Very unsatisfactory ending in my opinion.
May 8, 2025
3.5 stars
July 12, 2021
This was my very first Lionel Davidson novel. I loved the subject matter (because I'm very interested in comparative religion and archeology), and I thoroughly enjoyed the writer's sense of humor (many, many chuckles). Thankfully, the 1960s male chauvinism, heavy drinking, chain smoking, bossa nova dancing, and skirt-chasing is a thing of the past?
August 25, 2016
I like Lionel Davidson's books. Generally I like thrillers from the 50s and 60s or earlier (Eric Ambler), because of the rather refreshing old fashioned, clipped & concise English usage and pared down plots. Sometimes the occasional unreconstructed male approach to sex can grate but you can forgive that for the time and in many ways it's again quite refreshing. But this genre of thrillers are sometimes diamonds in the rough and this is a good example of that. The plot development is OK but the narrative is a bit confusing at times. I would recommend this one much less enthusiastically than others by LD. It's not as good as The Rose of Tibet for example. I was introduced to LD about eighteen months ago when I received Kolymsky Heights as a gift. I have this thing about reading authors chronologically so I haven't got round to it yet. People tell me that this is his best so am looking forward to it.
November 8, 2016
A Long Way to Shiloh was an interesting rather than an exciting novel. Set predominantly in modern day Israel, it tells of the hunt for a sacred lamp last seen when the Romans sacked the Temple in Jerusalem two thousand years ago.
It's easy to read and the author's characterisation is very strong. Davidson has undertaken a great deal of research and his location descriptions are superb. Unlike his seven other brilliant adult novels, however, A Long Way to Shiloh lacks real menace and excitement.
David Lowther. author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War, all published by Sacristy Press.
It's easy to read and the author's characterisation is very strong. Davidson has undertaken a great deal of research and his location descriptions are superb. Unlike his seven other brilliant adult novels, however, A Long Way to Shiloh lacks real menace and excitement.
David Lowther. author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War, all published by Sacristy Press.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews