Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

I am Not A Traitor

Rate this book
Henry Stein is a former Israeli Navy cook with a huge secret…

Dive into the story of an exciting espionage case that takes place in the most covert unit of the Israeli Defense Forces. Henry Stein, the 50-year-old veteran chef of the Israeli Navy’s submarine fleet is laid off from his job after thirty years. Due to his big secret, he cannot reveal this fact to anyone, not even to his wife.
A secret that is intertwined with a serious of international calamities

How does his secret relate to the murder of his grandmother in London thirty-five years ago, to the arrest of his backpacker daughter in Colombia, to his love affair with a sexy Korean-American who almost gets him killed, and to his longstanding personal relationship with the British MI6?
A compulsive page-turner full of courage, terror, and passion

Step by step, the secret life of the “innocent cook” is exposed. As he fights a war of survival opposite the CIA, MI6 and the Israeli Mossad, he is revealed as a courageous man who follows his heart, until the arrival of the inevitable moment when he must decide once and for all where his loyalty lies—with his country or with his homeland.

428 pages, Paperback

Published July 20, 2017

27 people are currently reading
32 people want to read

About the author

Y.I. Latz

2 books3 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
13 (40%)
4 stars
7 (21%)
3 stars
6 (18%)
2 stars
5 (15%)
1 star
1 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Profile Image for Rajan.
637 reviews41 followers
August 12, 2017
I am a sucker for spy books. These appeal to us because of thrills and edge of the seat adventure factor. This is also one of them and involves Mosaad, one of the most feared agencies.

Henry Stein finds himself in the prison in opening chapter. He is there on espionage charge for CIA. His sexy Korean girlfriend is allegedly a CIA operative. He works in Navy as a Chef so it is easy to roam inside the most secret meetings. His wife has an affair with a fruit seller. His daughter is missing, maybe kidnapped. Is he a traitor?

The book is pretty straight and sedate. The story couldn’t keep me engrossed. Motivation of main characters is not understood by me. What is Singer doing with a loser like Stein? Marina and Jimmy came out as idiots. Shin is manipulative or is she? And the track about his daughter and wife is totally tangential.

My main peeve is that there are 3 allies: USA, Great Britain and Israel. They maybe spying on each other. But will they go to war? Maybe in a very unlike scenario, but I can envisage none. Iran or Palestine will be a better choice.

Is he a traitor? I don’t know. But I was bored to death that I know for sure.

I give this book 2.5 / 5 stars.


Where to buy:

https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Traitor...

Blurb:

Henry Stein is a former Israeli Navy cook with a huge secret…

Dive into the story of an exciting espionage case that takes place in the most covert unit of the Israeli Defense Forces. Henry Stein, the 50-year-old veteran chef of the Israeli Navy’s submarine fleet is laid off from his job after thirty years. Due to his big secret, he cannot reveal this fact to anyone, not even to his wife.

A secret that is intertwined with a serious of international calamities
How does his secret relate to the murder of his grandmother in London thirty-five years ago, to the arrest of his backpacker daughter in Colombia, to his love affair with a sexy Korean-American who almost gets him killed, and to his longstanding personal relationship with the British MI6?

A compulsive page-turner full of courage, terror, and passion
Step by step, the secret life of the “innocent cook” is exposed. As he fights a war of survival opposite the CIA, MI6 and the Israeli Mossad, he is revealed as a courageous man who follows his heart, until the arrival of the inevitable moment when he must decide once and for all where his loyalty lies—with his country or with his homeland.

From the Author
I've always been interested in people who are living a lie. I do not mean petty criminals, who deny every crime they have ever committed even if they were caught in the act by security cameras, but rather "ordinary" people, like you and me, who decide to choose lies as a way of life.
From spies and intelligence personnel to "white collar" criminals, who, one fine day, drop out of their routine life and embark on a "new career," known only to them. This sort of double life is a central axis of this book as well as of my other novels.

Profile Image for Alicia Huxtable.
1,887 reviews59 followers
August 21, 2017
I was rather surprised at how engaging this book was..... right from the first chapter. Halfway through I was scratching my head trying to work out of this poor Jewish man was a knowing traitor, and unknowing traitor...... or even a traitor at all. The characters were all so well written that at the end I found I didn't want the story to be over.
Profile Image for Jaideep Khanduja.
Author 3 books156 followers
August 2, 2017
http://pebbleinthestillwaters.com/i-a...

A Piece of Sheer Thrill Throughout

I Am Not A Traitor by Y I Latz is a piece of sheer thrill throughout. It is a good plot that takes you along an engrossing story. The story, in fact, creates a connect right in the beginning. As a matter of fact, that connect stays intact till the end of the story. The evolution of characters is quite significant. The story revolves around Henry Stein, the central character of the story. Henry is a 50-year-old chef working with Israeli Navy. He is part of the Israeli Navy submarine fleet. A shock encountering moment comes in his life when his employer lays him off from his job. It is shocking because it comes after a successful tenure of thirty years. Despite this being a big shock of his life, he has to absorb it all. Henry can't even share this shocking news with his wife.

I Am Not A Traitor by Y I Latz is a bundle of secrets, suspense, and thrill. Henry's story is not a simple one. It reveals a number of secrets and there is a reason to look back in his past. What happened thirty-five years ago is something that becomes the reason of shock in his present. The secret of losing his job after thirty years takes him back to the murder of his grandmother in London. And it connects back not only to the murder but also to the arrest of his daughter in Colombia. And once he goes back to his past, his love affair also comes into the picture. It is as if the secrets of his life unfold in a planned manner. Probably somewhere someone is eager to expose him by revealing secrets of his past. And then comes the biggest conflict in his life.

Fighting against three strong opponents - the British, Israeli, and US intelligence forces Henry has to meet the moment of truth. It is a truth that creates the biggest conflict in his life. The truth that demands a clarity of his loyalty. He has to choose between his country of birth and homeland. There is a lot more to encounter. In fact, you need to grab a copy of I Am Not A Traitor to delve into the story that is full of thrill.
Profile Image for Majanka.
Author 70 books404 followers
August 21, 2017
Book Review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/reviews/...

I’m not usually a fan of espionage novels. I find them often over the top, and not that entertaining – I prefer to watch movies about the topic, to be honest. Still, I Am Not A Traitor did something for me that most espionage novels can’t: it made me care about the main character. Despite his many flaws, not least of all having an affair with a sexy Korean-American who is an alleged CIA operative, I did like Henry Stein.

Henry Stein was a former Navy cook, with thirty years experience, until he’s laid off. But he may have been more than a cook all these years… And as his enemies rally against him, he’ll have to decide once and for all where his royalties lie.

The book reads like watching a movie. The scenes unfold at record-speed, right in front of the reader’s eyes. The characters are endaring, especially Henry Stein himself, and the writing is fast-paced, kind of like being on a rollercoaster of excitement.

Recommend to people who enjoy thrillers and espionage books.
Profile Image for Chessy The Cat.
340 reviews28 followers
November 10, 2017
Henry Stein is living a life of lies, of secrets, of regrets. Before him now is the toughest decision he has ever faced. He must choose between Israel where he currently lives and has served in the military or England where he was born and raised and became a member of MI6.

Latz’s novel, I Am Not a Traitor, is an international spy thriller. The pace is very slow. It starts with Henry imprisoned suspected of treason against Israel. And, it drags on from there. There is no predictability with the story as I lost interest by chapter 13.

The writing is good. It’s the storytelling that is painful. The first 10 chapters are of him being interrogated repeatedly. Very little is revealed during this time. It had potential.

2 out of 5 stars.

I received this book for free from the author. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Profile Image for Brian Borgford.
Author 48 books9 followers
December 17, 2017
Unique and well-crafted spy thriller.
I reluctant to give five-star ratings but this one deserved it. It took a while to get into it, but the effort was well worth it.
The story kept me intrigued and guessing throughout. It was often hard to sympathize with the protagonist due to his many flaws, frailties and insecurities. But I was still rooting for him right to the end. Written in the present tense with long flashbacks added to the constant suspense. I was fully entertained right to the somewhat surprising conclusion.
5,704 reviews38 followers
December 2, 2017
i am going to admit.. this just wasnt my type of story at all.. it was super slow in the beginning.. it did get faster and better as it went on but it just wasnt my thing.. the good things were the characters were interesting.. and the writing wasnt bad once it got faster . i am glad i got to review it
Profile Image for Marbea Logan.
1,288 reviews17 followers
July 25, 2020
I got 62% finished with the book and even that was a struggle. I waited for the excitement ,suspense,imagery,explosivve dialogue it just wasn't their. The monologue fell flat like a hurried run on sentence with no interesting plot. The characters read like the screening test of a bad low budget B-Movie...
Profile Image for Namrata Ganti.
502 reviews52 followers
October 15, 2017
Set in Israel, this story follows the life of Henry Stein as he deals with the loss of his job and the events that unfold after. The reader is given a glimpse into the world of the Israeli Mossad and the working of the CIA and MI6. How are all these agencies involved? How is Henry Stein suddenly in the middle of all this?

All the above questions are answered as the reader progresses through the story. We meet Henry's wife and child, explore his life and as time passes, we are shown glimpses of the person he really is as well as his past. So many secrets, so many lies, some told to protect loved ones, some for selfish reasons, the author strives to reveal them all one by one as the story progresses. Henry is fighting to prove his innocence without revealing well kept secrets, which are on the brink of being exposed.

A story with a decent plot there are elements to the story that will keep the reader hooked. However, there were a few parts of the story that seemed to drag on and didn't sit well with me, as well as the introduction of some very random characters who didn't seem to add much value to the plot. Overall though, this story is an interesting read, exposing a lot of what happens behind closed doors and how spies work. It also shows how countries work at large and loosely helps the reader understand a world otherwise not very well-known. It shows us what a person can do for the love of a country, for his loved ones and above all for himself as well. It brings out the courage required to hold true to a story and stand for what you think or know is right.
2 reviews
Want to read
October 4, 2017

I am not a traitor
For every lover of spy novels this book is a must, is he or is he not a traitor? What happens to someone who’s life depends of keeping a secret , this is a fascinating read it is not only a well-crafted thriller but it delves into real moral questions of loyalty and humanity, Latz has great ability to take the reader into a place and a time that feels true, his characters are real and the plot is fascinating the book is full of surprises with twists and turns , I loved the fact that the more problems and difficulties the hero encounters the more ingenious and clever his solutions become .As in his previous book (Roller coaster in Teheran) the hero of the book is an ordinary man faced with extraordinary problems he learns to improvise on the run as the clock is ticking. This is a very satisfying book I cannot wait for Latz’s next book.
Yaron Svoray
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.