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Broken Code

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Amos thought he’d seen everything… but then along came gorgeous Gabriel!

Amos Barda, a typical Israeli macho man and well-known womanizer, meets beautiful Gabriel, who turns his head and breaks through the many walls of his heart. The love affair between these two highly adventurous individuals leads to some international complications. Gabriel’s father, an agent of the infamous German Stasi turned CIA agent, has in his possession some highly confidential documents wanted by both the Americans and the Soviet Union. He is forced to go underground in order to protect his daughter after the assassination of his beloved wife.

Can Amos outmaneuver spies the world over to save his main lady?

Amos’s relationship with Gabriel’s drags him into a crazy international espionage story, and this former Israeli combat soldier with a rich life story manages to fool the CIA, KGB, and Israeli Security Agency. Amos becomes an Israeli James Bond, but can he rescue the love of his life in this sensual, electrifying tale of adventure?

401 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 26, 2018

29 people are currently reading
25 people want to read

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Rafael Malul

3 books

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Grady.
Author 51 books1,825 followers
October 21, 2018
‘Russia is open to exchanging American spies for Russian spies.’

Israeli author/singer/songwriter Rafael Malul was born in a small town in the northern region of Israel, a town often bombed by its Lebanese neighbors. A son of Tunisian immigrants who came to Israel in the early fifties, he graduated from high school and joined the Israeli army like everybody else. Once discharged he moved to a kibbutz, where he lived for eight years before moving with his wife and daughter to Switzerland, where he has been living for the past twenty-five years. BROKEN CODE is his debut novel.

Rafael’s language is very raw, but the flavor of his writing is rhythmical with references to music and bears sharing for an introduction to his style – ‘I ask for a gin and tonic Daniel asks for some vodka and coke. The server politely pours us our drinks and Daniel tips him 50 Shekels. “Thank you so much,” says the server before moving on to the other guests. Chris De Burgh’s famous song “The Lady in Red” plays in my head as a smiling dude wearing a shiny black tuxedo accompanied by a stunning woman in a tight red dress walks towards us. The dude in the tuxedo hugs Daniel, Daniel introduces him as the proprietor of the house, his friend, Bono. “Bono, are you for real?” I wonder out loud. He laughs and says: “I know, that U2 lead singer stole my act. I don’t get the resemblance, maybe it’s something to do with the nose, I guess the name just stuck.” “Nice meeting you. I’m Amos,” I say. “This is my girlfriend, Gabriel,” Bono introduces us before moving on to some other guests. Daniel too embarrassed to say anything takes a large swig from his vodka and coke, leaving me to interact with this divine creature standing before us. “Gabriel doesn’t sound like an Israeli name,” I say hesitantly. She smiles looking at me with a steadfast gaze, a gaze I recognize only too well. “What do you do for a living?” I ask her sipping from my gin and tonic. “I don’t do anything. I enjoy life, that’s all I do… I’m busy doing nothing,” she responds. I’m blushing. How exactly am I supposed to answer that question? For the first time ever Amos, the infamous ladies’ man is lost for words. “That’s a gorgeous dress,” Daniel saves the day. Great, now I owe Daniel for saving me, and if there’s one thing I dislike it is owing Daniel. “Thanks,” she responds smiling, and then turns back to me, “where are you from, and what do you do for a living? I hope your job is more interesting than mine.” “I wouldn’t mind doing what you do, babe,” I think to myself. “I come from Michmanim, up in the beautiful north by Karmiel, and I work in IT. I commute to Tel-Aviv every day, about an hour and a half drive each way,” I answer.’

Once captivated by his writing style the story proceeds as c=follows – ‘Amos thought he’d seen everything… but then along came gorgeous Gabriel! Amos Barda, a typical Israeli macho man and well-known womanizer, meets beautiful Gabriel, who turns his head and breaks through the many walls of his heart. The love affair between these two highly adventurous individuals leads to some international complications. Gabriel’s father, an agent of the infamous German Stasi turned CIA agent, has in his possession some highly confidential documents wanted by both the Americans and the Soviet Union. He is forced to go underground in order to protect his daughter after the assassination of his beloved wife. Can Amos outmaneuver spies the world over to save his main lady? Amos’s relationship with Gabriel drags him into a crazy international espionage story, and this former Israeli combat soldier with a rich life story manages to fool the CIA, KGB, and Israeli Security Agency. Amos becomes an Israeli James Bond, but can he rescue the love of his life in this sensual, electrifying tale of adventure?

Sparks fly, and the story is successful on every turn. It will be interesting to observe this aspect of the career of this multitalented artist!
Profile Image for Jaideep Khanduja.
Author 3 books156 followers
October 2, 2018
Broken Code is an interesting story by Rafael Malul. I will call it a story of controversies, conspiracies, complications, assassinations, and adventures. This is a love story of Amos Barda, an Israeli macho man, and a beautiful girl Gabriel. Before Amos meets Gabriel, he was under an impression that he has witnessed the most beautiful girls in his life. But that belief is broken the moment he meets Gabriel. At that moment Amos never knew what all turmoils will enter his life along with the entry of Gabriel. It is actually Gabriel's father who becomes a trigger of all this turmoil in everybody's life. The interesting part is to read how Amos and Gabriel handle it intelligently and beautifully.
Profile Image for Píaras Cíonnaoíth.
Author 143 books201 followers
October 2, 2018
Fifty Shades of Grey meets James Bond!

Author Rafael Malul weaves a gripping and fascinating espionage tale that will easily captivate the reader’s attention from the beginning. The author paints a compelling and intriguing atmospheric thriller in a very vivid and convincing way. In addition, the characters are drawn with great credibility and conviction. It’s a fast-paced novel that will keep you engaged from the first page to the last.

The book description gives a sneak preview: ‘Amos Barda, a typical Israeli macho man and well-known womanizer, meets beautiful Gabriel, who turns his head and breaks through the many walls of his heart. The love affair between these two highly adventurous individuals leads to some international complications. Gabriel’s father, an agent of the infamous German Stasi turned CIA agent, has in his possession some highly confidential documents wanted by both the Americans and the Soviet Union. He is forced to go underground in order to protect his daughter after the assassination of his beloved wife.

Amos’s relationship with Gabriel’s drags him into a crazy international espionage story, and this former Israeli combat soldier with a rich life story manages to fool the CIA, KGB, and Israeli Security Agency. Amos becomes an Israeli James Bond, but can he rescue the love of his life in this sensual, electrifying tale of adventure?’

Now, if that’s not enough to whet your appetite, I don’t know what will. But if you want to find out what happens, you’ll just have to turn the pages for yourself! However, I will say it was well worth the read. It’s my first time reading this author and I must say I was very impressed.

The story had every element a good story should have. An intriguing plot, attention to detail, but best of all fleshed out, well-written and well-rounded character development. There’s an abundance of well-illustrated scenes that make you feel like you are right there in the story, and that’s something I really look for in a good book.

Captivating and commendable, this work had me immersed from the beginning. It’s an electrifying fiction fully loaded with love, passion and witty dialogue. The story flowed from scene to scene with ease, and the author shows exceptional ability when it comes to storytelling. There are plenty of attention-grabbing moments in this page turner that will take the reader on a truly fascinating and gripping journey. The erotica is accomplished in the delivery of exciting and titillating prose. From mild illusions through detailed, sexy scenes, the concept is wonderfully delivered in truly amazing writing.

It’s one of those books that come along occasionally that makes you want to read it non-stop until you get to the end. I’m giving nothing further away here. And this, I hope, will only add to the mystery and enjoyment for the reader.

If this book is anything to go by, I’ll certainly be looking forward to reading more from Rafael Malul in the future. It also has a distinctly cinematic feel to it and I could easily see it being adapted for a made-for-TV movie or even the silver screen. A well-deserved five stars from me.
1,217 reviews30 followers
December 5, 2018
I received a copy of this book from the author through Voracious Reader in exchange for an honest review. When I started this book I was not prepared to enjoy it as Amos, the main character, spent the opening pages engaged in sex with any willing partner he could find. Attending a party with a friend, he meets Gabriel, the girlfriend of the host, and feels he has finally met the woman of his dreams. Once Amos becomes involved with Gabriel the story takes off and I totally enjoyed the rest of this book. It became a thriller with ties to the Cold War that involved the intelligence services of the U.S., Russia and Israel.

Gabriel was raised by her aunt after the death of her parents. Her father, however, has been in hiding from the CIA for years. As an agent of the East German Stasi, he had received documents that revealed the identities of American and Russian agents.when his source and his wife were murdered he faked his own death. He has been out of his daughter’s life for too long and it is time for him to surface. That action puts the agencies on the alert and his daughter in danger. It falls to Amos to draw on skills developed in the Israeli military and now as an IT specialist to keep Gabriel safe and help her father to safely negotiate with the Americans and Russians.

Rafael Malul provides some edge-of-your-seat moments that will satisfy any thriller fan. If you enjoy James Bond or Alex Hawk novels then I recommend reading Broken Code
Profile Image for Majanka.
Author 70 books404 followers
November 7, 2018
Book Review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/reviews/...

In Broken Code, protagonist Amos Barda is a womanizer in the vein of James Bond, not looking to settle down any time soon, and always looking for the thrill of adventure. But then he meets Gabriel, who turns his world upside down. As adventurous as he is, as beautiful as he could ever imagined, Gabriel is everything Amos ever dreamed of. But Gabriel’s father is a former Stasi-agent now turned CIA, and he has several documents in his possession that both the Soviet Union and the USA want, at any cost, and he’s forced to go into hiding in order to protect his daughter.

If Amos wants to protect his Gabriel, he’ll have to outmanouver the CIA, KGB and the Israeli Security Agency, all at the same time.

The writing in the book isn’t very lyrical – it’s down-to-earth in a rather raw, blunt style, but I didn’t really mind given the focus in the book was more on action and mystery than on writing anyway. The love story is a little predictable as well, but as it’s a side story and not the main focus, I didn’t mind. The mystery itself is a solid one, the thriller/espionage aspects are well thought through.

All in all, a good read for fans of epsionage/thrillers and James Bond.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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