The Burgas Affair by Ellis Shuman

The BurgasAffair is an international mystery and crime novel written by Ellis Shuman.

Ayala Navon is an Israeli intelligence analyst in Tel Aviv. Boyko Stanchev is a Bulgarian detective from the State Agency for National Security.

When a tourist bus exploded at Burgas Airport killing five Israelis and the Bulgarian driver, the Burgas police and its Israeli counterpart teamed up to investigate the bombing.

As a senior detective, Boyko felt let down when he was paired with the Israeli woman. Ayala, on the other hand, found Boyko arrogant and sexist. However, in the wake of the horrific terrorist attack, they have to work out their differences in order to get to the bottom of the case.

The book has a very promising start with, initially, a fast pacing. It has a solid plot with rich and substantial back stories told in vivid flashbacks. Indication of possible romance between the main protagonists lends a light hearted feeling to an otherwise serious and horrible bombing story.

However, with the introduction of back stories, the initially fast pacing slowed down reducing the level of suspense. Moreover, between the male and the female protagonists, I found Ayala a more likeable character than Boyko. There was simply too much to dislike with the male main character. Furthermore, though the ending was quite satisfactory, I found it a bit inconclusive. Finally, I noticed errors within the entire book which are thankfully very few.

Nevertheless, it was a great read, interesting, informative especially about Israeli culture, and suspenseful.

Congratulations to Ellis Shuman (@ellisshuman) on such an enjoyable book! For more books by the author, click HERE.