Gundar-Goshen's gripping second novel twists and turns like a thriller, and it is particularly impressive in its moral ambiguities The Sunday Times Waking Lions is a classy, suspenseful tale of survival where the good guys and the bad guys are harder to distinguish than you might think. The implications of Gundar-Goshen's work extend far beyond its Israeli setting and shine a penetrating light into the dark corners of our safe lives The Times Tense thriller set among Israel's illegal immigrant community -- Mariella Frostrup Observer Window to a secret world... beautifully translated -- Mariella Frostrup Observer, Books of the Year 2016 A literary thriller that is used as a vehicle to explore big moral issues. I loved everything about it Daily Mail The highly anticipated second novel [by Gundar-Goshen]... this novel proves it's not every day a writer like this comes our way Guardian An absorbing and atmospheric tale from an exciting literary talent Tatler If there were a literary prize for nail-biting first lines, Israeli writer Ayelet Gundar-Goshen's second novel, Waking Lions, would win...brave and startling Financial Times A sophisticated, angst-filled thriller Spectator A complex and affecting moral thriller New Statesman Waking Lions shows us that there's more mystery in who we think we are than in the narrative of any crime thriller Sunday Herald Tense thriller with serious moral dimension by a critically acclaimed Israeli writer The Sunday Times Crime Club A gripping drama... tense page turner that should appeal to fans of film noir The Lady What gives Waking Lions its edge is Gundar-Goshen's deja-vu evoking depiction of the mental bunny hops which dominate our waking hours. Her writing on the fluctuations of selfish, guilt-ridden parental love reads like an open wound, its truth just as visceral Big Issue [Ayelet Gundar-Goshen] can take a straightforward genre - the thriller - and use it to explore big moral and political questions about secrets, lies and race in modern-day Israel... we enter a new genre: Israeli noir' Jewish Chronicle A gripping novel Jewish News A startlingly achieved novel, with all the page-turning appeal of a fine-honed thriller Jewish Quarterly Takes real events and fictionalises them to explore themes of self-awareness, intimacy, and the human capacity for good and evil, ignorance and indifference, concealment and deception Bookanista A gripping and tense thriller Jewish Renaissance magazine Waking Lions personalises the situation providing insights into the uncomfortable mix of guilt and anger of the host country coupled with the helplessness and fatalism of the refugees The Bay Ultimately, about humanity. All of that wrapped in a drama that is gripping enough if you don't want to think that far into what it all means... but to be honest, I defy you not to respond to the depth Bookbag If it affects you as it did me you will finish it feeling slightly dirty, spoiled by whatever privileges and comforts you may enjoy, and guilty, definitely guilty in your complicity in looking away from suffering Eve's Alexandria (blog) I couldn't stop reading it, a book I'd recommend to everyone - it's a grenade! SFR Book Club Immensely suspenseful... alarmingly realistic and superbly written Shelf Awareness A dark and heady thriller... in the author's masterful hands, great characterisation and a driving plot work in harmony rather than compete as rivals I Was Just Thinking (blog) A tense tale of life at the margins of society Bookbag's Top Ten Literary Ficiton Books of 2016
