Review of The Date Farm

[Abby Heitzman]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Date Farm" by Jack Winnick.]

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

The Date Farm by Jack Winnick is an amazing 334-page novel. It involves two spies and a terrorist attack on the United States. It acknowledges the benefits and drawbacks of having advanced technology widely available.

The novel starts with an attack on the Beverly Hills Mall that leaves many causalities and no motive. The perpetrators were foreign Israelis who only seemed to want to induce panic. Shortly after, there were two simultaneous attacks on the Federal Reserve and the Chase Manhattan vault. The government is at a loss, so they call in two spies, Laura and Uri. They are tasked with entering the buildings to secure the precious objects contained within the buildings. The terrorists end up getting away, so it becomes a reconnaissance mission. In order to get the stolen items back, they must infiltrate a date farm. One of the major problems is that communications have either been shut down or are being listened to. They must do this mission without outside help. The object of their mission is to get the goods back without public knowledge or involvement. More importantly, the mission can’t afford casualties.

There were many aspects of the book that I really enjoyed. For example, the book started out with action to engage the reader, but not so much that it was confusing. There were also a lot of plot twists throughout and an impossible-to-guess ending. I loved how the clues were slowly presented throughout the book. It made the reading intriguing and allowed you to come up with your own theories. The author also did a great job of making the characters relatable. There were a lot of references to their families and in-depth descriptions of the emotions surrounding tough decisions. Since the main characters end up going to Iran to find the stolen items, the author included a lot of the cultural aspects. For example, traditional foods and women’s place in society. The book was really well edited with no grammatical errors.

There wasn’t anything about the book that I didn’t like. Overall, I thought the author did a really good job making the book interesting and realistic.

Due to the reasons stated above, I rated this book a 4 out of 4 stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries or spy novels. There was no swearing or sexual content, so I think this book would be appropriate for thirteen and up.

******
The Date Farm
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon