Book Review: The Wolf Hunt by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

It’s been ages since I’ve read a book by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, but you can check out my thoughts on her earlier books here; One Night, Markovitch, and Waking Lions, both of which I enjoyed. Her latest release The Wolf Hunt is a spectacular novel. Her writing keeps getting better and better, and as I finished reading the last few pages of this book I remember thinking whichever book I read after it will be held to a higher standard than usual because Gundar-Goshen’s talent is just so exceptional. The plotting is especially well done as she strikes the perfect balance between suspense and pacing. And as a side note, this book would be perfect for book club discussions!

Plot Summary

Lilach lives in a beautiful home in Silicon Valley with her successful husband Mikhael and their teenage son Adam. She has a part-time job at a seniors residence, and enjoys a strong family life as well, the three of them quite close. They are Israeli immigrants but have called the U.S.A. home for years, but after an attack at a local synagogue shakes their sense of safety, Adam enrolls in a self-defense class taught by a former Israeli military officer named Uri. Shortly after this, one of Adam’s classmates, a young black man named Jamal, dies at a house party from a supposed drug overdose. An investigation begins into his death, and it’s revealed that Jamal bullied Adam even though Adam denied this to his mother. Lilach becomes obsessed with speaking to Jamal’s grieving mother, desperate to find out what really happened that night at the party, but also afraid to face the possibility that her son had anything to do with Jamal’s death. Meanwhile, Uri is slowly insinuating himself into this family as Adam begins to idolize Uri and the lessons he is taught at these strange and secretive classes. Uri is eventually hired by Mikhael at his tech company, the four of them even going away together on a short family vacation to escape the pressure of the growing police suspicion of Adam. An undercurrent of weariness and mistrust builds against Adam as the novel progresses, both within his home, and the surrounding community.

My Thoughts

This novel deals with big themes; race, religion and wealth being the most obvious. Jamal’s family is poor, Adam’s family is not. Jamal is black, Adam is white and Jewish. The differences between these two families is stark, and yet the stereotypical narrative of the young black men being the aggressor is flipped. Jamal bullied Adam, Lilach even finds some of Adam’s clothes he supposedly ‘lost’ in Jamal’s room, yet it is Adam who is under suspicion, Adam who is the potential danger, and Jamal is the young man who lost his chance at life. The lessons taught in Uri’s classes make Lilach uncomfortable, but her husband approves of them, pleased to see his son defending himself physically and fighting back. But how does Adam’s privilege shield him from potential punishment? If Adam was Black and Jamal white, how would the outcome have differed? How does Adam’s religion complicate these opposing factors? While Lilach whisks Adam away for a beach weekend after police pressure mounts (this family goes on vacation alot), one can’t help but notice the sizable advantages their family enjoys, even in the face of a potential murder charge. Wealth seems to trump all in this part of California.

Parenthood is another major theme, and Lilach’s struggles to reconcile her memories of her son as a baby, to the teenage boy he has become adds an emotional layer to this novel that softens the plot development, but also serves to absorb the reader even further. This is where Gundar-Goshen’s writing truly shines:

“Adam put on his backpack like on the first day of school. From behind, he looked like a fourteen-year-old, but anyone who looked at his face would suddenly be confused by the mature eyes. And perhaps he was confused as well, the adult and the boy fighting within him, because his sweaty hand grabbed mine and pressed it with the same desperation I remembered from his time in day care and the beginning of grade school, the don’t-leave-me-here grip…

Right after he was born, I hugged him-pink and smooth and perfect-and counted the tiny fingers to make sure they were all there. Now I looked at those fingers and asked myself if they were the fingers of a killer.”

-p.278 of The Wolf Hunt by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

The above quote isn’t really even the best example of how powerful her writing is, but she’s the kind of author that doesn’t have punchy one-liners. Instead her sentences build upon each other to create an emotional layer that settles over the entire narrative. I highly recommend this book as it’s a stunning example of how to expertly balance a fast-paced plot with sentimental elements.