Book Review: Innocent Spouse, Spookily Prophetic Re:Today's Gaza War vs Israel and Unabashed Anti-Israel Campaign

Over a month ago, we heard from Leonard Getz, a member of our "Betar circle of friends," who said that he and his wife would be in Shiloh to see the archeological site and hoped to see us, too.  A neighbor and I took them around to give the "grand tour" of Shiloh, including picking grapes from my mini-vinyard. Before they left, Len mentioned that he had just written and published a book. I was immediately interested and told him that I review books, so he offered me Innocent Spouse book to review, I had no idea then that Innocent Spouse  would have such timely relevance. 

I began reading Innocent Spouse just before Hamas attacked Israel in such a shockingly brutal and perverse way.  Unlike my memories from the 1967 Six Days war of Jewish unity praying for Israel, and silence from others, this there are now virulent massive anti-Israel propaganda and demonstrations all over the world, including the United States, on the streets, universities and media.

Innocent Spouse is a murder mystery. Sandra Wolf, an ambitious young journalist is suddenly incommunicado the same time that a series of controversial articles of hers are published in a rival newspaper to the one she works for. Liz, her friend/student/protégé is determined to find her, especially since the police refuse to get involved. Liz's father is an IRS agent who audits businesses trying to discover what they're hiding. Liz, her father and her boyfriend end up discovering not only that Sandra was murdered, but also that a neighborhood Islamic group is not quite what appears on the surface plus its connection to the newspaper Sandra had worked for. 

Innocent Spouse alludes to the growing power Moslem Americans, which is more obvious now than ever before. I decided that I had to ask Getz a few questions.

1-Did you write Innocent Spouse to reveal a reason for the massive anti-Israel demonstrations in the states?   I began working on this novel in 2015. It took me 7 years to write it, so the answer to this question is no.

2-Are you surprised by the grassroots American sympathy for the Hamas terrorists, which seems stronger than for their Israeli victims?   Most, if not all of the vocal support in America for Hamas is from leftists and, not surprisingly, Islamists. I am surprised by its intensity, exemplified by tearing down posters of hostages including children.

3-How did you come up with the idea of exposing radical Islam's insidious influence on American life?  You write about what you know. Having worked for the IRS for 40 years I know about taxes and the workings of the IRS; after retirement I worked part time for the Middle East Form focusing on Islamists in Philadelphia. I’ve been writing about media bias for many years as well. I put all this knowledge in a pot and stirred until ready.

4-Had you foreseen that the book would be so timely?  Two recent events in Philadelphia were so uncannily similar to my novel that several readers commented that they thought about my book when they took place point, some even calling it prophetic. One, a 17 year old who had been radicalized over the internet had purchased bomb making materials etc. and was arrested by the FBI. Two, a young journalist was found murdered in his home. But as far as events in Israel now, that I did not foresee. I don’t think anyone has.

I must congratulate Leonard Getz on his retirement profession as mystery writer. Innocent Spouse is a fascinating book, which was a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for Best Mystery in 2022. And it was also a finalist in the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Mystery. I look forward to reading his next one. Innocent Spouse is available in both paperback and kindle.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Conservatarian Press (November 10, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 339 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1957586206
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1957586205