Adam Lapid was contacted by Hilda Lipkind in Tel Aviv in 1949. She said she was unable to leave her apartment and asked to meet there. When he got there, he saw that she was nearing the end of her pregnancy. Having had three previous miscarriages, she was confined to rest for the remainder of this one.

Hilda was concerned because her husband David had been acting strangely recently and she thought he was having an affair. He would leave their home right after dinner and not return until after 10 p.m., smelling of alcohol, something he rarely drank. She wanted to hire Adam to find out if her instincts were accurate.

Since David was on a regular schedule, it wasn’t difficult for Adam to follow him. He was surprised to learn that David was going to a hospital. The reason for his visits and what happened after that make for a complex story of what happened to some Shoah survivors.

“Thank you, she said, her tone as flat as a tombstone, as dead as what lay beneath one.”

Well-written, unpredictable. A lot of plot and action in a 60 pages. ( )