Novels

The Stay-Behind Girls

United by secrets in an old family journal, a wounded ex-soldier and a troubled artist plunge into the underworld of Eastern Europe, seeking to dismantle a gang of human traffickers which destroyed both their families.

For Jacob Timmerman, youngest son of a Jewish immigrant family, running away to join the Israeli Army was supposed to help him live up to his family's heroic legacy, to forge a connection with the father he never knew. But a near-fatal shooting ends his time as a soldier, and Jacob, an aspiring writer, finds himself adrift – until his father's past crawls out of the shadows, nearly costing him the only family he has left.

The brazen attack, carried out by the Vory v Balta, a vicious gang of human traffickers, leaves Jacob haunted by the shooter's dying words: You will pay for what your father stole – the girl is ours. Though the girl is a mystery, finding her first isn't just Jacob's best chance to uncover the truth about his father's murder; it's the only way to prevent tragedy from repeating.

Aided by a secret journal kept by his mother, he locates Hailey Eliot, an artist-in-residence at a Venetian convent. Born to a prostitute killed by the same gang, Hailey is struggling to paint through terrifying visions - which keep leading her straight to the VVB. Yet the visions aren't her only gift: she has a mysterious ability to heal Jacob. Only Jacob, and though he's unsure what the strange force behind her abilities wants, or that she's truly 'fixed' him, the VVB are closing in. To stay ahead, Jacob and Hailey uncover secrets hidden in abandoned safehouses and clandestine brothels from Budapest to Istanbul. Losing her would cost him something he nearly lost once - his heart.