Heads You Lose is the latest novel by crimewriter (and rabbi) Martin S. Cohen. We’re on the road with Saul Jacobson as he treks across Western Canada with a sullen teenaged hitchhiker. Part maccabre crime tale, part coming-of-age chronicle, Heads You Lose is also a very humourous road story with a biblical perspective. Ultimately the redemptive power of love and the meaning of friendship are celebrated in this most unusual story. Highly recommended both for readers interested in the way love can bloom in the least likely soil and for fans of Biblical decapitation tales.
Author and rabbi Martin Samuel Cohen hails originally from New York but now resides with his family in Santa Barbara, California. For many years a rabbi in Richmond, BC, Martin Cohen is the author of several volumes on religious life as well as three previous crime novels: Light from the Dead Stars, The Truth About Marvin Kalish, and The Sword of Goliath. He has a Ph.D. in the history of ancient Judaism and has been a post-doctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Harvard University. Although a traditionalist in matters of Jewish faith, he has a lively irreverent sense of humour.
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
By Ehud Yisroel
I very much enjoyed this unusual, slightly twisted book, which may contain every decapitation story in the Hebrew Bible, and then some. The book deals with the classic issues of injustice, cruel outrage, guilt, redemption, sweet revenge obtained, and justice received. It gets pretty exciting (and funny) along the way. Saul, a middle aged professor of Bible studies, takes off on a road trip across Canada to get away from it all after his brother hangs himself, his wife leaves him for the gardener's brother, his parents slip into dementia, and he loses his job without warning when the college drops Bible studies from its curricula. Along the way Saul picks up a 19 year old hitchhiker whose mother drowned herself after years of terrible abuse by his father. They both are carrying a lot of baggage they need to work through, and as you might expect, it all gets tied up into nice little, satisfying, but surprising, packages by the end. The only problem I had with the book is that the next book I read was Harold S. Kushner's new book, "Living a Life that Matters," and it has a whole chapter bashing "the seductive pleasure of getting even," which made me feel kind of guilty at having enjoyed "Heads You Lose" so much.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
By VELVEL
THIS BOOK AS WELL AS OTHERS I HAVE READ BY MARTIN COHEN ARE REAL PAGE TURNERS. ITS GREAT TO FIND A BOOK EVEN THE PHONE RINGING WON'T INTERUPT!!!!
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