Saul Burg
A Man of Many Parts
by Adrian de Hoog

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Who is Saul Burg? How does a fierce man with a shrouded past become Special High Representative to the UN Secretary-General, responsible for coordinating humanitarian work in failed states? In 1954, deep in Israel’s Negev Desert, Palestinian fedayeen massacred the occupants of a bus trundling through the hills between Eilat and Beersheba. The sole survivor, eight-year-old Saul, suddenly orphaned, was placed with a German kibbutz in Galilee, growing up in a rich cultural envelope. As he matured and rationalised the moment his parents were killed, a contempt for terrorists accompanied him into adulthood. The military call up pivoted him from farming to fighting and a lifelong confrontation with terrorism began. As an Israeli special forces soldier, he killed terrorists covertly; as an operative with Mossad, he eliminated still more. Saul transitioned from Mossad hitman to spy master. Germany’s ambassador in Tel Aviv took notice of his abilities and arranged recruitment into Germany’s Intelligence Service. A decade later, 9/11 brought Saul Burg a further assignment—a post in Berlin to advance Germany’s contribution to the global war on terror. Sixty years after the bus massacre, hardened by a lifetime spent battling terrorism’s darkness, yet pursuing enlightened thinking, and sometimes falling under the influence of strong women, Saul relocates from Berlin to Geneva to oversee UN humanitarian work. Working with him in Geneva is Blake Caldwell, a tech-savvy young assistant. Blake builds databases to track the global humanitarian effort; his search tools uncover names ... This gripping novel with two interwoven timelines explores Saul’s enduring fight against terrorism and Blake’s quest to unravel his identity.

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Adrian de Hoog’s career in the Canadian Foreign Service placed him in an array of positions abroad and in numerous foreign policy areas. Saul Burg is his fourth novel. Each one explores diplomacy’s intrigues, colourful personalities, and the pervasive art of information gathering. He lives in Ottawa.

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Adrian de Hoog