I have read every book in Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series. Every time I read one, I wonder about the events that led to Gabriel being recruited by the Israeli intelligence service—the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by a PLO faction called Black September at the 1972 Munich Olympics. My curiosity led me to the book One Day in September, the facts behind the fiction.
The book describes not only the events that occurred at the Olympics but also the background of the Black September group, why and how it came into being, and a little of the Arab-Israeli history. We are also given glimpses into some of the families of the murdered athletes. We read about what some of the wives went through while their husbands were held hostage and all they could do was wait and hope. Based on the documentary by the same title, One Day in September also gives an account of the Israeli operations that were tasked with tracking down and killing members of Black September and others who were responsible in any way for the horrific event.