When the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah abandoned smartphones in favor of “untraceable” pagers, its commanders believed they had finally escaped Israeli intelligence. They were wrong. FROM ETHAN HAREL — a writer with firsthand access to people connected to the real operation — comes the classified story behind one of the boldest intelligence missions of the century. When a young Mossad officer, Yael , discovers a narrow and nearly impossible opportunity to turn thousands of enemy pagers into synchronized remote-triggered bombs, she’s dismissed, doubted, and nearly shut down. The idea is too dangerous. The risk is too high. One mistake could expose the entire Israeli operation — and cost lives. But she refuses to back down. What follows is a gripping real-world espionage saga: deep-cover meetings across Europe, high-stakes surveillance inside Beirut, digital warfare against Iranian operatives, and a deception campaign so seamless that Hezbollah never saw it coming. On September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers exploded across Lebanon in the exact same second — shocking the world. ONE STEP AHEAD reveals the secret mission, the two women who engineered it, and the creative brilliance inside the Mossad that rewrote the rules of modern intelligence. A pulse-pounding espionage thriller based on true events that changed the Middle East — forever. Explosive, intelligent, and disturbingly real. Ethan Harel takes you deep into the hidden war between Israel and Hezbollah and never lets you come up for air. If you love Daniel Silva, Homeland, and true-to-life espionage, One Step Ahead is the book you've been waiting for — a shocking story based on an operation that actually happened. A chilling, terrifyingly plausible thriller about the Mossad pager operation against Hezbollah — packed with real tradecraft, real technology, and the kind of tension that keeps you up way past midnight. One Step Ahead was inspired by a real intelligence operation — one that most people outside the community still struggle to believe actually happened. My goal was to create a thriller that feels like a classified file you were never meant to read: grounded in real methodology, real tension, and the silent battles that unfold far from the headlines. While the plot is fictionalized, much of the atmosphere, behavior, and tradecraft reflects the reality of how intelligence work is carried out—quietly, precisely, and always one move ahead of the adversary. I wanted readers to feel what it's like when technology, geopolitics, and human judgment collide in the shadows. Because in the real world, it only takes one mistake for everything to change. Some operations remain secret forever. This one didn't. In 2024, a real covert strike stunned the Middle East and exposed a silent war unfolding in the shadows. One Step Ahead dives into the hidden world of Israeli intelligence, where cyber warfare, espionage, and human judgment collide. Yael Bareket never expected to be pulled into a mission that would test her loyalty, her limits, and her understanding of the truth. What she uncovers inside enemy networks forces her to face a terrifying question: How far must a democracy go to survive? A devastating real-world operation. A race between nations. A young Mossad officer caught in the crossfire. When Israel deploys a covert digital strike against Hezbollah using rigged pagers, the Middle East erupts into chaos. Yael Bareket, a rising intelligence officer with a gift for cyber operations, is drawn into a lethal chain reaction that reaches far beyond the mission. As Hezbollah and Iran mobilize for revenge, Yael uncovers fragments of a classified threat buried deep inside enemy networks — a threat powerful enough to shift the balance of power in the region. Pursued across borders, betrayed by those she trusts, and forced to confront her own limits, Yael must stay one move ahead in a deadly intelligence war where the line between hunter and hunted keeps shifting. Based on an astonishing true operation from 2024, One Step Ahead delivers a gripping blend of authentic espionage, real technology, and unrelenting suspense. Ethan Harel is an espionage thriller author whose work draws heavily from real intelligence methods, real technology, and real-world events. His debut novel, One Step Ahead , is inspired by the astonishing 2024 Mossad pager operation against Hezbollah — a covert strike that stunned the Middle East and captured global attention. Writing under a pen name, Harel crafts high-tension narratives that blend psychological depth, authentic tradecraft, and geopolitical realism. His stories explore the silent battles fought in the shadows, where cyber warfare, intelligence collection, and human judgment collide. Harel's background and close familiarity with regional security dynamics bring a level of accuracy and atmosphere rarely seen in modern thrillers. One Step Ahead is his first full-length novel.