It’s very interesting to see the wide range of opinions on here as to what defines a ‘professionally written’ book.
IMO, unless you’ve read professionally written Goyishe books you can’t really comment. Someone above recommended In the Spider’s Web by Chaim Eliav. I had the misfortune of reading it shortly after completing my English exams in High School. It is dreadful, purple prose, long-winded and drawn out and full of caricatures (men in black suits with black sunglasses stepping out of a black car talking in mysterious code, is one example that springs to mind some 10 years later).
Avner Gold is alright, although he also tends to waffle a bit, and his books range in quality. I thought the later books in the series were a big improvement on the earlier ones. Contrast ‘The Dream’ with ‘The Marrano Prince’ if you’re not sure what I mean.
I’m more than a little surprised that no-one appears to have read Meir Baram’s books – The Fateful Mission, The Kingdom Didn’t Fall, etc. Originally written in hebrew, based on historical fact, and IMO exquisitely rendered into English, they are refreshingly different to the tripe churned out by Yair Weinstock and co.
I can’t believe that Yekke2 thinks The Gordian Knot was ‘superbly written with a brilliant plot’. Honestly, the book’s climax wherein two Jewish boys miraculously track down an old Nazi is as ridiculous and contrived as plots come.