Ed's Thread

Richard North Patterson continues to show his mastery of the legal thriller in Exile, his latest journey into the world of crime, and the courts of America. In Exile we meet David Wolfe, a Jewish attorney, who while in Harvard law school had an affair with a Palestinian woman from the West Bank. Some 13 years later Hana Arif, the one true love of his life, contacts him again while on a trip with her husband to counter the speeches given by the Israeli prime minister, who is seeking to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians. After a speech in San Francisco two Palestinian suicide bombers assassinate the prime minster and thus this enlightening journey into the morass of the Middle East begins.

During the investigation Hana Arif and her husband become persons of interest and have their passports confiscated by the FBI. She contacts David, a former US Prosecutor with a promising political career ahead of him, to ask that he represent her in this process. This is one of the most important decisions of David's life, because he knows how damaging it could be to his future prospects in politics. Following his heart, and ideals, he agrees to represent her at the meeting between her and the FBI. The meeting takes place on the day of the mourning for the Israeli Prime Minister, which he had planned on attending with his fiance, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. This begins the tension that leads to the end of that relationship, adding to the stress of representing Hana.

In the course of the investigation the FBI charges Hana with being the handler of the two suicide bombers, due to the testimony of the one who survived. This leads to David appearing in a court case that is followed around the world. It takes him to Israel, the West Bank and deep into the heart of the tension between Israel and the Palestinian. The personal upheaval includes the end of the relationship with his fiance, he loss of friends, and the end of his political hopes. During the course of the pretrial actions there are discoveries that shake David to core of his identity and change his very outlook on life.

In Exile once again Richard North Patterson has given us a grand story, yet somehow he also educates us on one the most misunderstood problems the world faces today. I can only say thank you to him for the mastery with which he handles this wonderful novel and will be waiting impatiently for his next work In this world and all of its tensions we need works like this to broaden our base of understanding, the only true hope for a solution of the problems in the Middle East.