Exile Review

by Richard North Patterson

Overall 5.00 of 5 (by 1 user)

Magician
Columbia, MO

Did a Palestinian woman plot to kill the Israeli Prime Minister?

avid reader, chronic book buyer

Pros

Intriguing and complicated plot, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Fascinating legal issues, Interesting characters and conflicts

DEC

2007

Exile is Richard North Patterson's latest legal/political thriller. The story briefly stated involves the assassination of the Israeli Prime Minster by a suicide bomber in San Francisco. One of the bombers survives and implicates a Palestinian professor, Hana Arif, who, along with her husband and daughter, is visiting San Francisco at the time of the assassination. David Wolfe, an attorney living in San Francisco, is a friend and lover of Hana's from their Harvard Law School days. After thirteen years of no contact, Hana calls David, a Jew, out of the blue. Following her arrest for the murder of the Prime Minister, David agrees to be her defense attorney, even though it costs him his rising political career and impending marriage. David's investigation into the assassination and the politics of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict provide the reader with a very clear view of the complexities of the conflict. The accompanying trial offers many details about how the United States and Israel interact, and the implications of what such a crime has on US security.

As with most of Patterson's novels, there is a particular issue defined and explored in great detail. This novel takes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Mideast. Patterson tries to fairly present both sides of the issue, and as with his other novels, this makes for very interesting reading.I have been a long-time Patterson fan ever since I first picked up his novel, Private Screenings. He has a couple of characters he has written several novels about. The first series involves a lawyer, Christopher Paget, and later his wife, Terri Paget, and the second follows a politician who eventually becomes President, Kerry Kilcannon. Patterson does his homework and writes very engrossing legal and/or political thrillers. Exile is no different. I easily recommend it to anyone wanting a good read or is interested in the story behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One can't go wrong with a Richard North Patterson novel.