Tony Malik is a Palestinian American on leave from his position in the FBI due to a traumatic injury suffered when a terrorist bomb detonated while being defused. While on leave, he travels to Gaza to attend the wedding of his niece, whom he has never met. Shortly after his arrival, an Israeli police chief is brutally murdered, and Tony becomes a suspect in the crime. While working to prove his innocence, Tony forms an unlikely alliance with an anti-Arab hardline Israeli police officer who is investigating the murder. Both men are racing to discover the truth, which culminates on October 7th, 2023, in a way that neither could have foreseen. As a fiction thriller, this book stands by itself, but as a deftly written portrayal of real-world issues (with heroes and villains on both sides), it should be required reading for those seeking a deeper understanding of the history that drives the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is truly a masterpiece.
The Human Scale by Lawrence Wright, (List Price: $30, Knopf, 9780593537831, March 2025)
Reviewed by Brent Bunnell, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina