The Trials of Zion

August 2, 2010
At the start of Dershowitz's earnest third novel (after 2000's Just Revenge) featuring celebrity lawyer Abe Ringel, whose quirky, sometimes quixotic career resembles the author's own, Abe's 26-year-old daughter, Emma, goes to Israel despite Abe's misgivings. Emma, a recent Yale law school graduate, plans to help defend a terrorist bomber accused of setting off an explosion that has killed several of the world's leaders. Deadly complications force Abe to step in and get involved in trials whose outcomes could threaten the lives of those who are nearest to him. Besides showcasing the differences between the Israeli and American systems, these trials raise ethical questions that are, as always in this series, the real heart of the matter. Those looking for a read that offers interesting legal issues and clever courtroom action and don't mind clunky dialogue and perfunctory thriller plotting might enjoy the result.

August 15, 2010

Set in 1980s New Jersey, Kluge's novel (Gone Tomorrow, 2008, etc.) follows a German immigrant and his travel writer son's attempt to forge an emotional connection as they tackle issues of home, family, identity and artistic integrity.

The third novel starring Dershowitz-like defense attorney Abe Ringel opens with a jaw-dropping terrorist act: The U.S. president, Israeli prime minister and Hamas leader are all killed by a bomb at a public ceremony intended to commemorate the creation of a Palestinian state. With any hope of Middle East peace literally blown apart, Abe is understandably anxious about his daughter, Emma, who's moved from Boston to Jerusalem to work for a human-rights group. His worries are quickly justified: Not long after her arrival, she's kidnapped by pro-Palestinian Marxists led by a man whose brother, Faisal, is being held on suspicion of planting the bomb. To save his daughter from execution, Abe must successfully defend Faisal in an Israeli court without letting on that he's being blackmailed. The novel's courtroom scenes give Dershowitz an opportunity to wax legalistic on the differences between the American and Israeli judicial process, and there are occasional glimpses into forensics labs, terrorist safe houses and interrogation rooms. But the author's interests are more broadly sociological: He wants to make clear how difficult it is to detect true intentions among the region's Jews, Muslims, Communists and Christians. (Double-crosses are abundant.) The author's style is clean and forceful, built on tight, clipped paragraphs, but his handling of the broad cast of characters isn't always graceful; a sudden appearance of a key bit of evidence seems overly convenient, and a serious predicament for Emma is explained away with little drama. Though the novel opens with thoughtful considerations of the Middle East conflict that shed light on why it's so intractable, Dershowitz is ultimately compelled to keep the story moving, which leads to a climax that not only feels slightly cartoonish but sidesteps addressing the divide between Israelis and Palestinians. Chapters that delve into family back stories are mainly distracting, and a thin romantic subplot only proves that love stories aren't the author's bailiwick.

A solid display of Dershowitz's legal chops, if not always his narrative ones.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 15, 2010

Abe Ringel, a Dershowitz-like lawyer/celebrity, returns (after Just Revenge) in this legal thriller set in Israel. A fictional Palestinian state is the site of a bombing that kills its newly elected leader, the U.S. President, and the Israeli prime minister. Ringel's daughter Emma, a recent Yale law school grad, joins the team defending the suspected bomber, who wants to be convicted and die a martyr. Ringel is forced into the situation when Emma is kidnapped by the suspect's brother, who threatens to kill Emma unless his brother is acquitted. There is also some subterfuge going on with Ringel's wife, a former spy, and her friend, a former Secret Service agent. Dershowitz uses a forbidden romance between the Jewish Emma and her Palestinian boss as a teaching vehicle to shed light on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. VERDICT One-dimensional characters and awkward dialog mar an engaging premise, but legal fans will enjoy learning about the differences between American and Israeli law. Fans of Richard North Patterson's Exile might also like this.--Stacy Alesi, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., Boca Raton, FL

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2010
Emma Ringel, the daughter of prominent defense attorney Abe Ringel, has just finished Yale Law School and moved back to her fathers home in Cambridge. She is ready to begin a prestigious clerkship with a judge when she gets an e-mail from classmate Habash Ein, who now works for Palestinian Human Rights Watch in the Middle East. He wants her to assist in the defense of a young Arab arrested after a horrible terrorist attack. Habash feels that the man is innocent. As Emma, a young Jewish woman, begins to work on the case, she spends time with her Israeli relatives and learns more about the history of her family and the much-contested land in the Middle East. She also has to consider her feelings for Habash. Her father soon finds himself involved in the case, too. Dershowitz has constructed a thriller based on current events that combines exciting action with courtroom drama and a lesson in the history and politics of the Middle East. A thought-provoking page-turner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)