The Global War on Morris

January 1, 2015

Meet Morris and Rona Feldstein, a perfectly matched couple of schlemiels from Great Neck, Long Island, in this cartoonish take on terrorism and federal surveillance. It's 2004, and Morris is a pharmaceutical sales rep with a devotion to the Mets, among other failings. When he stumbles into a 22-minute tryst with a doctor's receptionist, it turns out that she has recently had a blind date with a drug trafficker. Red flag No. 1. Meanwhile, his wife takes an interest in the towel boy at their Florida time-share. The towel boy is part of a terrorist cell blissed-out on the prospect of martyrdom and 72 virgins. All of which is enough to earn the Feldsteins a place high up on NICK, the surveillance system beloved by Vice President Dick Cheney. Hilarity and broad satire of the bureaucracy ensues. VERDICT Debut novelist Israel is a U.S. Congressman from New York and, until quite recently, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Committee; that alone insures publicity and interest. Why read this when one can see Washington insiders acting like buffoons in farcical situations on CNN? This is funnier than Wolf Blitzer, that's why. [See Prepub Alert, 7/21/14.]--Bob Lunn, Kansas City, MO

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