The Human Scale

Lawrence Wright at the height of his powers. Centers around the newfoundΓÇöand forcedΓÇörelationship between a Palestinian American FBI agent and a hard-line Israeli cop,working together uneasily to solve the murder of the Israeli police chief in Gaza. Movingthrillingwith extraordinary scopeit does for Palestine and Israel what Gorky Park did years ago for Russia. In the vein of John le Carr├⌐ and Graham Greenethis is the rare novel that manages to entertaineducateand deeply move the reader. Tony Malik is a half-Irishhalf-Arab New YorkΓÇôbased FBI agentspecializing in money flowing from drug and arms deals. The novel opens in shocking fashionand MalikΓÇÖs life changes radically. A long-term relationship endsand his job is on the verge of being taken away from him. During this period he learns more about his roots and becomes interested in his father’s past and familyΓÇöhis father came to America years ago from Palestine. Malik decides to make a trip to his father’s homeland to attend the wedding of his niecewhom he has never met. As a result of his planshe is given a simple assignment by his boss at the FBIpartly to see how well he can still do his job. That simple assignment becomes anything but simple. As soon as he arrives in Gazathe Israeli police chief overseeing the area is murdered. Malik is at first a suspect. Thendue to his superior investigative skillshe is invited into the Israeli investigationseeking the murderer. At the core of this novel is Malik’s relationship with Yossithe hard-line anti-Arab Israeli police officer leading the investigation. They must learn to trust each other becauseas they move closer to solving the casethey realize there is no one else they can trust on either side. Extraordinary three-dimensional characters populate this novel: Yossi’s daughterstudying in Paristrying to escape the violence that surrounds her in Israel; Malik’s niecewhose wedding and life are shattered by the murder; her fianc├⌐a peacenik whose existence is complicated by the fact that his cousin is high up in the Hamas command; religious leaders on both sides; corrupt Israeli cops; Palestinians thirsting for violence against Israel; Israelis determined to crush the Palestinians. Lawrence Wright brings a wide and complicated tapestry to lifeone that culminates on October 72023with the deadly Hamas attack on Israel. But he has written more than just a thrilleror even just an examination of all these complicated lives. He has written a novel that manages to explore and explain much of the devastating history that encompasses the relationship between Israel and PalestineΓÇöand shows it to us in a way that poignantly reveals the tragic human scale that is involved.