The Middle East on trial

Richard North Patterson is a former trial lawyer who has found his niche in the legal thriller genre. His fiction-mirroring-fact narratives allow him to package complex facts into bestsellers while tackling such subject matter as abortion, child abuse and the death penalty.

In this well-researched thriller, Dr Patterson explores the legion of religious, social and historical factors that have created the instability that is the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is a political thriller set within the tangled history of the disagreements between Palestinians and Israelis as we look at both sides of this extremely touchy debate.

In Exile, the Palestinian Hana Arif is charged with conspiring to assassinate the Israeli Prime Minister and is defended by her former lover, David Wolfe, an American lawyer. Arif is a Palestinian who is committed to the cause of a homeland and Wolfe is a Jewish man committed to personal success. The story's central relationship revolves around their premarital affair which later develops into an extramarital romance. Nonetheless, David is doubtful of Hana's innocence and finds himself facing the inevitable challenge of balancing his life and career expectations.

The novel is divided into four parts. The first and second parts introduce us to the characters and the events leading to the trial.

The third part takes David on a journey to Israel and into the lethal politics of the Middle East while the final part concludes with a tense series of courtroom scenes.

Exile is a tale of suspense and scandal as it takes us back through David and Hana's own past, to the land where Hana was born and where she is now in crisis.

It is a story of a lawyer whose aim is to shed light on the existing darkness, no matter what it reveals, no matter who it destroys. The result is a human drama that moves with force and passion and culminates with a twist at the end.

On another level, the novel provides a social commentary on senseless violence as it looks at the ongoing volatile dispute, on which Dr Patterson himself remains impartial, between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the Holy Land. As Dr Patterson says in the author's note at the end, the novel interweaves the experiences and perspectives of Jews and Palestinians, and suggests why the prospect of a lasting peace remains so elusive.

Certainly, the reader is compelled to sympathise with the characters including those enacted by the characters of Carole and Harold Shorr in the light of Jewish nationalism in the wake of the Holocaust and the horrors of the Palestinian concentration camps.

Worse still, Patterson provides us with vivid portrayals of characters who are driven by the violent nightmare of their childhood, fuelled by forces that few could understand, and burdened by secrets no one must know.

Exile is a blend of intense courtroom and political drama where the historical reference points lure us into Dr Patterson's thought-provoking story, which provides us with a detailed insight into a tragedy that still rages today.

With its vivid characters and engrossing dialogue, Exile is a moving and educational novel that is informative and entertaining.

No doubt, Dr Patterson cranks up a wild rollercoaster of morality, politics, and emotions in this trial of a woman who the main character has loved. In this context, Dr Patterson also addresses human emotions such as deception, courage and compassion within a situation with vast global, political and emotional implications.

Although the novel could have been shorter, it is certainly an eye-opener as it highlights and educates us on one of the most misunderstood topics today. Despite Exile being a fictitious novel, it is rooted in a history that many have never had a clear understanding of. Dr Patterson wills us to consider America's contribution to the tension in the Middle East as well as look at the different perspectives of people who live in such terror and those who are detached from it by distance and by politics.

• Ms Montanaro is a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh. She is researching for a PhD on Psychoanalysis and British Surrealism.

• A review copy of this title was supplied by Agenda Bookshop.