When writers of popular fiction try to take on real-world issues, the results can be disastrous. Push too hard and you risk alienating core audience members with opposing viewpoints; soft-peddle the issue and there isn’t enough spark to support the plot. Richard North Patterson has definitely written an issue-based thriller here, and EXILE attempts the nearly impossible: to try to define the sides and issues of the Israeli/Palestinian crisis.
EXILE revolves around David Wolfe, an up-and-coming politician and lawyer in San Francisco. When a Palestinian woman he had a romance with in law school is arrested and charged in connection with the assassination of the Israeli prime minister, he gives up his comfortable life and begins exploring both his feelings for the woman and the ugly truths of the Middle East.
As both sides work to thwart his investigation, David sees the suffering and betrayal felt by both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and comes to grips with the reality of the life his former lover has had to lead.
I liked EXILE for the most part. It tackles a powerful, almost unknowable subject head-on and frames it in personal terms so the reader doesn’t get lost in sea of political alliances and parliamentary sleight-of-hand, and sees the true cost of the conflict.
Patterson nearly loses himself, however, with a murky backstory, unneeded verbosity (the book’s too long by a fifth) and an all-too-predictable twist. EXILE has been taken to task by others for being too sentimental, but when you’re dealing with a topic that stirs up such raw, emotional reactions from people, I think Patterson is right to err just shy of melodrama.
The author does accomplish what few have ever done: He’s managed to paint an even-handed picture of the sides and issues involved in Israel and the Palestinian territories. He doesn’t develop his characters nearly as much as he develops the landscape, but in the end, he’s done more than enough to succeed. –Ryun Patterson (no relation)
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