Wall and Mean: A Novel

Book Description

"Captures the tone and feel of Wall Street better than anything I've ever read. A snapshot of the trader's soul."—Michael Lewis

Wholesome Pennsylvania kid and Wall Street phenom George Wilhelm is poised to become one of the most successful young bond traders in the business. A gambler at heart, George has turned his old poker skills into big profits on the Emerging Markets desk. Now those same skills have got him trying to out-trade the sports bookies in Vegas, and George's hard-won security is in jeopardy as he racks up a ruinous gambling debt.

When the Brooklyn mafia sends two hitmen to collect, things turn ugly in a hurry: these boys have clearly never heard of a fair fight. George must scramble to keep his pursuers away from the bank and his family, while risking everthing on an all-or-nothing trade. Set in the glitter and grime of New York City during the bond-market boom of 1993, Wall and Mean is a fast-paced and surprising debut from a veteran of The Street.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2007-09-25

Tom Bernard does a great job with this novel, especially considering it is his first.

Reads like the fine print in illiquid toxic debt.......2007-08-16

Like the Nici bond scheme, so central to the plot, there is little redeeming value to "Wall and Mean." The book suffers from a number literary flaws such as cartoonish characters, desultory dialog, and plodding plot. The twists and turns the author, Tom Bernard, presents are at best illogical, and at worst (to turn a title) just 'woeful and mean'.
What is successful in this book are the scenes involving stale trading floor antics, overstated trader debaucheries, and recycled Wall Street anecdotes. It is always fun to recall Wall Street excesses brought to literary light in "Liars Poker" and the rest of the Street tell-alls. Read those books instead.
This book breaks no new ground and if not for its one redeeming value, I would have demanded a refund. The author's proceeds are given to autism research, which is quite a worthy cause. But I cannot recommend the book for that reason alone, rather you should donate the entire cost of the book to autism research and cut out the middle-man.

Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it........2007-07-16

Bernard's intimate knowledge of wall street provides a realistic framework for this fast paced thriller. The story is engaging and enjoyable, so much so, that I read the book in one sitting.

"This is Wall Street, not Sesame Street. You snooze, you lose!".......2007-05-19

George Wilhelm lives in a rarified world where his intellect is celebrated, the newest young phenomenon on the Emerging Markets desk at City Trust Bank in New York, one of a select few. George's singular vice is gambling, but then he has always had the touch... until he doesn't. Then Wall Street meets the mean streets and Wilhelm learns the hard way that bookies don't wait for payday to collect their money. Reeling from a wakeup call delivered by two thugs who have purchased his contract, George is introduced to the sudden brutality of the criminal underbelly that lurks below the surface of big money; and thugs they are, two lowlifes whose massive biceps belie any patience or tolerance when their money is at stake.

While struggling to pay the weekly vig, George comes up with an elaborate scheme to raise the sum he needs to get out from under the threat of bodily harm, taking on a partner to accomplish the sophisticated plan that is inspired by the intricacies of trading in which he excels. One step ahead of the violence that awaits his failure, George juggles work, romance and an increasing panic, mixing with men of questionable repute from Miami to the Bahamas, desperate to escape his compromising circumstances and go back to a normal life. Although George's plan will make more sense to anyone familiar with the vagaries of stocks and hedge funds, clearly the risk is significant, both personally, in his career and potentially, his life.

A former stock broker, the author molds his tale around a young man's hubris and his unfortunate susceptibility to the vice of gambling. George skates to the limit and back over one harrowing long weekend, learning quickly the duplicity of greed. Although the author attempts a bit of American Psycho gallows humor at the end, the whole is uneven, the brutality of George's choices an uncomfortable match with his levity. One is never sure if Wilhelm is a genius or a fool; he is, however, unlikable, as are the rest of the characters, either too self-centered or stereotypical to leave a lasting impression. (A caveat: you can't ignore Bernard's generosity; proceeds from the sale of Wall and Mean go to Autism Speaks and Safe Minds.) Luan Gaines/2007.

Average customer rating:

Too many characters and settings
this is a mess
OK, But .....
Entertaining, but series is running out of steam.
The protege is much better!

The Power Broker: A Novel
Stephen Frey
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345480619
Release Date: 2006-12-26

Book Description

Exposing high-level governmental corruption, conspiracy, and murder has garnered plenty of attention for Christian Gillette, the young dynamo chairman of the famous New York private equity firm Everest Capital. Now the reputation he has built taking Everest to the top has been noticed beyond the boardrooms of high finance–by powerful people with potentially devastating agendas.

Christian’s own attention is on Las Vegas, where he means to stake out a piece of the action by opening a new casino and launching an NFL franchise. But Sin City didn’t get its nickname for nothing, and the mob soon makes it clear that Christian’s company will have to pay if it wants to play in the nation’s gaming capital. Christian has already taken on corporate pirates and cold-blooded assassins and lived to tell about it, but crossing the underworld could do more than just kill his brilliant career. It could crush his chance to fulfill his late father’s political legacy.

Dynamic U.S. senator Jesse Ford is the odds-on favorite to make history as the first black president. And the man he wants beside him in the red-hot race for the White House is Christian Gillette. But Samuel Hewitt, a Texas mogul with billions to burn, has another fate in mind for Christian: to be part of a shadow organization, powered by wealth and bound by dark secrets that has manipulated the course of American history for generations.

As the pieces of Hewitt’s plot fall into place, and a twisted chain of intrigue, treachery, blackmail, and death gets tighter and tighter, Christian realizes–maybe too late–that in a grudge match between kingmakers hell-bent on victory at all costs, he may be the last pawn sacrificed.

With The Power Broker, bestselling author Stephen Frey unleashes an ever-accelerating thriller that breaks the suspense barrier–and never stops.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Too many characters and settings.......2007-07-14

Deceit, trust and honesty are themes that are repeatedly surfacing in Frey's novel "The Power Broker." All relationships are questioned and tested in this action and crime packed story.

The novel encompasses several original story lines that did not seem to mesh together until the second half of the book. The two powerful, secret orders one of white and the other of black men entailed a large amount of detail on both sides that left the reader confused as to which characters belonged to which orders. Each of the orders had separate goals for a presidential hopeful.

I had great difficulty keeping track of the dozen or more characters in this novel, even though many were killed off during the course of the novel.

I did quickly become attached to the true main characters of the book Christian, Quentin, Nigel and Allison. I found that my favorite part of the novel was the dialogue between these individuals. The story that was told with these characters through their business practices was easy to follow and believable.

In all honesty, I had to force myself to read past the first few complicated and intricate chapters. There were too many characters and settings introduced in the first few chapters. I especially found myself very perplexed as to how the prologue fit in with the beginning of the novel. As the story progressed, the amount of story lines seemed to increase and did not converge until the final few chapters.

This novel could have used a character chart or map to prevent the reader being lost with too many characters and settings.

this is a mess.......2007-06-29

For some reason I keep picking up Frey books with the expectation that they will be knock down thrillers filled with intrigue. You will find a little of that here, but the Power Broker is so filled with compositional flaws that anything approaching readability is quickly overwhelmed by Frey's need to jump around from one character to the next. I lost count of how many first person chapters Frey pushes in here that orient themselves around someone new. Also, for the first half of the book Frey is constantly adding new major... very major plot threads that are as cumbersome as car wrecks.

This could have been a pretty good book I think if Frey had approached it through the eyes of a single character such as the predominant protagonist, Christian Gillette. I am always game for a political thriller and it seems that Frey has managed to pit several sides against each other in a unique bid for power. Sadly, Frey is a pretty good writer of prose, has interesting ideas, basically, he has everything you need for a darn good genre writer... everything that is except a will to force his thoughts into a tract that would allow for another to follow along.

OK, But ............2007-05-30

I was pretty disappointed with this effort by Stephen Frey. After awhile mentioning billions as if it has any meaning to the average reader, makes my eyes glaze over. The supposed good guy, Christian, is set up and fooled on a regular basis. If he is this gullible how did he become such a financial wizard? Too many unexplained happenings. He swims in icy Maine waters and his shoes don't squish? Is he wearing shoes? Don't his clothes drip all over the place. No, no and no. The author fills up a lot of pages and has a secret club a power club that has been written about many times before. It is an old plot idea and one can only hope this type of organization does not actually exist. If it does, expect your brain to be pulled out through your nose; the fate of one hapless character. Don't waste your time. I suffered so that you would not!

Entertaining, but series is running out of steam........2007-02-07

Somehow between "The Chairman" and this book, Christian Gillette morphed from a cutthroat chairman looking to protect himself from other nefarious characters and cutthroats, a truly fascinating enigma - into a hero-for-everyman type of character. The book still kept me interested, but the series' high note was the 1st book, and the overall quality of the story has descended steadily since. Hopefully, "The Successor" will reverse that trend.

The protege is much better!.......2007-02-07

This book is the sequence of the Protege. I recommend the original book!

John Grisham Collection: Set Of 18 Novels, Legal Suspense and Fiction (A Time to Kill, The Firm, Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, Runaway Jury, The Partner, Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, Bleachers, King of Torts, Last Juror, The Broker)

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John Grisham Collection: Set Of 18 Novels, Legal Suspense and Fiction (A Time to Kill, The Firm, Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, Runaway Jury, The Partner, Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, Bleachers, King of Torts, Last Juror, The Broker)
John Grisham
Manufacturer: Island Books/Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000MS6OUU

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Clunky long and boring
Unbelievable....
Chuck Logan does it again!!
Metaphor Mother-lode
Another solid entry from Chuck Logan

The Big Law: A Novel
Chuck Logan
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060191333

Amazon.com

The follow-up to The Price of Blood, one of Amazon.com's 10 best thrillers of 1997, The Big Law gets off to an exciting start when ex-cop Phil Broker gets a call for help from his ex-wife Caren. Caren left him years ago for Keith Angland, his former buddy on the St. Paul police force. Now, apparently, Angland's turned into a cowboy cop, maybe even a Mob-controlled rogue; at the very least, he's assaulted Caren and threatened her life. Broker has been out of uniform for a couple of years, busy caring for his 1-year-old daughter in a rural upstate backwater while his new wife is away on peace-keeping duty in the Balkans. He's heard rumors that Angland is being watched by the Feds, suspected of fingering an informant, but it doesn't touch him personally until Caren turns to him for help. She flees St. Paul and heads for Broker's hideaway with a suitcase full of money, an incriminating tape, and Tom James, a reporter with a gambling jones and a career that's on the skids. James hopes that latching onto Caren---not to mention the $2 million she's absconded with--will turn his luck around. When Caren is killed, the reporter frames Angland, steals the money, and talks his way into the Witness Protection Program, which looks like the perfect ticket out of his dead-end life, especially with Caren's tape as a bargaining chip. The Feds think James walks on water, but Broker isn't convinced. Setting out to find James where the "Big Law" has hidden him, he discovers just how far over the edge both James and Angland have fallen, and who pushed them. An explosive thriller with plenty of action, edge-of-your-seat pacing, and an appealing hero who readers will look forward to encountering again. --Jane Adams

Book Description

An emerging master of the thriller (whose previous novel was named one of Amazon.com's Ten Best Thrillers of the year) pits brooding hero Phil Broker against the legendary Witness Protection Program, which has unwittingly hidden his ex-wife's killer. In The Big Law, Logan unfurls a sublime premiseThe Fugitive in reverseand graces it with ingenious plotting and fascinating explorations of the forces that drive men both to selfless heroism and murderous greed.

The Big Law's intricate mechanics are set in motion by one fatal choice: Broker's naive ex-wife Caren decides to blow the whistle on her feckless husband, Keith Angland, a St. Paul cop who's moonlighting as an informant for the Chicago mob. Unwisely for her, she confides in Tom James, a disaffected reporter nursing dreams of the perfect crime. Seeing a way out of his dead-end life and into his dreams, Tom cajoles Caren into entrusting him with the suitcase full of greenbacks the mob has paid her informant husband. When Caren is killed, Tom frames Angland, absconds with the suitcase, runs to the FBI (known to its employees as the Big Law), and wangles himself a berth in the Witness Protection Program. Only Broker senses something amiss in Tom's testimony, and he sets out to find the truth. But to do that, he must find Tom, who has the Big Law and a big suitcase full of cash on his side.

Logan probes the inner workings of the Witness Protection Program. as no novelist has before. He also brings to this tale an unsurpassed knack for combining white-knuckle action with subtle characterizations and direct, lyrical prose. The Big Law proves how thoroughly he deserved to be called "one of the best of the new thriller breed." (Publishers Weekly)

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When former cop Phil Broker's naïve ex-wife, Caren, blows the whistle on her feckless second husband, Keith Angland, a St. Paul cop making a cool $2 million moonlighting for the Chicago mob, she unwittingly signs her own death warrant. Unwisely for Caren, she not only shared her troubles with Broker, she also told Tom James, a reporter with fantasies of pulling off the perfect crime. Inspired by the $2 million payoff she entrusted to his safekeeping, Tom kills Caren in a brilliant frame-up that leaves her crooked cop-husband to take the fall.

Covering all the angles, Tom runs to the FBI -- ""the Big Law"" -- and wangles a new life in the Witness Protection Program. But Tom's perfect plan doesn't count on Broker. Hard-edged and relentless, Broker smells a rat and is determined to set things right. But to succeed, he's got to locate Tom -- a clever man with a new identity, a suitcase full of cash, and the Big Law on his side.

Customer Reviews:

Clunky long and boring.......2007-06-07

I read about the first 60 pages and it took me three days! I gave up. I just could NOT get into this. I was lost much of the time trying to figure out who was who! The author seems to presuppose that you've read a prior book and know who all these people are. Nope, and I would never read this author again. Thank goodness I got this at the discount book store for $.25 and it wasn't worth that. The writing was very clunky and ponderous and ... not good.

Unbelievable...........2003-07-05

That is the word i kept thinking of as i read this book. I just could not believe that a publishing house would pay for this kind of writing.If there is a more dis-honest writer of fiction out there i haven't come across him. Or a plot more predictible.You've read this book a hundred times before. Only the names and the metaphores have changed. I can just see Chuck Logan working over the formula outline for thrillers. Inserting a name here, an auto model there, a precisely detailed firearm here.... Although there is some comic relief. In a passage involving (fake) cocaine. It is obvious a little research in his own kitchen could have helped Logan to see what twenty-two ounces of powder looks like.I resent every penny i paid for this piece of junk. This book was so bad i could go on for pages but there are limits here.......

Chuck Logan does it again!!.......2001-07-28

I can't believe this book sat on my shelf for over a year and I didn't read it. I finished it in one day! Once again, Chuck Logan immerses the reader in the world of his protagonist,in this case, Phil Broker. Hopefully we'll see more of Broker in future books. This is a great read and the "daddy" scenes are winners. The reviewer who says Broker doesn't care about his wife and child didn't read this book very carefully. What about the last sentence????? Maybe one has to understand about "compartments" to understand Phil Broker.

Metaphor Mother-lode.......2001-02-05

Chuck Logan doesn't think like the rest of us. Research shows that the typical adult male experiences a sexual thought every fifteen seconds, on average. That's how often Logan thinks up a new metaphor.

The Big Law is a wonderfully constructed spellbinder. Ex-cop Phil Broker is called back into action in the unlikely role of trying to clear his ex-boss in the murder of his ex-wife. That's a lot of "ex's." And there are more: exciting suspense, excellent machine-gun-like delivery, extraordinary plotting, and an excess of marvelously fresh phraseology.

Consider this small sampling: "... passive as a monastery staffed by eunuchs...glowworms of moonlight noodled between the drapes ... rumpled corduroy soul ... toothpick wreckage of a cornfield ... jerky Samurai rage ... ice gray day mushroomed into Snow City ... house like a blueprint of her hopes ... custom-fitted aura of loneliness... tiny galaxies of shattered glass ...veins seething with battery acid ... gamey as mold on a spoiled peach ... like a meticulous clerk who adds and subtracts lives ... racked by sick-dog shivers... neck flapped like broken film on a reel ..."

It's non-stop. Expect to be entertained. -Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of BIG ICE and WAKE UP DEAD

Another solid entry from Chuck Logan.......2000-09-22

Phil Broker is an ex-Saint Paul cop who now lives on Michigan's Upper Peninsuala with his infant daughter. However, when his ex-wife, Caren, finds her present husband is in deep with the Chicago mob she grabs the two million dollar payoff and goes running to Broker for help. On the way, she pairs up with morally-bankrupt reporter Tom James who sees his big chance to grab for the brass ring by murdering Caren, framing her husband, and disappearing with the two million into the FBI Witness Protection Program. But he didn't figure on Phil Broker who would stop at nothing, not even the FBI's Witness Protection Program, to learn the truth behind his ex-wife's death.

Customer Reviews:

An explosive tale of greed and medical intrigue.......1996-12-03

Cardiovascular surgeon and attorney R. Darryl Fisher with his first novel, THE BROKER, has written an explosive tale of greed and medical intrigue . . . a fast paced and well-written story that takes place in the unlikely confines of the operating rooms of a modern Dallas hospital and the slums of Mexico City.

Black market trafficking in human organs for transplant offered to those persons who are eager, able and willing to be the highest bidder forms the basis of this riveting thriller. In THE BROKER human hearts are black-marketed by a conspiracy of the wealthy and powerful in Mexico City and Dallas who are in positions in the medical and busdiness world to pull off such a scheme.

Cassy Baldwin, a young cardiovascular surgeon and divorced mother, and her eight year old son are unwittingly caught up by unplanned circumstances and swept to the center of a ruthless operation fueled by greed, the need for power, and a callous disregard for human life. The terror and danger that she and her son are confronted with can only be dealt with by a courage she is unaware of and equally desperate measures that she has never even imagined.

The speed and force with which this story moves will keep the reader's interest piqued and turning pages until the twisting climax. THE BROKER could only have been written by someone familiar with, trained in, and having practiced surgery in some of the great hospitals of America, which Darryl Fisher has done. Fisher has developed a plot that keeps one guessing, written with the right amount of medical terminology to keep it interesting and more than enough suspense to keep you awake late into the night.

Greed, medical intrigue and the illicit trafficking of human organs are stories taken from today's international headlines and could unfortunately be all too true. There are parts of the world, such as India, where the practice of buying and selling human organs for transplant is a thriving, open, and daily business. It is not hard to see how easily such a black market scheme, as described in THE BROKER, could be put in place in this countrty to meet the desperate shortage of organs that 10 people each day die waiting for.

Darryl Fisher in his first book, THE BROKER, has written a novel that fits nicely into the moving, fast action, and highly detailed storytelling done by John Grisham and Tom Clancy.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Mortgage Banking, published by Mortgage Bankers Association of America on May 1, 2004. The length of the article is 3336 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Q10 Capital's big plans: Q10 Capital is a new commercial mortgage banking company with a novel corporate structure: instead of having a national powerhouse own all the individual companies, the individual companies own the national powerhouse.(Cover Report: Origination Strategies)
Author: Steve Bergsman
Publication: Mortgage Banking (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2004
Publisher: Mortgage Bankers Association of America
Volume: 64 Issue: 8 Page: 46(6)

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Vicious Circle: A Novel of Complicity (Unabridged)

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Vicious Cirlde
Horrible writing negates what may be an interesting story
a WOW of a book
An informative and exciting thriller about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Vicious Circle: A Novel of Complicity (Unabridged)
Robert Littell
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
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ASIN: B000K7KJNG

Book Description

An Israeli government minister is assassinated in the home of his mistress. Days later, Elihu, an aging and decorated Mossad officer, leads his final combat mission, killing a Hamas leader in his bed—and barely escaping with his life. Out of this familiarly cyclical scenario emerges what is perhaps Robert Littell's most heartfelt and suspenseful novel. The action moves into the near future, when the global community, united under the leadership of a visionary female president of the United States, brokers a major compromise between Israel and the Palestinian authority in the hopes of snuffing out the violent flashpoint that fuels the flames of global terrorism. But then, Isaac Apfulbaum, a well-known fundamentalist Rabbi, is taken hostage by Dr. al-Saath, a legendary Palestinian terrorist, who demands the release of scores of high-level Palestinian political prisoners in exchange for his captive.

Elihu, now directing the interagency intelligence team hunting for Apfulbaum's captors, finds himself tracking a familiar and elusive enemy. As the Israelis slowly close in on their pray, the hostage and the hostage taker—sparring through grueling all-night interrogation sessions—become caught up in an extraordinary relationship; parallels between these battle-scarred partisans evolve in to bizarre bonds and a terrifying alliance. Israel, Palestine and the international community are united behind the effort to end the hostage crisis, but has the vicious circle already been closed? Ferociously suspenseful and brilliantly topical, Vicious Circle is a thriller that, like The Company before it, exposes the heart of an entire culture of violence by probing the corrupted consciences of the men and woman ensnared within it.

Customer Reviews:

Vicious Cirlde.......2007-01-09

I will read anything - and have - that Robert Littell writes. His research is thorough and his prose is magic. He understands people and power.

Horrible writing negates what may be an interesting story.......2006-11-17

Given the subject matter this was a book I was looking forward to diving into. Unfortunately, when I dove I hit my head on some of the most awful prose I have encountered. Has any human who ever lived actually uttered the words: "We will share the marriage bed again"? I couldn't get around the bad writing to maintain any interest in the story-it was far too distracting. The characters were also cardboard cut-out stereotypes.

a WOW of a book.......2006-11-05

This book is drawn from past, present, and the future of unrest in our world. So much so, it dominates our lives.
Near a time when a Middle Eastern peace treaty is set to be signed, a famous Rabbi and his secretary have been kidnapped in Israel by a prominent Muslim in hopes for the release of Arab prisoners being held by the Israelis. In this captivity, the two, the rabbi and the doctor speak in terms of the Torah and the Qur'an and we see the writings are almost identical - ok the words are different, but the philosophies are basically the same. If these people were to see without the constraints of their prejudices, maybe they could find common ground (literally and figuratively) to live together. It is very symbolic that the captor and captive are almost blind. They cannot see the truth.
Littell has written a gem of a book to let us see that problems that tear countries apart could come to some common ground if they were willing to listen to the other's words. The dialogue between the rabbi and the doctor makes the situation in the Middle East crystal clear. And frustrating because we know this is a vicious circle that has been happening for millenia.
Circle is the kind of book that will make you stop and think. You are drawn to it to keep reading for hours.
You will find this book fascinating. Regardless of your philosophy, you feel frustrated with the viciousness of the situation. Like it's like your great-grandmother stepped on my great-grandmother's new shoes and we will keep this bad will towards each other and our families - even after they are gone, the bad blood lingers. And we see that so much of our problems in the world are truly a vicious circle.

An informative and exciting thriller about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.......2006-10-28

You can't be an enemy by yourself. Robert Littell's new book illustrates the reciprocal nature of violence and revenge, taking readers to Jerusalem, ground zero for payback since the state of Israel was created. Taking place in the fictional not-too-distant future, Israel and Palestine are on the brink of signing a historic peace accord that will bring an end to decades of violence.

Unfortunately, there are fundamentalists on both sides who view any compromise as defiance of God's will. One such man is Dr. al-Saath, a Palestinian terrorist hardened in Israeli jails. He kidnaps Rabbi Isaac Apfulbaum, well-known speaker for the Jewish cause in the Middle East and not necessarily above violent means himself. The plan is to exchange him for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, but both sides are keenly aware that an exchange is unlikely and the Rabbi's death certainly will quash the peace process and lead to further violence. Dr. al-Saath holds the Rabbi prisoner and tortures him, hoping that he will confess to the secret identity of Ya'ir, leader of an underground Jewish movement dedicated to the destruction of the Palestinian state.

The Rabbi and the doctor are very similar --- so similar that the reader will have to put a little extra effort into keeping track of them. They are both nearly blind, for instance, clearly symbolic of fundamentalism's failure to acknowledge its devastating effects. They are also both considered to be messiah figures among their own people, and each man realizes that they would not have been so revered if they did not have a well-matched opponent to prove himself against. Will either of them be able to break the circle that has bound them together, years of culture and history ensuring their enmity?

One of the highlights of VICIOUS CIRCLE is that it shares this history with the reader; it's extremely informative without ever preaching or taking sides. Drawing on the Torah as often as the Qur'an, the histories of the two men, who could have been inseparable friends in other times, illustrate the history of the region, one tragedy always leading to another.

--- Reviewed by Colleen Quinn [...]

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The Bedroom Broker
Gus Stevens
Manufacturer: Brandon house
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WMCQFS

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