Jericho Road

by Claud Cockburn

Hop, a Samaritan, is travelling towards Jericho when he hears screams. He breaks his journey and goes to help a young man who has been badly beaten-up, takes him to a friend's inn and leaves for a business trip round the countryside beyond Jericho.A familiar story, perhaps. But what became of Hop, the young man, Alpha, and the innkeeper? The Samaritan's disinterested action arouses suspicion and he is plagued by the crass stupidity of the upholders of a bureaucratic police state who are as confused by events as he is. And why does the incident become absorbed into the repertoire of stories told by the Essene, over whom there is also much fuss and uncertainty? When it transpires that Alpha is in some way mixed up with the noted terrorist, Barabas, Hop has great difficulty in convincing everyone, from his business partner to the Jericho Police Chief, of his innocence.

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 1974