The Trials of Zion

by Alan M. Dershowitz

"No one knows more about Israel's existential dilemma than Alan Dershowitz-or writes about it better. From its explosive beginning to its startling climax, The Trials of Zion excites and intrigues, even as it depicts the unique dangers of a lethal part of the world. This is a terrific novel." -- Richard North Patterson

"For a legalist, mired for years in towers of ivory not even hewn from the teeth of endangered elephants but constructed, indeed, and solely, of the casuistic and notional, Mr. Dershowitz writes a real good rip-snorter." -- David Mamet

"A thought-provoking thriller set in two of the world's most gripping arenas of conflict, the Middle East and the courtroom." -- Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought ,and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction

"As in all his essays, in his novel also, Alan Dershowitz demonstrates his great love for Israel as well as his inspired passion for Jewish memory, justice, and storytelling." -- Elie Wiesel

A shocking act of terror brings the Middle East to the point of explosion. As the resulting political conflict threatens to erupt, a young Jewish-American lawyer joins the defense team of an arrested but possibly innocent Palestinian. Soon the lawyer's father, a famed criminal attorney, must win the Palestinian's case or risk losing his daughter forever. To do so, he must take into account the tormented history of the Holy Land from every possible angle. The Trials of Zion combines the tension of the greatest courtroom dramas with the action of a fast-moving thriller, all set against the colorful backdrop of one of the most complex cultural settings in the world. Filled with memorable characters, this novel offers readers not only compelling suspense, but a panoramic view of the history of a beloved and bitterly contested land, and a sharply controversial perspective on the sources of--and the possible solutions to--the world's longest and most crucial international crisis.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Religion, Middle East, Historical Fiction

341 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is known for his career as an attorney in several high-profile law cases and commentary on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

He has spent most of his career at Harvard, where, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor in its history, until Noam Elkies took the record. Dershowitz still holds the record as the youngest person to become a professor of law there.

As a criminal appellate lawyer, Dershowitz has won thirteen out of the fifteen murder and attempted murder cases he has handled. He successfully argued to overturn the conviction of Claus von Bülow for the attempted murder of Bülow's wife, Sunny. Dershowitz was the appellate advisor for the defense in the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an odd book. The Trials of Zion is supposed to be a thriller set in near contemporary Israel...there are bombings, assasinations, trials, religious factionalism and lawyers and double crosses plus a number of set history pieces delivered by one character as 'history is important' moments. The problem is...despite having a nice twist in the plot and some interesting court room scenes (Dershowitz is a world class lawyer after all...and the main character is a thinly veiled Dershowitz) much of the novel is unbelievable even when it is. I rated it as ok simply because there are some intriguing ideas raised in the book...but if thriller is your interest you might want to steer clear.

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's American so everything is a little bit "supersized" but if you go with the flow this is an intriguing story in an interesting setting.

[Cym Lowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine that your precious only daughter has just graduated from law school and seems enchanted with a young Palestinian that she worked with in law school. The young man has invited her to come to Israel to work on the defense of a Palestinian accused of triggering a bomb in a prominent Israeli hotel that murdered the U.S. President, the Prime Minister of Israel, and the Hamas leader shortly to become President of the newly established Palestinian state, as the leaders were about to announce their agreement.

You are also a famous trial lawyer who has defended a long line of detestable characters, winning a reputation as a genius.

Your daughter defies your wishes, as young people will do, and goes to Israel to begin work on the case. Shortly thereafter, she is kidnapped.

What would you do? Probably go to Israel as Abraham Ringel and his former spy wife did.

The Trials of Zion is a fine thriller written by a famous lawyer and law professor, perhaps envisioning himself in the situation of his protagonist. In any event, this is a superbly well crafted story. It flows easily. Mr. Dershowitz includes an interesting history of families that immigrated to Israel at the time of the American Civil War as elements of the Zionist movement. The stories of these families shed light on the intrigues of the story.

In thrillers, it seems there is often violence and one dimensional characters. In The Trials of Zion, you will enjoy a touching story full of characters who have histories, secrets from each other, romantic interests, fears and hopes, and content. This is a story that I was sad to see end.

Aside from the excellent story and fine writing, the background of The Trials of Zion provides an interesting commentary on the real world struggles of the people of the Holy Land, and the role of Iran today, without judgmental commentary one way or another. In the end, the identity of the bad guys provides a clever, fascinating, thoughtful, and surprising ending.

Put this one on your list!

[Brimorse · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not finish this book. The dialogue between characters is so forced and unnatural that often times when two characters were speaking to each other I felt embarrassed for the author.

[Des Hunt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never read this author again

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the midst of the perennial tensions of the Middle East, this novel by one of the most well known Harvard law professors finds a young Jewish American lawyer (herself the daughter of a famed defense attorney) joining the defense team of an arrested but possibly innocent Palestinian that is charged with a shocking act of terror.

It's a hard-to-put-down good read from one of America's best legal experts.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having just attended a lecture by the author, I was curious to read this novel. A thriller that kept my attention, but I found some aspects far fetching.

[jana · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf

[John Kaufmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thriller based on the assassination of the leaders of the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians are killed by a suitcase bomb as they prepare to report on progress of peace talks. This serves as the setting to provide background to the stalemate that engulfs the region. At various times the author provides background on some of the major groups are suspected of the plot - radical Islamists, Palestinian Marxists, radical Zionists, Iranians, even apocalyptic Christians and the IDF and Mossad. The story includes a love affair and other family entanglements to humanize it a bit. The characters are a little one-dimensional, and the plot relies on some unrealistic coincidences. But that's neither Dershowitz's purpose nor his strong point (he's an attorney, not a novelist/fiction writer), and the storyline is sufficient to hold one's attention - I kept waiting to get back to the book, despite my criticisms above.

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts off with the President of the United States at a televised conference with the Israeli Prime Minister. Suddenly a bomb goes off killing them both along with some other heads of state. A young girl, just out of college, flies to the Middle East to work as an aide to a humanitarian defense lawyer who has become the lawyer for the suspected bomber. I really enjoyed the history covered in the novel about Arab and Israeli relationships. I do not fully understand the history of the hatred in that region of the world and this book gave me some insight into it. It covers radical religious extremists, political activists, and those individuals that are just searching for a peaceful way of life. The trial and investigations are intriguing and pull the whole story together. I really enjoyed this one.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting if you like legal dramas - but this one provides more than the courtroom as its basis. A little confusing in spots.... introducing characters in the beginning with the Israeli and Arabic names took me a while to get them straight...then the plot takes over and its a good one! Also the 2nd part of the book which has a non-legal focus - got a little confusing to me because of the discussions of various political and terrorist type groups. All in all though I liked this very much. The story ended in such a way that there may be more coming with the same main characters.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Trials of Zion is an unusual legal thriller. Middle-Eastern geopolitics, legal drama and a dangerous conspiracy make this a fun, intriguing thriller. However, Alan Dershowitz has written far more than a superficial thriller, it is also a subtle commentary on the Middle-East and Israel’s place in the world.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alan Dershowitz writes fiction much like the late Isaac Asimov did - that is, in a clear expository, almost didactic style that is ideally suited to each author's extensive nonfiction writing but that does not lead to great literature. But he can spin a good yarn, & I enjoyed this book as a diversion.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

is it a good thing or a bad thing that i really don't know what our government does or what other countries governments do?
very good book, that delves into the conflicts of the middle east.
the author is a well known professor and lawyer whose specialty is middle eastern relations.
i'll have to pick up more from this author.

[Phyllis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it was worth reading but it was disappointing. The characters weren't defined
so that I didn't find any of them compelling to me. Some information about Israel but
a lot of made up stuff so that I finally couldn't tell the legitimate legends from the
completely fictional.

[Ty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book! I was quite surprised to see a fictional book by Alan Dershowitz and after completing it, I have to say it was a very good read with a lot of thought placed into the plot. It is a legal thriller meets spy world. Highly recommend!

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really into the book at the beginning. About half way through I felt like the book was adding several new characters making it hard to follow. The Trials of Zion had a good storyline, but I think if I had read the book instead of listening to the audio it would have been easier to follow.

[JoAnn J. A. Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting novel, with a bombing, courtroom action, terrorists, kidnapping, and spying.

I enjoyed reading it and recommend it to anyone interested in Middle Eastern stories.

[Ivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not impressed...Dershowitz supposedly has some good novels, this was definitely not one of them.

[Tyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I flew through this book and read it in almost one sitting. Good suspense/thriller about a terrorist attack in the Middle East. I actually figured out part of the conspiracy.

[Erin Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good I couldn't put it down for the first 200 pages. The last 100 went more slowly, but still very good. It was a great look into Israeli culture.

[Josh Hirsch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't realize it was possible to make a book about kidnapping, vast terrorist plots and legal precedence boring, but apparently it is. Dershowitz needs to stick to non-fiction.

[Shoshana Fagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew he could write fiction? Dershowitz hit it out of the park.

[Bert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise, but throughout much of the book, it seemed like a grade school student had written it. The dialogue between characters was "forced" and didn't strike me as realistic.

[Kendall Bracamonte-Johns · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was intense and had a very plausible unexpected ending. This wasn't a fun read, but it was interesting and intriguing.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the Israel and Jewish details, good mystery

[Rena Del · Rating 1 out of 5]

too boring. could not finish