Red Sea

by Emily Benedek

Four airliners are blown out of the sky---a devastating string of attacks taking hundreds of lives and striking fear into people and governments around the globe. Marie Peterssen, an ambitious young aviation reporter, has a hunch about the crashes, and her suspicions are confirmed when she’s approached by Julian Granot, an Israeli airline security expert and former Special Forces commando who has noticed her work.

Julian offers Marie a rare lead, one that will send her to London and later into the devastation of war-torn Iraq.  With the help of a maverick FBI agent, Morgan Ensley, Marie stumbles onto the makings of a terrorist plot well beyond the destruction of airliners: the detonation of a rogue nuclear device in New York Harbor. The terrorists know that America’s most vulnerable spot is its transportation system, and they mean to exploit it. Time is short.

But Marie is in the grip of circumstances beyond her control. Julian’s intentions are unclear: Is he helping a journalist uncover answers the world craves, or is he setting up the girl to flush out an Islamic terrorist who killed Julian’s partner twenty years earlier?

Julian holds the key, but Marie’s role in the frantic race to unravel the plot grows when she learns that she may be tied to the terrorist leader in a more personal way. 

Author Emily Benedek was writing an article on counterterrorism for Newsweek when she came into contact with a high-level Israeli counterterrorism expert.  Due to his ongoing role in international investigations, much of what she learned in the course of their talks could only be told in a novel.  What emerges from those meetings is a bone-chilling story of suspense, as thrilling as it is plausible.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Emily Benedek graduated from Harvard College. Her articles and essays have appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Vogue, The Dallas Morning News, Mosaic, Tablet magazine, and on NPR, among others. Her first book, The Wind Won’t Know Me: A History of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute (Alfred a. Knopf, Inc.), was a finalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize. Her books include Beyond the Four Corners of the World: A Navajo Woman’s Journey (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.), and a memoir, Through the Unknown, Remembered Gate (Schocken). She is also the author of Red Sea (St. Martins Press), a thriller about terrorism and counter-terrorism, and Hometown Betrayal: A Tragic Story of Secrecy and Abuse in Mormon Country, an Amazon Best Seller. She has two daughters and lives in New York City. For more information, go to www.emilybenedek.com

Reviews

[Rosemary Macke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very very slow.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This type of story usually isn't my cup of tea. And for the most part that is true of this book as well. But about 2/3 of the way in, I wanted to know what was going to happen, and I was hooked. It's disturbing to think of the evil in the world and that no matter what, evil people can find a way! Also disturbing to think that bureacratic policies and procedures can get in the way of defending the country. One issue overall: I can't figure out how Marie determined who her father was. Both my sister and I read this book, and we both felt that was missing from the story -- or we both missed it!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was going be about plane crashes and protraction of events around it. It was much different direction of which was interestingly enough but no real connection to the fate of the characters in the unfolding. A good read and held my attention at least.

[Liliana Costa]

Li em Português, não em inglês.
MAR VERMELHO (Portuguese Edition) (Português), por Emily Benedek (Author)
ISBN-10: 9727705626
ISBN-13: 978-9727705627

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated a great deal the author's comments about Arab culture. It's only in increments, and paragraphs in books like this, that I have come to any understanding at all as to why the Western world is not universally loved!

However, I am extremely confused why she says in her preface that she was asked to consider writing a book "about airline security," and then proceeds to do anything but. After the first chapter the reader is off on a very different story of mayhem. Because of what she indicated was the subject of the book, I kept trying to see how the story would swing back around to airport security, and that took too much of my thoughts while reading. Also, she has a ways to go stylistically before she meets up with the big boys of crime fiction.

I also felt that the personal story of Marie was just too conveniently drawn.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, although it is just another example of ways terrorists can "get us." They seem to be able to go around, over, under, or through any added security measures we implement. In this book, blowing 4 airliners simultaneously out of the sky was only a decoy to keep our intelligence agents busy while a much more sinister plot was being worked out. I can only pray that our "real" intelligence community is as smart and lucky as the agents portrayed in fiction.

[Joseph Frati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a great story, a edge to the seat type of novel that it's a crime stop reading very hard to put down.to 4 airlines being blow out of the sky to the investigation work with the Israel service to the FBI and CIA and US Navy SEALS. If you want a kickass power trip this is the book for you!

What like is a great Tom Clancy story. What I don't like is that it could or would happen! And that sucks!

[Alien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das Buch fängt mit mehreren explodierenden Flugzeugen an und scheint darum rasant. Ich dachte "Holla, nicht schlecht". Doch anschließend bremst es runter auf Schneckentempo.
Von da an entwickelt sich alles sehr betulich und vorhersehbar. Alles wird ausführlich dargestellt.
Obwohl das ganze nicht richtig schlecht ist, habe ich mich auf S. 106 von 506 dazu aufgerafft, das Buch abzubrechen.
Es liest sich allerdings recht flüssig, wenn auch der Stil nicht gerade elegant ist
2.5/5

[J. Ewbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read. A novel of suspense and finally the good buys won, naturally. However it is the type of novel that includes things that could have happened that were bad and that is not good. Involves the East and the U.S.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

This felt like a podium for the author to relay opinions. The characters all seemed to be one person - trying desperately for us readers to see the dangers in the stuff we are overlooking. The many ways the American and Israeli haters can take us out. Are you listening people!

[Liesl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. Ending got pretty exciting, but it was a slow build for me. (Ironic as it starts with 4 plane crashes). Moving on....

[Lori]

Gift from Tina

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly good read .

[Luisa]

Just started the book I recieved it as a gift from a friend and is hoping for a GoodRead!!!

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not very good attempt at suspense...NYC threatened by terrorists blah blah blah.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have done without the foul language once again but other than that it was an interesting read.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.literaryfeline.com/2008/11...

[Conan Robison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good first novel, but I found it a little predictable. Could be because of the books in the genre I have read before. Good story, though.