by Robert Stone
First published 1998
A journalist arrives in Jerusalem seeking stories but finds himself drawn into the city's dangerous undercurrents of faith and violence. He witnesses a brutal confrontation in Gaza that sets him on a path through the ancient city's most sacred and treacherous places. As he navigates between pilgrims and con artists, believers and skeptics, he becomes entangled in a deadly plot targeting the Temple Mount. The journalist must race through riot-torn streets and navigate underground tunnels in a desperate bid to prevent a catastrophic bombing. His search for truth becomes a journey into the heart of a city where people trade sanity for salvation and where violence and ecstasy exist side by side. Stone places his protagonist at the center of Jerusalem's moral complexities, where every encounter forces him to question what he believes about faith, redemption, and the price people pay for both.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, moral-ambiguity
Setting: Jerusalem, Gaza
Period: Contemporary
500 pages · Hardcover · Houghton Mifflin Company
Content warnings: violence