Exile

By: Richard North Patterson

Narrated by: William Hope

Length: 22 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

An ambitious young lawyer takes on his biggest case: the televised murder trial of a woman he still loves...

David Wolfe is an ambitious former homicide prosecutor who is planning to run for Congress. A political dinner for the Israeli Prime Minister is hosted by his current girlfriend, Carole Shorr, a liberal supporter of both the Palestinian and Israeli causes. But when David receives a call from Hana Ashawi, a Palestinian woman who was David's classmate at Harvard Law School, he is rattled.

Hana was more than a peer - she was his lover. When, furthermore, the Israeli Prime Minister is assassinated, apparently by Hana's partner, David finds himself thrown into a situation with enormous global, political and emotional implications.

©2007 Richard North Patterson (P)2014 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Sadly Predictable Story Sharply Defined Characters

The story is as old as the campfire. Romeo and Juliet in the person of Hanna and David, a Palestinian and a Jew each carrying his or her own ethnic and religious baggage. Mr. Patterson pulls at us to understand the plight of the Palestinians while tipping his cap to the two thousand years of pogroms directed at the Jews. In the end the characters are extraordinarily sharply drawn and completely realized. Without giving away too much, the denouement is never really in doubt and sadly predictable. I enjoyed the characterizations in the first half of the book, though David was a bit of cliché. You will see the end coming from the very publisher's blurb. Still the writing was excellent. I am on the fence whether I would recommend it.

Instructive and Entertaining

A brilliant book, written to instruct and entertain, For those with a limited knowledge of just how Israel came to be, and what that action cost the Palestinian people, this book is for you. Patterson does not come down on either side of the argument, just iterates that there is no answer, except one that requires both sides to see the folly of continuing the status quo.
Excellent. In every way.

I loved this book with minor exceptions. i

I found this book utterly fascinating. it made me stop and think about all that I know about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, all I think I know, and more. I found myself looking at it from both sides with a more open mind, although, not it did not change my core beliefs. I found myself slipping out to care to salvage a few extra moments of listening time whenever I could. Although it seemed to drag on in spots it carried itself very well.

Intriguing but........

I got through the book just to see how it would end. So much hate on both sides, but slightly tilted. That might be how things really are, I pray not. The narrator did a wonderful job with just the right emotion all through the book.

It's a story of love and hate and passion and a lot more. It could happen in today's world and that's really scary. The only thing I thought was missing was more interaction with the truly guilty one.

I would not listen to this again, so I'm going to return it.

Deep, RIVETING END. NEEDS to be a movie.

It started out a bit slow, I actually got confused for awhile. But this man CAN WRITE AN ENDING! I don't usually listen AGAIN. But I just might this one.

William Hope is an astonishing narrator. Really great production.

Good story but drags on a bit

The narrator did a fine job on this story. However, the story itself went on far too long. I found the ending to be predictable and obvious from the word go -- anyone can do the arithmetic. The court scenes, as usual, are always superior to the other sections. which could have been narrowed substantially.