DAHLIA BARR DOES NOT SUFFER FOOLS—or her own government, with which she is normally at odds. Shrewd, brash, and as tough as she is beautiful, the controversial Israeli attorney specializes in defending Palestinians accused of terrorism. She is also a devoted mother, a soon-to-be-divorced wife, and the lover of a handsome American television correspondent.
To Dahlia’s astonishment, the Israeli security establishment one day approaches her with a tantalizing proposition: Join us, and become the beleaguered nation’s arbiter on when to use the harshest of interrogation methods—what some would call torture. Dahlia is intrigued. She has no intention of permitting torture. Can she change the system from within?
Then, as Dahlia settles into her new job, her son Ari, a twenty-year-old lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces, is kidnapped by Hezbollah and whisked over the border to Lebanon. The one man who may hold the key to Ari’s rescue is locked in a cell in police headquarters. Edward Al-Masri—professor, activist, media gadfly—is an Arab who has a long and complicated history with Dahlia. And he’s not talking. Yet.
The Lie is a nail-biting thriller, pulsing with insight into the inner workings of Israel’s security apparatus. It is an unforgettable story of human beings on both sides of the terror equation whose lives turn out to share more in common than they—and the reader—could ever have imagined.
Read Caroline Baum's Review
There is no more secret secret service than Mossad. There is no higher flash point than the Middle East. Any thriller set in this part of the world is playing with the highest stakes. Kestin knows that, and has constructed a tight, tough plot full of plausibly terrible twists and turns. At the heart of this briskly paced, jump- cutting novel is Dahlia, a 44 year old human rights lawyer who is recruited by the Israeli police to serve as arbiter in interrogation procedure. Until now she's been an advocate for the Palestinian cause, making her appointment extremely controversial and uneasy. Her mother, a feisty activist, is appalled. Dahlia is defiant, confident that she can prevent the Israeli apparatus from resorting to torture.
Of course the plot skewers her certainty: when Dahlia's soldier son Ari is captured by Hezbollah and tortured, she stops at nothing to get him back. All too real, this is a powerful, urgent, heart-racing page turner that will no doubt be turned into a film any minute.
About the Author
An honors graduate of the Brooklyn streets, where he grew up across from the former headquarters of Murder Inc., Hesh Kestin reported on war and civil mayhem in the Mideast, Europe and Africa, and as European correspondent for Forbes on global terrorism and its nastier counterpart, global business.
Cited by MediaGuide for best foreign correspondence, his work has appeared in publications as diverse as Newsday, The Jerusalem Post, Inc. and Playboy. After hanging up his trenchcoat Kestin founded two prize-winning newspapers, the independent Israeli daily The Nation and The American, a weekly for expatriates.
Industry Reviews
'A page-turner that will engage your mind and emotions in a way few novels do. The narrative is headlong, the issues have never been more current, and the characters come alive from the page. This is a story about the lies we tell until the truth is forced upon us, and about divided countries, including those of the human heart. I started reading; I ended up experiencing. The Lie is what great fiction is all about.' - Stephen King
