Jon Papernick’s portrayal of the upper middle-class Matthew Stone, and his entanglement with an Ultra Orthodox Zionist terrorist cell in Brooklyn, is a suspense-filled page-turner! Matthew, the alienated grandson of a Jewish trigger man for Murder Incorporated, discovers that his father – a dishonored N.Y. judge – has not only been a supporter of the extreme right wing in Israel, but he has kept a secret bank account to support pro-Israeli terrorist activities. And it is how to access the mysterious truths inherent in the bank account that constitutes the core of this fast-driving, hair-raising novel.
Papernick, through thoughtful characterization, defines the terrifying distinctions that have to be drawn between religious faith and religious zealotry, distinctions that in the end are morally devastating.