Publishers Weekly: "[Stone] successfully grafts a classic hard-boiled detective plot line onto the complexities and dangers of life in modern Israel in his final novel."

Stone, who died in 2007, successfully grafts a classic hard-boiled detective plot line onto the complexities and dangers of life in modern Israel in his final novel. When Prof. Jacob Kaye suspects his attractive wife, Deborah, of infidelity, he hires Levin, a former Israeli security service officer turned PI, to shadow her around the streets of Jerusalem. Levin quickly confirms his client's fears. When Deborah's art professor lover is gunned down on the road to Jaffa, an apparent victim of a random Palestinian sniper attack, Levin wonders whether Kaye was behind the murder. While the gumshoe's growing attraction to the woman in the case is stock material, Stone (A Town Called Jericho) uses it to challenge his lead character's retreat from life and generally passive attitude. The book also nicely captures the inherently tenuous nature of life in the Holy City, where a door-to-door insurance salesman offers a small extra charge for terrorism coverage. (Feb.)