'The Human Scale': Israel-based FBI mystery is a page-turner - review
The Human Scale is a superb contemporary political thriller that goes well beyond simply keeping the reader enthralled with a succession of unexpected developments, page after page.
An FBI vehicle(photo credit: REUTERS/AMR ALFIKY)ByNEVILLE TELLER
The Human Scale is the apt title that author Lawrence Wright has bestowed on his new political thriller.
While digging deep into the perennial Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its current Gaza-based manifestation, the novel explores the profound personal and psychological effect the war has on the main participants in the story.
Wright intertwines these political and personal themes with great skill. Integral to his fast-moving, plot-driven thriller are his insightful studies of the two leading complex characters and the impact on them of the events in which they become involved.
What is the plot of 'The Human Scale'?
Tony Malik is an FBI agent engaged in tracking the illicit arms and drug trade. On an assignment in Jordan, he is caught in a bomb blast, is badly wounded, and narrowly escapes with his life.
Back in the States, he takes a long time recuperating. It is during this period that he starts to explore his familial origins. His father was a Palestinian refugee to the US in the 1970s, who fell in love with an Irish-American girl. Malik becomes intrigued with his Arab background and his Palestinian roots. An opportunity to explore them further arises when he is invited to his niece’s wedding in Hebron in the West Bank.
Soldiers overlook the Hebron region in 2014 (credit: KOBI GIDEON/GPO)To help his recovery, the FBI gives him a low-risk investigative task to fulfill while he is in Israel. As soon as he arrives, however, he is plunged into an unforeseen situation. He meets Israeli police chief Jacob Weingarten in Hebron to discuss his FBI assignment, but a few hours later he learns that Weingarten was murdered.
To investigate Weingarten’s assassination, Malik finds himself paired with Yossi Ben-Gai, a tough Israeli police inspector. The novel then becomes as much an investigation of the up-and-down relationship between Malik and Ben-Gai as a picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Together they uncover a multitude of varying attitudes about the perennial Israel-Palestine dispute, as well as extreme forms of violence, hatred, and inhumanity on all sides.
Ben-Gai seems to exemplify the semi-complacent attitude toward Hamas and Gaza that was prevalent in official Israeli circles before October 7, 2023. He dismisses known jihadist activity in Gaza as “some virus that pops up every few years, sometimes deadly, sometimes you hardly notice, like the difference between a cold and the flu.” Vehemently anti-Palestinian, he nevertheless harbors qualms about the extremist Israeli right-wing expanding in numbers and influence in Hebron. He agrees to collaborate with Malik because he is mistrustful of his co-workers and their ties to settlers.
No one is more knowledgeable than Wright about the complex Israel-Palestine dispute and the myriad of views and attitudes prevailing on both sides. Drawing on his extensive journalistic experience in the Middle East, he infuses his novel with authentic descriptions of the life and the views of people of the region, adding depth and relevance to his page-turning political thriller.
When he was in the States, after 9/11 Malik used to downplay his Muslim and Palestinian background. As the plot of the novel develops, he comes to terms with the fact that in Israel and Palestine, “he would always be under suspicion.” As Ben-Gai tells him: “Whatever you are in America, here you are an Arab.”
As the two men pursue their investigation, they discover that the murdered police chief had been investigating financial networks linked to both Israeli and Palestinian extremists. The two uncover links between corrupt Israeli officials, wealthy Palestinian financiers, and foreign intelligence operatives intent on fostering instability in the region. As Malik gets closer to the truth, he realizes that someone – possibly within his own agency – set him up to fail.
Wright takes his story right up to the Hamas pogrom of October 7 and one day beyond, with Malik personally involved in the bloodthirsty events of that day and their consequence
The Human Scale is a superb contemporary political thriller that goes well beyond simply keeping the reader enthralled with a succession of unexpected developments, page after page. On top of his compelling narrative, Wright provides his readers with real insight into the human dimensions of one of the world’s most enduring conflicts.
