Vicious Circle: A Novel of Complicity [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Robert Littell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2006

An Israeli government minister is assassinated in the home of his mistress. Days later, Elihu, an ageing Mossad officer leads his final raid, killing a Hamas leader in his bed. Out of this familiarly cyclical scenario emerges what is perhaps Robert Littell's most heartfelt and suspenseful novel. The action moves into the near future, when the global community, united under the leadership of a visionary female president of the Untied States, brokers a major compromise between Israel and the Palestinian authority in the hope of snuffing out the violent flashpoint that fuels the flames of global terrorism. But then, Isaac Apfulbaum, a well-known fundamentalist Rabbi, is taken hostage by Dr. al-Saath, a legendary Palestinian terrorist, who demands the release of several Palestinian prisoners. As Israel coaxes Elihu out of retirement to hunt down the terrorist who motivated his final mission, al-Saath and Apfulbaum fund themselves building an extraordinary relationship between hostage taker and hostage: parallels between these two battle-hardened partisans become the bonds that could lead to reconciliation. But with the Mossad strike team closing in, has the vicious circle already been closed? Ferociously suspenseful and brilliantly topical, "Vicious Circle" is a thriller that, like "The Company" before it, breaks down an entire culture of violence into the corrupted consciences that embody it.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran espionage writer Littell, whose 1973 debut, The Defection of A.J. Lewinter, prompted critics to compare him to such British masters as Eric Ambler and John le Carré, stumbles a bit with his take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, set in a near, post–George W. Bush future. An unnamed woman, who will remind many of Hillary Clinton, is president of the U.S., while, less plausibly, the Palestinian Authority is led by Arafat's successor, who's also nameless. Given Hamas's electoral victory in early 2006, the plot, which centers on yet another U.S.-brokered effort to create a lasting Middle East peace, has already been overtaken by events. The relationship between a terrorist leader and his hostage, a right-wing rabbi and agitator, may intrigue those who can overlook the dated scenario. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Littell's latest brainy thriller probes very near the heart of the time-worn conflict over a land made and kept holy through regular libations of martyrs' blood. All the world holds its breath (including the second President Clinton) when--only nine days before an unprecedented Arab-Israeli settlement that will establish an autonomous Palestinian state and de-escalate tensions between East and West--Rabbi Isaac Apfulbaum, an extreme Zionist, is taken hostage by an Islamic Fundamentalist doctor known as Abu Bakr, whose "Christian name" is Ishmael. Both nearly blind, with foreheads bruised from fervent prayer to the one God, these oddly paired messianic sons of Ibrahim/Abraham engage in a curious summit in Jerusalem, even as hostile forces converge on the eve of Ramadan to save or ruin all. An American diplomat serves as chorus, providing discrete pragmatic perspectives on the swiftly evolving action, while a leftist journalist serves as witness and wild card. Holding his protean cleverness in check, Littell presents a physical and mental landscape of stark beauty and ugliness, spinning a tale fit to hold its own with Eric Ambler's The Levanter, John le Carre's The Little Drummer Girl, David Ignatius' Agents of Innocence, and Robert Stone's Damascus Gate. Must reading for fans of high-end thrillers. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 501 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing (December 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597223840
• ISBN-13: 978-1597223843
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,455,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bestselling author Robert Littell has been ranked amongst John Le Carre and Graham Greene for his masterful spy fiction. A Newsweek journalist in a previous incarnation, Littell has been writing about the Soviet Union and Russians since his first novel, the espionage classic The Defection of A.J.Lewinter. Among his numerous critically acclaimed novels are The October Circle, Mother Russia, The Debriefing, The Sisters, The Revolutionist, The Once and Future Spy, An Agent in Place, The Visiting Professor, the New York Times bestselling The Company (adapted for a TNT mini-series), and Legends (winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Best Thriller of 2005) and For the Future of Israel, a book of conversations with Shimon Peres. Littell is an American who makes his home in France.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a WOW of a book, November 4, 2006

By 

ellen "ellen in atlanta" (Atlanta, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vicious Circle: A Novel of Complicity (Hardcover)

This book is drawn from past, present, and the future of unrest in our world. So much so, it dominates our lives.

Near a time when a Middle Eastern peace treaty is set to be signed, a famous Rabbi and his secretary have been kidnapped in Israel by a prominent Muslim in hopes for the release of Arab prisoners being held by the Israelis. In this captivity, the two, the rabbi and the doctor speak in terms of the Torah and the Qur'an and we see the writings are almost identical - ok the words are different, but the philosophies are basically the same. If these people were to see without the constraints of their prejudices, maybe they could find common ground (literally and figuratively) to live together. It is very symbolic that the captor and captive are almost blind. They cannot see the truth.

Littell has written a gem of a book to let us see that problems that tear countries apart could come to some common ground if they were willing to listen to the other's words. The dialogue between the rabbi and the doctor makes the situation in the Middle East crystal clear. And frustrating because we know this is a vicious circle that has been happening for millenia.

Circle is the kind of book that will make you stop and think. You are drawn to it to keep reading for hours.

You will find this book fascinating. Regardless of your philosophy, you feel frustrated with the viciousness of the situation. Like it's like your great-grandmother stepped on my great-grandmother's new shoes and we will keep this bad will towards each other and our families - even after they are gone, the bad blood lingers. And we see that so much of our problems in the world are truly a vicious circle.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An informative and exciting thriller about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, October 27, 2006

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vicious Circle: A Novel of Complicity (Hardcover)

You can't be an enemy by yourself. Robert Littell's new book illustrates the reciprocal nature of violence and revenge, taking readers to Jerusalem, ground zero for payback since the state of Israel was created. Taking place in the fictional not-too-distant future, Israel and Palestine are on the brink of signing a historic peace accord that will bring an end to decades of violence.

Unfortunately, there are fundamentalists on both sides who view any compromise as defiance of God's will. One such man is Dr. al-Saath, a Palestinian terrorist hardened in Israeli jails. He kidnaps Rabbi Isaac Apfulbaum, well-known speaker for the Jewish cause in the Middle East and not necessarily above violent means himself. The plan is to exchange him for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, but both sides are keenly aware that an exchange is unlikely and the Rabbi's death certainly will quash the peace process and lead to further violence. Dr. al-Saath holds the Rabbi prisoner and tortures him, hoping that he will confess to the secret identity of Ya'ir, leader of an underground Jewish movement dedicated to the destruction of the Palestinian state.

The Rabbi and the doctor are very similar --- so similar that the reader will have to put a little extra effort into keeping track of them. They are both nearly blind, for instance, clearly symbolic of fundamentalism's failure to acknowledge its devastating effects. They are also both considered to be messiah figures among their own people, and each man realizes that they would not have been so revered if they did not have a well-matched opponent to prove himself against. Will either of them be able to break the circle that has bound them together, years of culture and history ensuring their enmity?

One of the highlights of VICIOUS CIRCLE is that it shares this history with the reader; it's extremely informative without ever preaching or taking sides. Drawing on the Torah as often as the Qur'an, the histories of the two men, who could have been inseparable friends in other times, illustrate the history of the region, one tragedy always leading to another.

--- Reviewed by Colleen Quinn [...]

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A boring thriller, October 17, 2008

By 

G. G. RIVAS "ggrhome" (Lebanon, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vicious Circle (Paperback)

In keeping with current events I'd have to say that my Littell stock has just plummeted. After reading Sisters, The Amateur, and a couple of others I thought highly of this author. But this book is not just talky -- it's predictable and repetitive talky -- and just drags. One of those books where (horrors) you actually look at the handful of pages in your right hand and contemplate just jumping ahead.

Don't bother waiting for the interesting plot twists... they're pretty minor and you spotted them at a distance.

Character development seems to be what he was aiming for but it's just a mass of cliches.

Move on, dear reader, there are far better ways to spend your reading time.