Zaddik - Softcover

Rosenbaum, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0446403229 ISBN 13: 9780446403221

Publisher: Mysterious Press, 1994

Synopsis

Recently divorced, spiritually adrift, and recovering from alcoholism, Dov Taylor, an ex-cop from the NYPD, is called upon to recover one of the world's greatest treasures: the Seer's Stone, a magnificent 72-carat diamond. The gem was to be used as dowry in a historic wedding meant to unite two powerful, bitterly antagonistic Hasidic sects, but has been removed from the sanctum of New York City's diamond center and placed in the hands of the Magician, a Nazi collaborator and notorious war criminal. In a difficult quest of recovery, Taylor forges a link through time and solicits the help of his exalted ancestor, Hirsh Leib of Orlik— a zaddik and prince of Israel from 19th-century Poland, a country ravaged by war and fanaticism. To succeed, Taylor must commit his very life to a law older and more awesome than any on the books.

About this title

About the Author

David Rosenbaum is a longtime journalist, and the author of two thrillers. The first, Zaddik, was shortlisted for an Edgar award for Best Mystery Novel. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

From Kirkus Reviews

Rosenbaum's first novel is a strange brew indeed: the theft of a fabulous jewel from Manhattan's diamond district ends up connecting the fate of Poland under Napoleon with the messianic union of two long-hostile Jewish sects. Brooklyn's Satmar rabbi Joel Teitel has been planning to give the 72-carat stone as a dowry to his daughter Esther when she marries Adam Seligson, son of the Lubavitcher rebbe, in the hopes of uniting the two warring clans. So when thieves kill Zalman Gottleib in search of the stone Rabbi Teitel had asked Gottleib to keep safe, and the stone vanishes, the Satmar community, skeptical of police efforts, hires ex- cop Dov Taylor to recover it. Before Taylor can trace it to Gottleib's friend Ariel Levin, Levin too has been killed, and the jewel spirited off, by an assassin called the Cutter; his master, Ladislaw Czartoryski, the Magician; and their shiksa accomplice, Maria Radziwell. So far this sounds like a replay of A Stranger Among Us minus Melanie Griffith, but when Taylor is attacked by the Cutter, he has a vision back to a haimish John Dickson Carr historical romance: suddenly it's 1814, and Taylor's ancestor Hirsch Lieb, the zaddik of Orlik, is involved in a plot with historical figures like Rebbe Yakov Yitzhak, the Seer of Lublin, and Prince Adam Czartoryski, protector of Lublin's Jewish community, to bribe Napoleon, using the same stone, to grant Polish independence. The plot ends in a pogrom just in time to send the story back to the present, where the Magician and the stone reveal a further historical pedigree stretching from Cecil Rhodes's diamond syndicate to Adolf Eichmann and Kim Philby--and where Taylor will have to make one last spiritual connection with his great-great- grandfather in order to foil the theft, save the wedding, and maybe earn a bride of his own. Whew. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446403229
• ISBN 13: 9780446403221
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 464