The Project - Hardcover

Chafets, Zeev

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446518867 ISBN 13: 9780446518864

Publisher: Grand Central Pub, 1997

Synopsis

America's first Jewish president discovers a secret plan on the part of the conservative Israeli prime minister to foil his reelection campaign and upset the precarious balance of world power

About this title

About the Author

Zev Chafets is a columnist for the Jerusalem Report.

Reviews

In another wry geopolitical thriller from Chafets (Hang Time, 1996, etc.), America's first Jewish President locks horns with an Israeli Prime Minister who has things to hide. When the US President and Vice President incinerate each other in a boating accident, Dewey Goldberg, Speaker of the House, finds himself in the White House. A moderate Democrat from northern Michigan, the ex-congressman soon resolves to seek a term on his own if only to keep the likely Republican candidate, the reactionary governor of a Sunbelt state, out of the Oval Office. With the election less than a year off, however, Goldberg discovers he has a problem: Elihu Barzel, Israel's charismatic PM is undermining him in America's Jewish community (a major source of campaign funds) and appears set to support his probable opponent. Surrounded by GOP holdovers from the previous administration, Goldberg dispatches journalist-friend Charlie Walker to Tel Aviv to investigate. Using in-country contacts, Walker learns a lot about Barzel, a crafty Palmach veteran who arrived in Israel from Poland after WW II and amassed a sizable personal fortune after a stint as a Nazi hunter; a bachelor, the hawkish Prime Minister entered politics late in life but was able to form a conservative government with backing from right-wing religious groups. Puzzled by gaps in the biography of the mystery man ((who also has an early date with his nation's voters), Walker keeps on digging and catches wind of a strategic government initiative known only as The Project. Appalled by the possible consequences of this undertaking, an Israeli intelligence operative leaks the horrific details to Walker; the roving correspondent goes on to uncover another dark secret, this one from Barzel's distant past. Walker shares his findings with Goldberg, allaying the Chief Executive's fears of an anti-Semitic backlash, and the two heads of state eventually do a deal that makes the world safe for their pragmatic brand of democracy. Another hugely entertaining tale from Chafets. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Even though it deals with such heavy-weight issues as the threat of nuclear war in the Middle East and Israel's meddling in an American election, this new thriller by Chafets (Inherit the Mob) has a cozy, downhome (hamische, as they say in Yiddish) quality, a welcome rarity in the current marketplace of blood and techno-thunder. There's also a healthy dash of sly insider's humor (Chafetz, now a columnist for the Jerusalem Report, worked as a press officer for Prime Minister Menachem Begin). It's 2000, and Dewey Goldberg, America's first Jewish president, sits uneasily in the White House?having been elevated from Speaker of the House to chief executive 11 months earlier in the wake of a boating accident that killed both the president and the veep. Goldberg seems to have a good chance at winning a full term, until word leaks out that the enigmatic Israeli prime minister, Elihu Barzel, is pressuring American Jews to support the Republican candidate, right-wing Southern populist Earl Childes. Goldberg asks his old college friend Charlie Walker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, to find out why. Walker digs up some frightening facts about Barzel's past and his involvement in a shadowy military operation called The Project, which has something to do with the Armageddon being predicted for the year 2001 by Reverend Bobby Silas, a powerful American Christian militant. The plot's weighty bones don't stop Chafetz from animating a large and extremely colorful cast of minor characters, or from spreading his tart comments on politics and religion like horseradish on gefilte fish.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This novel is billed as a fast-paced political thriller. Fast-paced it definitely is, but Day of the Jackal it isn't. Instead, Israeli novelist Chafets (Hang Time, LJ 3/1/96) offers a quick romp reminiscent of early Irving Wallace, albeit not so long-winded. Set at the turn of this century, the plot has the first Jewish president, Dewey Goldberg, and his columnist buddy trying to fathom the character and actions of Israeli prime minister Elihu Barzel. Barzel can be described as a mystery wrapped in an enigma, and his agenda includes making lots of trouble for Dewey and his administration. Amid much realpolitik doubletalk and many red herrings, this novel comes to a predictable but good-hearted conclusion. Readers looking for true suspense and really far-fetched plot lines should look into recent political memoirs, but Chafets's novel will be enjoyed. Recommended for general collections.?Lesley C. Keogh, Bethel P.L., Ct.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

After a speedboat crash kills the president and vice president, Dewey Goldberg, a Jew and former speaker of the House, becomes chief executive. Now, in the year 2000, he's running for president against an ultraconservative, fundamentalist Christian, whose brand of right-wing populism is scaring the voters. So what's the problem? Opposing Goldberg's election is Elihu Barzel, the prime minister of Israel, whose support he needs. Goldberg's top adviser is sent to Israel to talk to Barzel. There he soon becomes aware of a covert operation known as the "Project." The plot thickens when a dirty little secret involving Barzel is about to be revealed. Chafets was head of the Israeli government press office under Menachem Begin, and he uses his background well in making his characters perfectly believable. His fourth novel is international intrigue at its best. George Cohen

Edition details

• Publisher: Grand Central Pub
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446518867
• ISBN 13: 9780446518864
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 261