Bloodline: Heritage Trilogy Book One (Alan Gold & Mike Jones, S&S)

A Palestinian youth is shot while trying to bomb the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, and his Israeli doctor discovers that they share a common bloodline. A Jewish operative plots to bring down the secular Israeli state and replace it with hard-line religious one, co-opting a Palestinian imam who shares his goal—except he’d have an Islamic state instead. And in a twisting journey, various historical figures resist Israel’s conquerors throughout Old Testament history and the early Roman era. The first of a proposed trilogy, Bloodline explores the complicated historical links between Jews and Arabs and asks: what if they shared the same blood? It’s an interesting concept, and its authors have good pedigrees (Alan Gold a well-published writer of Jewish thrillers, Mike Jones an AWGIE award-winning screenwriter). The result is a competent page-turner that sounds better than it reads. The story is long on intrigue, but short on logic (what, for example, could the Israeli operative and the imam possibly have in common?), and the sprawl of historical characters (usually one of Gold’s strengths) are not very well tied to the protagonists in the present day (they are apparently ancestors). I’m not sure there’s enough interest to sustain two more books, but enthusiastic thriller consumers might enjoy it.

Lachlan Jobbins is an editor and was one of the presenters of For the Love of Books on STUDIO (Foxtel)

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Category: Reviews