Saving Sophie: A Novel

by Ronald H. Balson

Overview

From Ronald H. Balson, author of Once We Were Brothers, Saving Sophie is the powerful story of the lengths a father will go through to protect his daughter and an action-packed thriller that will take you on an unforgettable journey of murder and deception, testing the bonds of family and love.

Jack Sommers was just an ordinary accountant from Chicago-that is, until his wife passed away, his young daughter was kidnapped, and he became the main suspect in an $88 million dollar embezzlement case. Now Jack is on the run, hoping to avoid the feds long enough to rescue his daughter, Sophie, from her maternal grandfather, a suspected terrorist in Palestine.

With the help of investigative team Liam and Catherine, and a new CIA operative, a secret mission is launched to not only rescue Sophie but also to thwart a major terrorist attack in Hebron. But will being caught in the crossfires of the Palestine-Israeli conflict keep their team from accomplishing the task at hand, or can they overcome the odds and save countless lives, including their own?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250065858
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Series:	Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart Series , #2
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

RONALD H. BALSON is an attorney, professor, and writer. His novel The Girl From Berlin won the National Jewish Book Award and was the Illinois Reading Council's adult fiction selection for their Illinois Reads program. He is also the author of Defending Britta Stein, Eli’s Promise, Karolina's Twins, The Trust, Saving Sophie, and the international bestseller Once We Were Brothers. He has appeared on many television and radio programs and has lectured nationally and internationally on his writing. He lives in Chicago.

Reading Group Guide

1. How did Jack confront the conflict between his legal and moral principles and his desperate need to rescue his daughter? Was Jack too quick to trust people? Was that his character flaw?

2. Having washed his hands of Alina, why was al-Zahani so possessive of Sophie, the child of the union he despised?

3. Do you fault Jack for overruling the judge and giving the al-Zahanis lieral visitation? Would you have done the same?

4. What do you think would have become of Sophie had she not been rescued?

5. How did Arif al-Zahani perceive and process Sophie’s exclusion from Jamila’s playgroup?
6. What do you think drove Liam and Catherine to suspect a lack of commitment? Do you think there was a moment of indecisiveness?

7. Given the history of the region and how many times the land has changed hands, what is your feeling about al-Zahani and his group’s claims for exclusive possession of the country as “Sons of Canaan”?

8. Do you think at the critical moment that al-Zahani was prepared to sacrifice Sophie?

9. Does the prospect of fame and wealth of a professional basketball career create a surreal world of impossible expectations for young athletes? Are you critical of Violet McCord?

10. What would you do with a child who shows gifted talents? Does the lure of success encourage parental exploitation?

Editorial Reviews

07/13/2015
In Balson’s solid sequel to Once We Were Brothers, Chicago PI Liam Taggart and his fiancée, lawyer Catherine Lockhart, investigate an act of embezzlement complicated by links to a child kidnapping and terrorist activity in Hebron, Israel. Jewish accountant Jack Sommers, who’s hiding in Hawaii after helping misdirect an $88 million business transaction, is desperate to retrieve his six-year-old daughter, Sophie, from his late wife’s Palestinian father, Dr. Arif al-Zahani. FBI agent Jeff Miller and Kayla Cummings, who advises the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, join the investigation, because they believe the missing money could be funding an extremist group led by al-Zahani. Suspense fans will find few surprises in a novel that focuses on showing how the everyday people of both Israel and Palestine just want to live quiet, peaceful lives. Balson succeeds in illuminating the personal side of the Middle Eastern conflict through his deeply human, psychologically credible characters. Agent: Maura Teitelbaum, May Miller. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

2015-06-28
A Chicago lawyer resorts to embezzlement and negotiation with terrorists after his daughter is kidnapped. When Jack Sommers, a partner with the prestigious Chicago law firm Jenkins & Fairchild, marries concert pianist Alina against the wishes of her father, Arif al-Zahani, a prominent Palestinian physician, intolerant in-laws will soon be the least of his problems. After visiting her mother in Hebron, Alina returns to Chicago and shortly thereafter dies of a sudden illness; Alina's parents sue Sommers for custody of their sole grandchild, 6-year-old Sophie, in whom up to this point al-Zahani has shown no interest. They lose the custody battle but win visitation rights, and it appears that reconciliation is in the offing—then Sophie disappears. Sommers, head counsel on a deal to sell a client's company, Kelsen Manufacturing, for $300 million, diverts $88 million of funds owed to the company's owner , then escapes incognito to Hawaii to await word from the shadowy miscreants who have promised to help him ransom Sophie with the misappropriated millions. Meanwhile, Sophie is being raised as a Muslim in al-Zahani's home while the good doctor, who moonlights as the head of a Palestinian splinter group, the Sons of Canaan, plans a massive terror attack on Israel. It soon becomes clear, not as gradually as a truly suspenseful thriller requires, that the attack will involve germ warfare. It's also clear early on that Dr. al-Zahani has no intention of returning Sophie for any price. While suing Jenkins et al. for malpractice, Kelsen seems to have traded manufacturing for fixing NCAA basketball games with the help of Russian mobsters. Is there a vast conspiracy afoot that has nothing to do with the peace process, the Russian underworld, or any of the other massive red herrings swimming ponderously by? After wading through lengthy chunks of superfluous background exposition, including trial and deposition transcripts, readers may not care how the puzzle is ultimately resolved. Complex where it should be simple and vice versa.

Kirkus Reviews

"Balson succeeds in illuminating the personal side of the Middle Eastern conflict through his deeply human, psychologically credible characters." - Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher