Paul Evans
This tale of mystery and terror from Nobel Prize winner Wiesel concerns five passengers bound for Israel from New York who are forced by a storm to land in a remote rural area. Their host for the night turns out to be a kind of malevolent inquisitor, a self-appointed judge who insists that he'll expose each guest's darkest secret and announces that, at the end of his interrogation, one of them will die. It's a melodramatic, somewhat hoary premise (think of a metaphysical take on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None). But it's riveting. As Wiesel's cast of archetypal characters are compelled to examine their lives, we're gifted again with the kind of philosophical earnestness that the author has brought to all of his thirty-six books. That the novel ends with an explosive plot twist only intensifies its power.
Publishers Weekly
There are two strains in Nobel Peace Prize$winner Wiesels work. One is testimonial. Beginning with his classic, Night, Wiesel has made himself one of the great witnesses of our time. The other strain derives from Wiesels fascination with parables and fables. In the 1950s, when Wiesel became known, the allegorical mode (suitably fitted out with existential meanings, as in Sartres No Exit) enjoyed a brief vogue. His latest novel even refers to Sartres play as it portrays a sort of metaphysical hostage taking. A plane bound from New York to Israel is forced to land in a snowstorm in Connecticut, and five passengers are taken to the house of a local man who has the delusion that he is a judge in a capital case. As the guests respond to the judges more and more personal and insinuating questions, their characters are revealed. Claudia, a pretty theater press agent, wants to get out of the situation by complying; Bruce, a self-described playboy, opts for childish defiance. George, an archivist, and Yoav, an Israeli soldier, respond in more restrained ways. The most thoughtful figure, Razziel, is the principal of a yeshiva. His impressions provide the frame of the drama. Each character, caught in the facts of his or her past and oriented toward future projects, must confront a present threat that crystallizes their existences. Wiesel is obviously closest to Razziel, whose past experiences in a Romanian prison and interest in mysticism mirror, in lightly fictionalized form, factors in Wiesels own life. There is a certain creakiness about the plot, reminiscent less of Sartre than of the Twilight Zone; the story seems more suited to the stage than the novel form. However, the authority of Wiesels public persona always invests his writings with interest. 40,000 first printing. (Aug. 27) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
This harrowing moral fable continues Wiesel's masterly and important work in exploring the nature of good and evil in our world. As the novel opens, a flight from New York to Tel Aviv is forced to make an emergency landing in rural Connecticut owing to a massive snow storm. Five of the flight's passengers are given refuge for the night by a man who identifies himself only as "the Judge." Both hostile and dangerous, he regards himself as a kind of Grand Inquisitor. After taking the passengers hostage, the Judge asks a series of questions that force them to examine the most intimate and essential aspects of their lives. What ultimately emerges from this ordeal is a triumphant affirmation of the power of love, honor, service, and faith in human life. Courageous and profoundly philosophical, this novel skillfully explores moral questions that have never been more relevant. In these dangerous and confusing times, this powerful novel should be required reading for us all. Enthusiastically recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/02.] Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
From the prolific Nobelist, a novel rather artificially constructed-but for the worthy purpose of looking inside to find what meaning life can hold for any of us. An airliner en route to Israel is forced down at a small airport on the blizzard-swept east coast, where the "survivors" are picked up by locals and given shelter until as the plane can take off again. Five of them are so unlucky as to be escorted home by a very strange man indeed, who puts them-imprisons them-in a sealed room, announces himself a "judge," and declares his intent to play "games" with what's most precious to them, "the power of their imagination." As the "games" grow increasingly sinister-the judge at first insists only that each reveal something personal, but before the long night is over he'll demand that one be chosen as an assassination victim-the travelers, increasingly frightened, become also increasingly introspective, so that we learn more and more about each of their lives. There is Claudia, a theater producer and director; Bruce Schwarz, an aging roue; Yoav, an Israeli soldier with a secret deadly disease; George Kirsten, a scholarly archivist; and, most central, Razziel Friedman, head of a Talmudic school in Brooklyn. As the life of each is revealed, so is the reason each has for continuing to live: a love affair, a historically important paper to deliver, or, as in Razziel's case, an appointment with a mysterious figure who is to restore to him the memory of his life before age 18, lost in the ruinous trauma of his having been a political prisoner. There will be moments of memory, kindness, breakdown, pensiveness, and terror before an ending that (engineered by the judge's hunchback "servant") willseem convincing perhaps to few. But no matter. Wiesel, by then, will have entered the hearts, rewardingly, both of his characters and of his readers. Human, unpretentious, compelling explorations of what we are, and why. First printing of 40,000
