The First Stone FROM THE PUBLISHER
A young, beautiful Jewish-American woman is willingly recruited by the Israeli secret service to seduce and marry a rich Saudi in order to live in his country as a mole. But as Lisa Cooper waits to be called into action in a land much different from her home, she finds herself falling in love with her handsome, intelligent husband - even though he already has a wife. Lisa learns that she must live in the family compound, spend her days in a harem, and protect herself against her brother-in-law, who suspects she is a spy. As the political situation in the Middle East heats up, Lisa must protect her identity at all costs and avoid the traps set by her brother-in-law to expose her - a situation that would lead to her certain death. When she is finally called to duty by Mossad, she's torn between betraying the husband she has grown to love and the people to whom she has pledged allegiance.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Briley's artful third novel is an inside look at Saudi society from a woman's point of view. The Mossad recruits blonde, beautiful Lisa Cooper, a UCLA student of Scots-Jewish extraction, to marry rich Saudi Le'ith Safadi and live veiled, as a mole, in his harem. The two elope despite the objections of Le'ith's powerful, conservative family and Lisa's reluctance to live under the constraints of Muslim law. She goes along with the scam out of family feelingher kibbutznik uncle and cousins were killed by Arab bombersand we go along because Briley once again manages to weave together personal intrigue with international events, as he did in both his Vietnam novel, Traitors, and his Oscar-winning screenplay, Gandhi. Le'ith's envious brother, Youssef, suspects that Lisa's a spy; as she wins over his clever sister, Reena, and his aunt Huda, we see her learning to maneuver in the conspiracy-ridden world of the harem. Along the way, of course, she falls in love with Le'ith, but when the marines are killed in Beirut and her husband rises to power in the Saudi government, Lisa's position grows precarious, and Youssef's tests and traps endanger her more and more. When Le'ith tries to act on his own moderate solution to Saudi (and Israeli) isolation in the face of the fiery fundamentalists, Lisa is forced into a deadly double game with her husband, Youssef, the Mossad and other perilous enemies and allies. Briley paints vivid pictures throughout of harem life, Saudi family manipulations and the politics of this tempestuous time and place. (July)
Library Journal
Briley won an OscarR for his screenplay of Gandhi, and it's easy to understand why after reading this novel: a fast-paced, exciting story, it is told in visual terms. When the niece and nephew of Jewish American college student Lisa Cooper are killed during her visit to their Israeli kibbutz, she decides to join the Mossad. With her blonde hair and blue eyes, she is the perfect mole. Her assignment? Meet and marry a handsome Saudi Arabian working on his MBA at UCLA. Lisa pulls this off without a hitch and heads off to live in his family's compound. The nature of her assignment requires her to live with the family for years, never knowing when (or if) she will be called to duty. As her brother-in-law grows more and more suspicious of her, she begins to care for her husbanddespite the danger, despite his first wife, and despite their cultural differences. When she is finally called on by the Mossad, she must decide between her husband and her people. A gripping tale of romance and political intrigue; recommended for large fiction collections.Kathy Ingels Helmond, Indianapolis-Marion Cty. P.L.
Kirkus Reviews
Talky, tear-jerking thriller from screenwriter/novelist Briley (The Traitors, 1969, etc.).
Would you believe a blond, blue-eyed Jewish-American beauty who meets, captivates, and weds a Saudi Arabian princeling on orders from Israeli intelligence? That this brainy, worldly young woman remains tucked away in a desert harem for almost two decades before she's called upon to serve the murky cause of her masters in Tel Aviv? That the long-married lady genuinely regrets betraying her handsome husband? Then Briley has a book for you. At the behest of Mossad, Lisa Cooper contrives to run into Le'ith Safadi while both are students at UCLA during the late 1970s. The dashing young MBA candidate (whose given name means young lion) is soon besotted and, against the urgent advice of his US minders, he takes her to wife. While not of the royal house, the Safadis wield considerable influence within the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Although the unblushing bride eventually wins over the senior members of Le'ith's extended family, she doesn't fool her villainous, ambitious brother-in-law Rashid, who suspects her from the start. Meanwhile, the ever volatile Middle East is convulsed by events ranging from Israel's invasion of Lebanon through the Gulf War. At length, after the Jewish State and the PLO take their first tentative steps toward peace, Lisa is called upon to sell out Le'ith (who's negotiating with his traditional enemies to join forces in an economic development project that could benefit the whole region). One fine day in Cairo, she betrays him, albeit with a heavy heart. Barely escaping the ensuing violence with her own life. Lisa learns (after arriving in Israel) that Le'ith has survived as well. At this point, the in-from-the-cold agent realizes she truly loves her no longer young lion and returns to Saudi Arabia for a dramatically implausible reunion.
Danielle Steel meets Robert Ludlum without any particularly gainful result.
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