Saving Sophie
Ronald H. Balson, 2015
St. Martin's Press
448 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250065858
Summary
A 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 attorney 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 the investigative team who first appeared in Once We Were Brothers, 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?(From the publisher.)
Once we Were Brothers (2009) is the prequel to Saving Sophie.
Author Bio
Ronald H. Balson is an attorney practicing with the firm of Stone, Pogrund and Korey in Chicago. The demands of his trial practice have taken him into courts across the United States and into international venues.
An adjunct professor of business law at the University of Chicago for twenty-five years, he now lectures on trial advocacy in federal trial bar courses.
Travels to Warsaw and southern Poland in connection with a complex telecommunications case inspired his first novel, Once We Were Brothers. His second novel, a sequel, Saving Sophie, was published in 2015. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Chicago PI Liam Taggart and his fiancee, lawyer Catherine Lockhart, investigate an act of embezzlement complicated by links to a child kidnapping and terrorist activity in Hebron, Israel.... Balson succeeds in illuminating the personal side of the Middle Eastern conflict through his deeply human, psychologically credible characters.
Publishers Weekly
A Chicago lawyer resorts to embezzlement and negotiation with terrorists after his daughter is kidnapped.... 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
Discussion Questions
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 Aline, 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 liberal 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. When it came time, at the critical moment, do you think 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?
(Questions issued by publisher.)