Allahu Akbar

This cold prophecy of Israel's near future is told in a consistently sardonic voice that alienates, rather than amuses, as Nash, an attorney and first-time novelist, centers on the homecoming of Basil Primchek, an architect educated in America. In quick, easy succession Basil returns to Israel, lands a cushy job, wins an architectural contest and lures several women to his bed. He only encounters real difficulty with his own political conscience. But Basil's story is too weak a skeleton to support the body of Nash's scornful analysis of a raging Middle East and its U.S. relations. The author uses the novel as a forum for his opinions on Israeli politics, problems and hypocrisy, and as a vent for rhetoric. But the narrative connecting his political fortune-telling is flimsy and hollow. While terrorist events escalate, Nash draws two-dimensional male characters to represent stereotypes and various political views; women are mere props to sate Basil's libidoand apparent misogyny. (Dec.)