Richard North Patterson

Richard North Patterson (born 1947 in Berkeley, CA and raised in Cleveland, OH) – lawyer, political commentator, and prolific author of thrillers. Several of his novels feature significant Jewish content, most notably through characters and themes related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Jewish-American identity. Exile (2007) is his most prominent work involving Jewish themes. The protagonist, David Wolfe, is a Jewish-American lawyer in San Francisco. The plot centers on:

The Conflict: Wolfe defends his former lover, a Palestinian woman accused of assassinating the Prime Minister of Israel.

Identity: The book explores Wolfe’s internal struggle with his Jewish heritage and his relationship with his fiancée’s father, a Holocaust survivor.

Geopolitics: Patterson conducted extensive research in Israel and the West Bank, meeting with figures like Shimon Peres to represent multiple perspectives on the conflict.

Political Thrillers: In his broader political series (like the Kerry Kilcannon books), Jewish characters often appear in roles as advisors, judges, or political figures, reflecting the demographics of the American legal and political landscapes he writes about. [Google/AI]

Patterson, Richard North, (Exile [hc, |Henry Holt & Co., 2007]) 978-0805079470 [pb, Macmillan, 2014] 978-1447264248