One man stands up to the deadly gunlaw of Palestine.
February 2007 | Mystery
$22 Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-56947-442-6
“Matt Beynon Rees has
taken a complex world of culture clash and suspicion and placed upon it
humanity.”
—David Baldacci, author of The Camel Club
“A beautifully written story.
I have walked the streets of Bethlehem with Omar Yussef, smelled the dust
and the fear, tasted his food, shared his anger and his hope. His decency
is a light in the gloom. I shall not forget him.” —Anne
Perry, author of Dark Assassin
“The Collaborator
of Bethlehem is the
best—and the rarest—sort of mystery: exciting and compelling,
but it is also a deeply moving story that will, for many readers, shed much
needed light on the conditions in the Palestinian territories. Matt Beynon
Rees’s ability to blend the political and the emotional is reminiscent
of Graham Greene.” —David Liss, author of
The Ethical Assassin
“Omar Yussef has everything I admire
in a detective: humility, humanity, a great faith in the power of knowledge
and a few bad habits too!” —Barbara
Nadel, author of The Ottoman
Cage
"The Collaborator of Bethlehem, which will be published in the United States in February by Soho Press, is more than a simple mystery story. It's an exploration of Palestinian life from the inside, wrapped in the conflicting layers of religious fanaticism that power the Middle East conflict. The result is an evocative, compassionate tale that transports the reader into the biblical landscape of the birthplace of Jesus."—The San Francisco Chronicle, 1/4/2007
"Omar's probe of a West Bank ruled by political intrigue, religious hatred, and militia thugs let's ex-Time Jerusalem bureau chief Rees make the Mideast conflict personal." —Entertainment Weekly January 29, 2007
The Collaborator of Bethlehem
Rees, Matt Beyon, 978-1-56947-442-6. Feb. 2007. Soho Crime. $22 HC
"Rees tells this grim story with skill, specificity and richly detailed descriptions of people and places…"The Collaborator of Bethlehem" is readable and literate, and offers a vivid portrait of Palestinian life today." —Washington Post January 29, 2007
"[A]n astonishing first novel…. All it takes is one good man—a detective, of course—to humanize events that confound understanding… that honorable man is Omar Yussef." —New York Times Book Review
For decades, Omar Yussef has been a teacher of history to the children of
Bethlehem. When a favorite former pupil, George Saba, a member of the Palestinian
Christian minority, is arrested for collaborating with the Israelis in the
killing of a Palestinian guerrilla, Omar is sure he has been framed. If George
is not cleared, he faces imminent execution.
Then the wife of the dead man, also one of Omar Yussef’s former pupils,
is murdered, possibly raped. When he begins to suspect the head of the Bethlehem
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is the true collaborator, Omar and his family are
threatened. But as no one else is willing to stand up to the violent Martyrs
Brigades men, who hold the real power in the town, it is up to him to investigate.
Matt Beynon Rees was born in South Wales. He was
until recently the Jerusalem bureau chief for Time magazine, where he
is currently a Contributor. He is the author of the non-fiction work Cain's
Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East. The Collaborator
of Bethlehem, his first novel, is based on real events that he has covered
as a journalist throughout the Second Intifada.
