Michael Gruber - The Good Son

Grubers last two novels were about a forged Velázquez painting and an undiscovered Shakespeare play. Readers considering this one may wonder how well an author of art-historical thrillers will handle collisions between East and West, faith and unbelief, and Islam and Christianity. Those who have read it will ask a different question: Is there anything Gruber cant write about? In this richly layered tale, Sonia Lagharis attempt to convene a conference in Pakistan called Conflict Resolution on the Subcontinent: A Therapeutic Approach goes awry when the conferees are abducted by jihadis and told that one of them will be beheaded after each fresh infidel outrage. In the U.S., Sonias commando son, Theo, instigates a plot to bring about a military-backed rescue. But Sonia, with her wiles and her understanding of her captors, just might rescue herself. Thats the simple outline, but one of many pleasures in The Good Son is the way Gruber confounds simple explanations. Sonia, for example, is a Catholic Pole who converted to Islam before writing books that scandalized the Islamic world. She practices both religions without compunction and is a Jungian psychologist, to boot. And, before he became a shooter for the U.S. Intelligence Support Detachment, Theo was a mujahedeen hero in Afghanistan. (Trust us, it works.) The pace here isnt as rapid as usual, and much of the story is told in flashback or as discourse. But there are twists and tension aplentyideas, too. If only governments were half as interested in the psychology of violence, maybe war itself might become a work of fiction.