Birthright — Alan Gold; Mike Jones

The dramatic fight for modern Jewish statehood forms the backdrop of this second book in the Heritage trilogy, a series of epic political thrillers set in Jerusalem.

Following Bloodline, in which Bilal and Yael raced to thwart a terrorist plot in modern-day Jerusalem, Book Two travels six decades into the past and introduces Yael's grandparents: Shalman, a freedom fighter turned peacenik archaeologist, and his young, beautiful wife Judit, a refugee from the horrors of Stalin's USSR. As WWII draws to a close and the truth about Hitler's genocide emerges, the need for a permanent safe haven for the Jewish people takes on unprecedented urgency.

But the path to statehood is anything but clear. Throughout Palestine, Arab and Jewish forces battle each other and the British for supremacy in a nightmarish environment riddled with hatred and suspicion. A plot to fashion the fledgling Israeli nation as a puppet of the Soviet Union -- undermining Israel's future as an independent nation -- rests upon a handful of committed Jewish Communists, led covertly by Judit. Meanwhile, in a parallel storyline going back to the darkest recesses of ancient history, Shalman's ancestors flee the grisly Roman occupation of Jerusalem, witness the glories of the Islamic renaissance in Baghdad, and endure the rampages of the Crusaders.

Set in one of the most fraught regions in the world and spanning centuries, this pulse-pounding, timely thriller centers on a turning point in the inexorable conflict that still rages today.