Dahlia Barr does not suffer fools--or her own government, with which she is normally at odds. Shrewd, brash, and as tough as she is beautiful, the controversial Israeli attorney specializes in defending Palestinians accused of terrorism. She is also a devoted mother, a soon-to-be-divorced wife, and the lover of a handsome American television correspondent. To Dahlia's astonishment, the Israeli security establishment one day approaches her with a tantalizing proposition: Join us, and become the beleaguered nation's arbiter on when to use the harshest of interrogation methods--what some would call torture. Dahlia is intrigued. She has no intention of permitting torture. Can she change the system from within? Then, as Dahlia settles into her new job, her son Ari, a twenty-year-old lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces, is kidnapped by Hezbollah and whisked over the border to Lebanon. The one man who may hold the key to Ari's rescue is locked in a cell in police headquarters. Edward Al-Masri--professor, activist, media gadfly--is an Arab who has a long and complicated history with Dahlia. And he's not talking. Yet.