Middle Eastern Political Thriller. As Israel and the Palestinians prepare for a final peace agreement, a young university researcher finds commercial quantities of oil under the soon-to-be-surrendered West Bank town of Jenin.
After two years of intense negotiations President John F. Brander has succeeded in bringing together Israel and the Palestinians to sign a peace accord—the mission that has eluded even the most determined statesmen for more than 60 years. Resolving this bitter conflict—at the epicenter of Islamic hostility towards the West—will mark the beginning of the end of the world’s clash of civilizations.
As the parties iron out final details in preparation for a ceremony on the White House lawns, David Dekel, a handsome young researcher in geological remote sensing at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, makes a remarkable discovery that throws the entire process into a spin. Fifty meters below the surface of the soon-to-be-surrendered West Bank town of Jenin, Dekel discovers an oil trap large enough to meet Israel’s energy needs for the next 100 years.
Excerpt
The steady buzz of the single-engine Cessna grew louder as Ahmed Abu Assad looked up into the clear blue sky over the Jenin refugee camp. In the 12 years of his life, the young Palestinian had seldom heard anything from above but the sharp chop of helicopter gunships. Straining his eyes against the mid-morning sun, he searched the horizon for the source of the resonating hum. He resisted his instinct to run for cover as the little aircraft flew in from the west. A stray dog barked at the approaching drone, as Ahmed eyed the wings for the familiar blue and white insignia of the Zionist Air Force.
Seated next to the pilot in the cabin, Linda Abrams pressed a little red button on a makeshift switch, oblivious to the gaze of the boy below. The switch relayed a signal to a radar transmitter on the floor of the cabin. The electronics engaged and a long wavelength radar pulse shot out of the antenna mounted on the fuselage. Traveling close to the speed of light, the pulse penetrated deep beneath the earth at Ahmed’s feet, echoing back to the collecting couplers on the underside of the aircraft’s belly.
For an hour, the little plane traversed the sky, its invisible rays examining the earth. Its job complete, it banked to the west and disappeared over the horizon.
Neither Ahmed nor Linda could have known that the data just collected was about to change the face of the Middle East.
Professional Reviews
Yocheved Miriam Russo, Jerusalem Post
The book? Subsurface, a hot new thriller. The author? LeCarre? DeMille? Clancey? None of them. It's Mike Diamond, a soft-spoken Scottish-born lawyer... In Subsurface, what lies under Jenin keeps readers flipping pages.
Sharon Mail, The Jewish Telegraph, UK
A Real Page Turner - Michael has written a very readable debut novel with plenty of twists and turns along the way. He has been careful to include characters with different perspectives - Israeli hawks and doves, Palestinians whose families have been destroyed and politically opposed American politicians
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