THE ANTI-SEMITE NEXT DOOR

A Jewish lawyer organizes a hunt for a neo-Nazi terrorist—and then defends him in court—in Bello’s twisty political suspenser.

Detroit lawyer Zachary Blake is attending the bar mitzvah of his pal Rich Cooper’s son, Josh, at Temple Kol Yisrael when a bomb explodes; in the aftermath, Josh and the Coopers’ next-door neighbor, Chip Ellis, are missing and are feared kidnapped. Zach, dubbed the “King of Justice” for his crusading lawsuits and for prosecuting the impeachment trial that ousted the Trump-like President Ron John from office, gathers his usual posse of crime fighters. A ransom demand arrives from Winger Wright, the shadowy head of the Patriotic Storm Troopers, who denounces Jews as “an all-present, parasitic evil” and demands $3 million to release Josh and Chip. Despite the interference of FBI Special Agent in Charge Dan Harrelson, who wants to kick them off the case, Zack and company put their considerable forensic skills to work. They are shocked when the white-nationalist ringleader is identified as someone at the very center of the incident. Spurred by a sense of personal obligation, Zach reluctantly agrees to defend the accused, even though he thinks the man is guilty—and capable of more antisemitic terrorism. Bello, a Michigan attorney, paints a rich portrait of Detroit’s Jewish community that wears its liberal politics on its sleeve. There are subtle psychological currents in the narrative, as when Josh, menaced and starved by his captors, gradually forges a bond with a bullied young guard. Bello also steeps readers in nifty procedural beats, from intricate cyber-sleuthing to canny legal strategizing, all conveyed in lean, vigorous prose (“The eye-witness testimony of a confessed, convicted domestic terrorist and the untrained ears of a traumatized kid are hardly enough evidence to convict someone of kidnapping and murder”). The result is an engrossing tug-of-war between Zach’s moral promptings and the law’s demands.

An entertaining thriller with a nervy plot and a timely warning about extremism hiding in plain sight.