GOING TO JERUSALEM

After the war, a former doctor in charge of Nazi experiments in ""decompression effects"" escapes to darkest Africa and spends 27 years in atoning for the deaths of six Jewish human guinea pigs. Like Albert Schweitzer, he devotes himself to the natives, builds a hospital, and becomes a saint incognito. When the hospital is destroyed, he decides to go to Jerusalem and turn himself in as a war criminal and achieve final expiation--he happens to be secretly Jewish! The Nazis never knew. Will Israel execute him? This is the would-be grabber, but it's almost a subplot for intertwining love stories about Israeli movie folk who are making a film that focuses on Christian tourists. Most conspicuously, Cirian, a girl filmmaker, falls for a young Arab-Israeli classical pianist-composer who is a sly terrorist bent on killing the Prime Minister during the war crimes trial. Had Dixon's story dug more deeply into its ostensible subject, it would have gained greatly. Instead, it's competent drama lacking the deep chords that draw out profound reader satisfaction, but the hooks invite your attention, as does the guided tour of Jerusalem.