50 | JUNE 16 • 2022 

Mike Smith: Although Shock 
Wave is a fictional adven-
ture story, I found it to be 
informative in the sense of 
a realistic portrayal of the 
fight against terrorism in the 
Middle East and Israel. Are 
there lessons you hope 
readers will learn from your 
book? 

Al Pessin: Yes. The first two 
lessons I learned covering 
the Middle East, Central Asia 
and the Pentagon are that 
the people defending Israel 
and America make huge 
sacrifices and, at the same 
time, no victory they achieve 
is ever complete. There’s 
always another enemy just 
around the corner. This is 
due to the false but strong 
lure of Islamic extremism as 
a pathway to religious purity, 
political liberation, and an 
end to poverty and hopeless-
ness. 
But along with that goes 
a third lesson: Islam is not a 
monolith. The villains in my 
books are Muslims. But so 
is the hero. The Palestinians 
and the broader Muslim 
population are large, diverse 
groups of people with dis-
parate political and religious 
views, who support or 
oppose terrorism to varying 
degrees. Even the supporters 
and perpetrators of violence 
have reasons they do what 
they do — experiences, moti-
vations, rationalizations. 
In Shock Wave, for exam-
ple, there’s a Palestinian 
university student who is try-
ing to embrace the modern 
world while staying rooted 
in her jihadist family. I pride 
myself on creating three-di-
mensional villains in all my 
novels, whether Palestinian, 

Afghan or Syrian. That’s not 
to show or encourage sup-
port for them, but rather to 
see them for who they are. 
Without that, we have little 
hope of addressing the myr-
iad factors that make terror-
ism so hard to stamp out.

 

MS: Your two main charac-
ters fighting a terrorist plot 
are not traditional American 
white, male special forces 
heroes. Indeed, one is an 
Afghan-American and his 
boss is a woman. How did 
you choose these charac-
ters? Do they have any 
basis in people you met 
while covering news and 
conflicts around the world? 
AP: My main character, 
Faraz Abdallah, is an Afghan-
American whose parents 
fled to the United States 
during the Soviet occupa-
tion of Afghanistan, much 
as my own grandparents 
fled Eastern Europe several 
decades earlier. Now, Faraz 
is a U.S. Army lieutenant con-
ducting undercover missions 
to fight terrorists. Faraz would 
not have his unique skills and 
be able to accomplish the 
great things he does to save 
American lives if his parents 
had not been refugees. He 
is a fictional stand-in for the 
many immigrants and their 
children who volunteer for 
our armed forces and help 
defend us every day. 
Faraz’s boss, Bridget 
Davenport, is a West Point 
grad from an American fam-
ily with a tradition of military 
service. Although she’s a 
civilian now, Bridget joins 
Faraz in the field when he 
needs her most, displaying 
bravery, combat skills and 

incredible tough-
ness. Bridget is 
an amalgam of 
the many strong, 
smart, talented 
women I met 
while cover-
ing the military 
and the civilian 
defense estab-
lishment. I want-
ed to pay homage to their 
often-underappreciated con-
tribution to our security.

MS: You have an impressive 
and extensive resume as a 
global journalist. How does 
your experience inform your 
books? 
AP: Living in Jerusalem 
as a foreign correspondent, 
traveling throughout Israel 
and the Palestinian terri-
tories, and witnessing the 
aftermath of terrorist attacks 
inspired and enabled me 
to write Shock Wave. My 
personal interactions with 
people across the Israeli 
and Palestinian political and 
cultural spectrums gave me 
a fully rounded view of the 
situation and form the back-
drop for the book. 
Many of my characters 
are based on people I met. 
Similarly, my years covering 
the Pentagon and traveling 
to the Iraq and Afghanistan 
war zones inform my first 
two novels, Sandblast and 
Blowback, and give them 
on-the-ground authenticity.
 
MS: You grew up in Oak 
Park. Did your upbringing 
in the Metro Detroit Jewish 
community have any impact 
upon your career and writ-
ing? 
AP: For sure. B’nai Moshe, 

United Hebrew 
Schools and Camp 
Tamarack (K’far Ivri) 
played a huge role 
in forging my Jewish 
identity. I carried 
that with me to High 
Holiday services in 
Hong Kong, Nairobi 
and London and to 
seders in Beijing, 
Mumbai and a surreptitious 
one behind closed curtains in 
Islamabad. When I arrived in 
Israel as a journalist, I expe-
rienced a fair amount of dis-
sonance. I found that some 
Israelis did not reflect the 
Jewish values I had learned. 
That was a wakeup call for 
me about diversity of views 
among Jews and provided a 
roadmap to help me recog-
nize and understand diversity 
in other communities.
On a lighter note, my 
Jewish background also 
inspired my play Murder at 
the Butcher’s, a farce that 
had a sold-out premiere run 
just before the pandemic.

MS: Is there anything else 
you would like the read-
ers of the Detroit Jewish 
News to know about your 
book(s)? 
AP: Shock Wave stands 
alone as an adventure story 
and as my take on the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict. The first 
two books in the series, 
Sandblast and Blowback, 
are available for readers who 
want to know more about the 
characters and their ongoing, 
almost impossibly difficult 
effort to defend America 
against terrorism. 
There’s more about my 
books and the stories behind 
them at www.alpessin.com. 

An Interview with Shock Wave Author

MIKE SMITH CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Al Pessin

ARTS&LIFE
BOOK REVIEW

50 | JUNE 16 • 2022 

continued from page 49

