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
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