Judgment at Alcatraz: A Danya Biton Novel

Mossad agent Danya Biton, the protagonist of this workmanlike series launch from Edlund (the Peter Savage novels), quits the Israeli intelligence agency after she’s sent to Oregon to kill an American civilian who stumbled on secret information about the Six Day War fought more than 50 years earlier. Later, at an Oregon gas station, Danya gets acquainted with Toby Riddle, a Native American woman, after rescuing her from an aggressive would-be boyfriend. Toby educates Biton about the mistreatment of Native Americans, and Danya agrees to accompany her new friend to Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, the site of a planned peaceful protest. Unbeknownst to them, militants are planning a violent takeover of the former prison and intend to use drones to scatter radioactive material if their demands of the federal government aren’t met. The subsequent attack by the militants provides an opportunity for Danya to showcase her special skills and take on the bad guys single-handed. Some readers may feel Edlund oversimplifies history in drawing parallels between Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians and U.S. policy toward Native Americans, and others may be put off by the explicit gore. Danya needs to be more than a stock action heroine if she’s to sustain a series. (Apr.)