Season of Betrayal
A Novel
Snipers, shelling, car bombs, suicide attacks. This is Beirut 1983, and Lara McCauley is an outsider in a city at war. Against this chaotic canvas, Lara tries to hold her marriage together, but her life is quietly falling apart. Lara and Mac arrive to take up his new posting, not long after the Marines are sent in as peacekeepers to help restore stability in this fractured land, but the Marines quickly become embroiled in Lebanon’s political problems. Her husband, Mac, an American journalist, has his hands full with work and a new circle of comrades in arms at the Commodore Hotel. Lonely and scared, Lara increasingly seeks out the friendship of a Polish journalist, and their brief, desperate affair sets into motion a chain of events with fatal consequences.
"A crisp, clear, tough voice reminiscent of Joan Didion's journalism. Her portrait of Beirut -- at once vivid and meticulous -- displays a reporter's gift for detail"
Wall Street Journal
"A captivating journey into war-torn Beirut"
Anderson Cooper
"..An exceptional first novel..."
Library Journal (Starred Review)
"..Terse yet searing account of the suicide attack on the U.S. Marine and French Army barracks."
Philadelphia Inquirer
"...An enlightening read."
Jerusalem Post
"An intense, often riveting, reading experience."
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"...Robertson draws a powerful story..."
Publishers Weekly
"Entertaining as well as enlightening..."
BookPage
"Riveting and dramatic"
Chris Matthews, MSNBC "Hardball"
"Robertson's sinuous narrative takes the reader back to Beirut in 1983 -- where the terrorist war against America began."
David Ignatius
Washington Post columnist