When given two alternatives, always choose the third
It's springtime in Paris and Sarah Calloway looks forward to mixing business with pleasure. Her business? To purchase the travel journals of the celebrated turn-of-the-century adventuress Isabelle Eberhardt. Her pleasure? A long-awaited romantic rendezvous with her intimate friend and fellow journalist Stanley London, who is flying in from Jerusalem to join her. So what goes wrong? Just about everything.
Sarah arrives in Paris only to learn that the Eberhardt journals have mysteriously disappeared. One day later, she discovers that Stanley has mysteriously disappeared as well. Enter the stranger from the Middle East, a beguiling young Arab who offers Sarah his unsolicited assistance. One day later, he too disappears. His departure, however, is not so mysterious. He is brutally murdered and Sarah finds herself directly implicated in the young man's untimely death. Her passport is confiscated and she is kept under constant police surveillance. So begins one chillingly unforgettable week in the life of Sarah Calloway, investigative reporter. A week in which the French Secret Police, the Israeli Mossad, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and the most notorious of terroristsβAbu Nidalβall have their roles to play. As Sarah struggles to unravel the mystery at the core of a series of calamities besetting her stay in Paris, she is drawn into a kaleidoscope nightmare of bewildering dimensions, a trial by fire with only one exit and one retreat: the harrowing rite of passage known as the Third Way.