Unfortunately, old age (or laziness) finally caught up with Leon Uris. His final two novels, "A God in Ruins" and "O'Hara's Choice," rank as the two poorest novels that I have read in the past 5 years. Not only were the plots sketchy and improbable, but the main characters were contrived, stereotypical and forgettable. His attempt to push a certain modern political agenda through his books conflicted with events of those times - and in the process alienated many of his faithful readers who enjoyed his previous agenda-neutral historical novels. You would be best served to read all of his earlier works - which I found masterful and riveting - and forget these two books that only show the sad decline of a once-great author.