The Attack

The Attack is a 2005 book written by Yasmina Khadra, translated in 2006 by John Cullen and published by Anchor Books. It describes the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv and a man’s struggle to accept his wife’s involvement in the attack. 

Plot Summary

The Introduction of the novel describes an unnamed narrator (later revealed as Dr. Amin Jaafari) watching a religious figure get into a car in a busy crowd. An explosion rocks the square, killing many people and injuring Amin, who is thrown into an ambulance beside corpses. 

In Tel Aviv, Amin is an Arab surgeon who has become a naturalized Israeli citizen. One day, after talking to his colleagues Ezra Benhaim and Dr. Kim Yehuda, an explosion in the city leads to many injured people needing help. Amin works long hours in the operating room, helping the victims of the suicide bombing. Driving home, he is stopped several times by the Israeli police. His wife, Sihem Jaafari, is not at home when he arrives, and he assumes she is still with her grandmother. 

A phone call in the middle of the night summons Amin back to the hospital to identify a body: It is Sihem.