SOURCE: Hower, Edward. “A Parable for the Millennium.” World and I 13, no. 9 (September 1998): 255-62.

In the following review, Hower asserts that Stone employs a wide myriad of characters, settings, and motifs in a successful blending of the thriller genre and the spiritual quest in Damascus Gate.

Robert Stone's Israel crackles with religious and political tensions as a fascinating assortment of fanatics conspire to obliterate the nation in order to save it.

For Robert Stone, America's most eloquent chronicler of the impending apocalypse, Israel is an ideal setting. In Damascus Gate, his powerful new novel, he makes the country crackle with religious and political tensions and peoples it with a fascinating assortment of fanatics who are prepared to obliterate the nation in order to save it. Yet the author's obvious fondness for Israel and many of his more peaceable characters provides a glimmer of hope amid all the darkness...