AUDIOBOOK read by Peter Riegert

I tried hard not to like this book, but it kept pulling me in and I ultimately wound up enjoying it.  The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is a novel set in an alternate timeline in Sitka, Alaska.  In the novel’s timeline, the Jewish repopulation of Israel has failed and a large number of Jews have taken up residence in a temporary autonomous territory in Alaska.  The book follows the murder investigation of one of the police department’s detectives as he uncovers clues to a larger plot by a rogue group of orthodox Jews and the US government.  While the main focus of the book is on the investigation, it also spends a lot of time examining the uncertainty of the Jews and the fear surrounding the upcoming reversion when the US government will take back control of the territory.  The book is well written  and well read by Riegert.  One caution with the audiobook is that there are a lot of Yiddish words used in the book and it can be difficult to keep them straight without the ability to go back and review other uses.  While not my favorite book of the year (see The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet), I enjoyed the book and will be looking for other Chabon novels to pick up.