Serpent

The third installment in Nicholas Mosley's "Catastrophe Practice" series, Serpent is an unorthodox satire that "cracks a deadly serious joke about the human toll of noble ideas" (The New York Times).

Set almost entirely on a plane bound for Tel Aviv, Serpent follows a screenwriter named Jason and the producers, actors, and family members that accompany him on his journey to make a movie he no longer wants to make. In first class, Jason attempts to persuade his producer to abandon his improbable script about Masada, the fortress where a thousand Jews killed themselves rather than be taken prisoner by Romans in 73 A.D.; meanwhile, Jason's wife and young son contend with the small humiliations of a long flight in economy. As the plane approaches its destination, several disasters threaten at once, forcing Jason to confront his values and the efficacy of art.

Interspersing excerpts of Jason's script with the chaos unfolding both on the plane and on the ground below, Serpent is an enduringly topical high-wire act of a novel that reads like an engrossing, fast-paced play.