Red, White and Blue

In this passionate page-turner about the meaning of American identity, Susan Isaacs traces the romantic fate and overlapping genealogy of two people — Charlie Blair, a hunky, WASPy, Wyoming-bred FBI operative, and Lauren Miller, a young, liberal reporter for Long Island's Jewish News. They meet in Wyoming while investigating a white supremacist, anti-Semitic militia group suspected of bombing the property of local Jewish Americans. But the chiseled Western cowboy and urbane East Coast writer unknowingly share a Jewish great-great-grandmother whose tale of assimilation, and those of her descendants, make up the novel's earthy, engaging first half. With Isaacs' wry characterizations and unabashedly patriotic (if predictable) finale, Red, White and Blue should earn the allegiance of her countless devoted fans. B+