Behind the Scenes: Lunch with a King

People often wonder why I don’t use the names of real-world leaders in my novels. They ask, “Wouldn’t it be more realistic if you had President Trump facing off against Vladimir Putin or Ayatollah Khamenei or Kim Jong Un?”

The difficulty with employing named characters is that it quickly becomes extremely limiting. If I were to include Benjamin Netanyahu as the prime minister of Israel in one of my books, that character would bring with him a set history and a particular personality. As I wrote, I would be forced to make assumptions about his character and what motivates him, and it would be too easy for the reader to believe that my assumptions were gospel truth. Also, if something nasty were to happen to the prime minister in one of my novels, it’s just possible that I might get a knock on my door by some Israeli agents who would request the pleasure of my company in a small white room with a two-way mirror.

That being said, every now and then I will include a real-life person in my story line. King Abdullah II of Jordan is one such man. His history and personality are so intriguing—so much larger than life—that it would be impossible to create a more interesting character. Extremely intelligent and a brilliant statesman, he is also a warrior who has flown Cobra attack helicopters and, even today, will participate in special forces training exercises. He also, as I personally discovered one day, has a wicked sense of humor.

An advisor to the king passed on to him my J. B. Collins series (The Third Target, The First Hostage, and Without Warning) in which I refer to him by name. Not only did King Abdullah read the books, he then invited my wife and me to come visit with him for five days so we could get to know him better. A genuine king inviting this kid from the village of Fairport, New York, to visit him in his palace? Talk about surreal.

As Lynn and I entered the extravagantly decorated palace, I couldn’t help but think about the way I had totally annihilated this ornate structure in my book The Third Target. I was hoping the king would not harbor any ill feelings about what I did to his lovely home. We were ushered into a lavish room where we met King Abdullah and his advisor. He was warm and gracious and invited us to join him for lunch. As we ate, the king said to me, “Joel, I was thinking about where it might be nice to meet you for the first time. Then I thought, ‘Well, you did blow up my palace.’” I didn’t know whether to laugh or apologize.

The conversation continued, and at one point he said, “You know, Joel, I noticed that you made me a named character. That was a bit risky. All of my staff and advisors, you made up their names. But I can still tell who is who. So I bought the books for all of my staff, and when I would give them their copies, I would say, ‘This person here—this is you. Sorry, you didn’t make it in the terrorist attack.’”

I am still overwhelmed that this man—a Muslim monarch and a direct descendant of Muhammad—took the time to get to know this Jewish, Israeli, evangelical, American Zionist. Sure, I could have created a fictional king of Jordan, but seriously, how could I possibly have done any better than the real thing?

—Joel C. Rosenberg

For more about my time with King Abdullah, check out this interview I did with thecrewreviews.com: https://thecrewreviews.com/index.php/author-interviews-season-2-2020-2021/joel-c-rosenberg/.