From the new thrillers

Press, 1 July 1978, Page 15

From the new thrillers

The '44 Vintage. By Anthony Price. Got lancz. 1978. 270 pp. $10.90

In seven previous novels Anthony Price has demonstrated his mastery of the spy and adventure story, and his latest novel contains all the ingredients of a thrilling tale Price readers will be familiar with the intrepid Colonel Butler and the devious, but scholarly Dr David Audley. This story is an account of their first meeting The novel is set in France in the last stages of World War 11. A young and unfledged Corporal Butler and Second Lieutenant Audley are attached as interpreters to a special force led by Major O'Connor. Ihe object of their mission is to rescue something hidden somewhere in France by the departing British. The cache is well behind the German lines, and in the course of the mission it slowly becomes clear that Major O'Connor is not every thing he seems to be. The action is fast, and the final events surprise even the Major. Ihe young Corporal Butler and Second Lieutenant Audley are slow starters, but gradually reveal those qualities which took them both to the tops of their respective professions. — A. J. CURRY. Anna Hastings. By Allen Drury. Michael Joseph. 300 pp. $10.90. Anna Kowalczek is a keen, but inexperienced young reporter when she is posted to Washington's Capitol Hill. Then Pearl Harbour drains the Hill of reporters, and gives her and her young companions an opportunity of which they quickly' take full advantage None quicker than Anna. She is possessed of both talent and a ruthless ambition. She displays a willingness to sacrifice anyone as she claws her way — largely by way of a calculated marriage to a pliable millionaire Senator — to success as a publisher, columnist and broadcaster. As a human being, she seems less of a success. The dustjacket describes Drury's Anna as ruthless, but also vulnerable, likable and touching. The first quality, however, far outweighs ihe sum of the other three. Drury delineates Anna and her Washington setting with his customary skill. He also paints a disturbing picture of a publisher willing to disguise prejudice and bias as liberalism, and to distort or suppress the truth in order to make the news fit her opinions. — A. J. PETRE.

The Family Arsenal. By Paul Theroux Penguin. 282 pp. $2.60

If Graham Greene had turned his sardonic pen to ihe Vanessa Kedgrave breed of wealthy, would-be urban terrorists, the result would surely have been a novel similar in its intensity to the effects achieved here by Paul Theroux. "The Family Arsenal” is grimly evocative of live decav of south-east London, of the childishne-s of terrorists (some of whom ate indeed children), and of the shadow which a decade of violence in Vietnam continues to cast over lives far awas. Incidents which appear as unlike ■' coincidences in this tensely worked out plot turn out to be demons!rat 101 is of the close connect i.ms between unlikely people which ihe pm suit of clandestine violence brings about Those who sc,t the thri I conspiracy and the smell of death al-<> seek each other out In the end, the terrorists’ violence is dnected against themselves, rather than against the society they condemn. There are overtones here of Joseph (onrad's "Secret Agent," but Paul Theroux has a feel for the altitudes of the- late twentieth century which makes this a topical and disturbing nor el. — NAYLOR HILLARY. Deathwork. By James McLendon Hamish Hamilton. 327 pp. $10.90. Death in the electric chair, described in stomach-churning detail, is the theme of McLendon’s compulsive novel. The mam character is tho chan, the process itself. The warders, the reporters, the hard-bitten chief correctional officer, and even the criminals, take second place to the process which demeans and marks them all. The four prisoners awaiting execution deserve little sympathy Only one of them seems lo regret bis crime, or to go to his end with anything approaching dignity. I here s little enough dignity in the whole business, to be sure. McLendon does not attempt io batter the reader with arguments against capital punishment delivered by his characters Yet 'Deathwork" clearly raises questions in the minds of its readers, most starkly on Ihe effect on officials of the Stale when they have to formally kill follow human beings — even despicable ones McLendon's father was a prison officer for 40 years, and knew "deathwork'' well. Perhaps that is whs this book has the tang of reality — A. J. PETRE.