Unwitting spies

Press, 10 March 1984, Page 18

Unwitting spies

Family Trade. By James Carroll. Fontana, 1983. 377 pp. $6.95 (paperback).

If spies exist, and one supposes that they must, they presumably know roughly what they are doing, and, in spite of possibly being motivated by patriotism, they, are paid civil servants, professionals. Yet, the heroes of many spy novels are unwitting amateurs who stumble about, tripping over their connections and bumping into the enemy. Jake McKay, hero of “Family Trade,” is another in this tradition. Eventually, he is an unwitting spy, annoyed, as so many are, that no-one will tell him the rules of the game. In fact, mendacity rules O.K. He is drawn into the game through family connections; his father is deputy director of the C.I.A. and his maternal uncle a British diplomat. In spite of being a trifle hackneyed, “Family Trade” is an enjoyable book. It moves fast and has a twisting plot that takes some genuinely surprising paths. The characters are well drawn and reasonably believable — at times they are even likeable. Also, the plot and the characters are well matched, which is not always so with spy fiction. “Family Trade” is well-written and intricate enough to hold the attention, and its hero eventually finds out what game he is in, what the rules are, what his family have been up to, and rides off on a slightly wobbly white horse. Carroll is not as good as Le Carre at his best, but he comes close. He 1 is like a syncopation of the down-beat of Eric Ambler and the up-beat of Len Deighton. —Ken Strongman.