LITTLE BOY BLUE

When a navy officer with access to classified technical materials is revealed to be spying for Israel, a mystified intelligence community calls upon Special Agent Black of the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Heffernan to investigate

There are no clear-cut villains in this intricate, humanely characterized account of the FBI/Mossad conflict. When the Bureau nabs Martin Ellis, an Jewish U.S. naval officer passing American defense secrets to the Israelis , Navy Security screams foul at the early bust, claiming they were letting the spy run free so they could rope in his contacts. Smelling a case that careers are made on, Justice divisions joust for jurisdiction; and CIA, Navy Security, State Department and FBI brass fight for control. FBI agent Matt Blake and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Halpern win the chance to work with the Navy to trap Ellis's Mossad allies before they can rescue their man and get him to Israel. Linder ( There Came a Proud Beggar ) skillfully details the legal legwork, red tape, gauntlet-running, tedious research, interagency sabotage and hours of waiting that lead to a few minutes of glamorous spy work, documenting the toll it takes on the personal lives of his dedicated protagonists. But his style, more le Carre than Clancy, meanders uncertainly between musing and action; like his character Blake, the author "pays the price of the generalist" and sacrifices focus in his desire to cover all aspects of a high-ranking agent's life.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A lengthy, often slow-moving tale from Linder (There Came a Proud Beggar, 1985)--one as concerned with the minutia of modern espionage as with its story of the arrest of a Naval Intelligence specialist acting as an Israeli spy, plus the subsequent efforts of a small band of US intelligence operatives to thwart a plan by the Mossad to rescue him. Readers who expect the traditional trappings of the spy thriller here will find those elements generally obscured by a steady recounting of interagency maneuvering and complex internecine squabbles. FBI Special Agent Matt Blake heads up the team trying to figure out why the Mossad would undertake the rescue of Martin Ellis against all odds. The task is as important as any he's ever undertaken, not least because it is his only hope for earning the promotion he needs to pay for his daughter's marriage. The personal side of things gets even more complicated when his younger daughter becomes romantically involved with the Assistant US Attorney helping Blake, Richard Halpern. Blake's efforts finally manage to pinpoint master spy Dr. Phillip Starfield and the deadly Ephraim Hirsh (who ``travels around the world...and kills people who hurt Jews'') as key players in the Israeli plot. The How and Why are less easily determined, however, especially since there are other betrayals and an unexpected hidden purpose behind all the maneuvering. Linder's style does have a certain charm, which manifests itself as the story unfolds, and the resolution of things is likely to surprise most readers. But at the same time this offers more detail and less action than many will expect or want. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In this overly convoluted espionage caper, FBI agent Blake and U.S. attorney Halpern investigate an Israeli plot to free one of their spies from a federal prison. Too late, they learn that the Israelis' idea of "escape" is death, not a flight home. As Blake's efforts fail, so do his chances for promotion, but in the end he doesn't care--and neither does the reader. Linder ( There Came a Proud Beggar , Carroll & Graf, 1986) holds his characters at arm's length, not even giving Blake's wife a name. The action is often described secondhand by a minor player in dull bureaucratic style. The author's ability to portray political infighting among various government agencies occasionally redeems a novel so dreary that only the most perseverant espionage enthusiast will finish it.
- Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist . P.L., Metamora
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.