TO PLAY THE FOX

by M. S. Craig ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1982

Farfetched spy doings--with an innocent, much-put-upon hero caught within an internal KGB foul-up. The Soviets, you see, have two unactivated deep-cover agents planted in Blakeslee, California: Stanley Dobbs, Walter Heinemann. And, neither knowing the other isa spy, each of them just happens to have bought a 1/3 interest in ""The Flying Mick,"" a crop-dusting company! (Dobbs has ideas about aerial spying; Heinemann flies for a hobby.) So, when Quebec-based spymaster Vladimir realizes that these two agents are likely to start crossing wires, he orders agent Igor to dispose of one agent or the other. . . pronto. All of which means Big Trouble for Mac Maguire, founding partner in the crop-dusting outfit--who's already in bad shape anyway, mourning the crash-death of his son Toby. Planes plummet; a pilot dies; Dobbs (eager to remove Mac from the enterprise) charges Mac with incompetence. And meanwhile, of course, Igor is sizing up the two candidates for KGB elimination--with schemes that lead the two spies to wind up killing each other. Despite some attempts at human-interest in the details from each partner's soap-operatic private life: a contrived suspense trifle, mildly intriguing in its black-comic twists.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1982

Categories: FICTION