GIVE ME THE DAGGERS

Canadian Tom Fleming, decorated and battle-scarred from World War I trenches, now fights the Reds in this nobly mindless saga which two-steps through Finland, France, Switzerland and finally Peru. Fleming had been sent by British Intelligence to aid two British agents in Finland whose job had been to expedite Kerensky's escape from the Bolsheviks. Tom accomplishes his mission, becomes involved with the goals of patriotic Finns -- and also Sophie, whose nationalism and admiration for General Mannerheim blacklists her with the Reds. The Arch-Communist is Boris Heiden who has plans for international mind control via cinema, drugs, student unrest and generous belts of Freud and Pavlov. At one point Heiden traps Fleming in a mental hospital but brave little Nancy, a childhood friend, rescues him. At last in Peru where her father heads a steamship company, Tom and Nancy plan to marry before Tom guns down Boris and prevents his future father-in-law from being shot through his Pierce Arrow. The real General Mannerheim appears here but pales beside the author's Ataturk (The House of War, 1970). In this case, contemporary politics and sequin romance don't mix.