RED HORIZONS

by Ion Mihai Pacepa ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 10, 1987

The often operatic horror story of Pacepa's years as chief of the D.I.E., Romania's combo F.B.I.-C.I.A., and of his life as spy-chief for President Nicolai Ceausescu. Despite the ghastly details of Romanian spying--the casually ordered murders, the tie-ins with Mideastern terrorists, the incredible profligacy of Romania's leaders and poverty of its citizens--Pacepa's truth-telling has many moments of towering humor, quite on a par with satires by Soviet dissidents publishing in the States. According to the author, what's evident is that the US has been led into treating Romania as a favored nation, despite its active membership in the Eastern bloc, and into lending Ceausescu's rat pack billions of dollars, with no end in sight and no way of blunting its total dedication to subversion of the West. Pacepa is the highest ranking Soviet official ever to defect, an act (in 1978) that brought about the immediate dismantling of the tremendous spy apparatus that he ran. He was debriefed by the C.I.A. for three years, now lives here under an assumed identity, and is struggling to get his daughter and son-in-law to the States. Highlights: Ceausescu's setting up ""Horizon,"" ""a vast influence operation he was personally running to gain Western political support, money, and technology"" while laughing up his sleeve and in no way abandoning his Communist goals as a member of the Warsaw Pact; Ceausescu befriending Yasser Arafat, whom he groomed to follow his own ""Horizon"" maneuver, i.e., to sucker the West into believing that the PLO is peace-loving in spite of its nasty splinter groups, its dedication to terrorist acts. And the executive family: Ceausescu's brazenly materialistic, killer-wife Elena (a twin to Imelda Marcos), and boorish, alcoholic son Nico, who form the first Communist dynasty in world history. Perverse winds whip a crazed officialdom as Ceausescu seeks the Nobel Peace Prize by playing big brother to Kadhafi and Ararat (and secretly filming Arafat's homosexual lovemaking). An absurdist's delight.

Pub Date: Nov. 10, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Regnery Gateway-dist. by Kampmann (9 East 40 St., New York, NY 10016)

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1987

Categories: NONFICTION