SATURN OVER THE WATER

This is the Priestley of The Old Dark House rather than the Priestley of The Good Companions -- and to many of his fans, his ability to deal with suspense will come as a surprise. There is a new element here -- a sort of prevision of a horror world to come, but in final analysis, the appeal will be to those who relish the flavor of the international spy tale....Tim Bedford, painter, was not suited to the role in which he found himself committed to follow the slender thread of evidence which his cousin had given him on her death bed, with the request that he trace- through it- her missing husband. The search led him into murky waters of fellonious international plotting for world destruction. From London to New York, thence to Peru and Chile and ultimately to Australia, the supplied by a frenzied scratching of surreptitious notes brought Tim repeatedly to the edge of disaster. It was more by good luck than good management that he reached the solution- and his activities provided the catalyst that brought down a empire. Good reading- but not the Priestley of warm, likable characters one has grown to .