SCUTARI

Mr. Zarubica's The Year,' of the Rat excited some attention as a true suspense story which ultimately revealed the Nazi war criminal Martin Bormann. This fictional spy thriller may not be as exceptional but it does have a facile readability. John Beckett's body is found and it' s labelled accidental death. But when his boss, Urosh Gore, takes John's place on a flight to Paris he finds himself running into some disturbing coincidences. There's the beautiful woman met on the plane...later murdered. Finally he finds himself used as a tool by the CIA who want him to impersonate Beckett on a mission to a missile complex in Albania. Scutari is a town on the Albanian-Yugoslavian border where the ultimate drama takes place with Chinese Communist clatter, wizard weaponry and spots of romance. Acceptable.