SHADOWPLAY

Complex plot, cardboard characters: another busy thriller from the author of Quicksilver. The Swiss arms-dealing Sellinger Family has bought Global News Agency--merging it with World News, putting Paul Sellinger in charge, and planning to help create a climate for replacing the Cruise missile with the Sellinger Corporation's Starburst missile system. But John Railton of World News refuses to relinquish objectivity about Starburst--so Paul plans to smear Railton in the British tabloids. What's more, Paul has married Railton's still-loved ex-wife Nancy. And the CIA believes that Railton--or perhaps Nancy--is a KGB mole out to sabotage Starburst! Soon, then, Railton and girlfriend Seagull are nearly burned alive in a tent (after being hit by sleep darts); she reveals her secret, KGB-tinged past. Grenades are tossed. But finally the true mole (and would-be assassin) is revealed--an implausible wind-up to an implausible spy-a-thon. Still, despite the loopy melodrama and the limp Le CarrÉ imitations, okay low-level espionagerie--thanks to a brisk pace and some lively newsroom backgrounds.