THE MATARESE CIRCLE

Although advance materials on Ludlum's new suspense novel were not yet available at press time, its certainty of commercial success warrants advance warning. We can tell you that it involves terrorists, Soviet agents, and the CIA; a happy breather, at least, from this author's usual preoccupation with neo-Nazis. But, in any case, considering that Ludlum's two most recent novels, The Chancellor Manuscript and The Holcroft Covenant, were best-sellers despite inane plotting, weak writing, and decidedly mixed notices, the content of this new fantasy probably doesn't matter much. It will sell. And it will be read--or at least begun--by a lot of people.