Dangerous Deceptions

British journalist Reynolds's first novel is distinguished by an appealing cast of characters, a fast-paced plot that depicts international disaster and a bleak view of life on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Refusenik physicist Piotr Asanov is smuggled out of Russia and engaged by the U.S. and Britain in a crash program of advanced submarine detection. International power plays deflect the program, however. Among those left behind is Tanya Melnikova, wife of a Russian sub commander and daughter of a Supreme Soviet member, who becomes a victim of Asanov's defection. Asanov falls in love with a beautiful English scientist assigned to help him, but neither realizes how they've been manipulated. A series of ghastly mistakes, personal and scientific, lead to despair, loss of love, death and catastrophe. Reynolds's knowledge of the Soviet system is deeply grained; his portrayal of dissidents confined to ""hospitals'' for ``treatment'' is horrifyingly Kafkaesque. Possibly more chilling is a top U.S. agent's remark that ``there aren't any bad guysjust people, trying to do a job.'' In this rich, effective thriller people fail in a spectacular way. (February 2)