Confirm or Deny

Choosing verisimilitude over excitement, this offering from a former high-ranking Scotland Yard offical will please procedural fans more than it will espionage aficionados. Detective Chief Superintendent Gaffney of Special Branch leads a sting operation to find a leak in British counterintelligence. The same team of MI5 agents has lost two KGB operatives in quick succession. Shortly after losing a third, the team's leader apparently commits suicide. Gaffney continues his probe, questioning various MI5 officers and families, none very nice and some rather nasty. After many starts, stops and false leads, Gaffney unravels an ingenious long-term KGB sleeper operation. Ison's characterizations aren't very deep, but the novel has a plausible ring not unlike the true-life spy stories the British do so well. (Jan.)