Praetorian

After perambulations through wartime Europe and Africa in the 1940s, a flashback to Paris in the '20s, numerous subplots, lots of characters and even excerpts from the hero's 1930 book, the final revelations of treachery and double-dealing come quick, pat and predictable in Gifford's ( The Assassini ) overblown espionage thriller. American columnist and radio reporter Rodger Godwin is having an affair with English concert violinist and movie star Cilla Hood, wife of hero Gen. Sir Max Hood, who ``rode with Lawrence'' in Arabia. Churchill makes Max leader of Praetorian, an assassination operation against Rommel, and includes Rodger in the team to get the U.S. into the war. But Praetorian is betrayed, leaving Max dead and Rodger seriously injured. Mending and guilt-ridden, Rodger vows to find and kill the traitor, and while his affair with Cilla heats up, cools and heats up again, he faces danger in London, Africa and the Ardennes. Believing he has avenged Max (twice!), he marries Cilla and only then discovers the truth. Rodger is an obtuse obsessive and a mediocre journalist, judging by the bland snippets of his work, while Cilla is a willful Cleopatra type who turns gooey and maternal in the end. (Mar.)