The Secret Man: An American Warrior's Uncensored Journey

It's hard to tell whether the author is merely posturing or expressing his fantasy life in a memoir that reads as if patterned on the early paperback Avenger series. Dux describes himself as ""sleek and agile,'' a professional martial artist ""considered by many the fastest human alive,'' a man able to break bullet-proof glass with a blow from his bare hand, ""a great hunter.'' He was a contract operative for William Casey, who supposedly recruited him in a urinal after introducing himself as ""head of the fucking CIA."" The missions Dux recounts include killing a mass murderer and aiding the U.S.S.R. in investigating what proved to be a scam anthrax scare. He writes sketchily of the Iran-Contra scandal. He also relates a bit of his background, a heritage of forebears in the Hagganah and Mossad. Dux attempts to settle scores as well, disputing exposes of his martial-arts prowess that appeared in the Los Angeles Times and in various magazines. Telling of his recent surgery for brain tumors, he speculates that his affliction and the tumor that killed Casey in 1987 could have been instigated through a bioagent. Dux stresses that, as a CIA operative, he worked ""on the edge of a psychological razor''--which, with this tell-all, slips. Photos not seen by PW. $50,000 ad/promo; author tour; available on audiocassette from HarperAudio. (Apr.)