Samarkand Dimension

Wise, ( The Invisible Government; Spectrum knows his subject well, in this case the intelligence community's involvement with parapsychological warfare. Yet his third novel seems almost apologetic about its subject. While everything eventually fits neatly into place, little really happens for many pages as Wise sets the scene. There is a faint echo here of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, but where le Carre's characters have depth and flaws pivotal to the plot, Wise's characters are glib, passive and familiar. CIA operative James Markham is assigned to investigate Russian research into PSI, which the Soviets seem to have used to ruin an American missile test. At first skeptical, Markham comes to see the potential of PSI as a weapon and agrees to penetrate the Soviet facility at Samarkand, posing as a disillusioned, drunken scientist. The odds against the success of his mission are high, and Markham eventually finds himself threatened not only by the Russians, but also by the Western intelligence world. The admittedly good payoff is, nevertheless, a bit of a cop-out. (April 3)