Mirrors Kill

Curtis's new novel speeds along like a Formula One race car on a slick and twisty track; that a lot of quirky, often extremely vicious, characters line the route only adds to the excitement. The story opens with simultaneous mass slayings at a wedding in New England and at a funeral in France; in each case, death comes from an automatic weapon wielded by a short, ugly gunman. One of the victims in France is a fascist-like MP, uncle of world-famous caver Tom Bullen. The moody Bullen, having previously financed caving expeditions by doing ``favors'' for SIS and the CIA, is approached by the British to probe his uncle's death. Further very public multiple killings follow, and soon Bullen is facing great peril in France, New England, New Orleans and Moscow as he gets involved with a high-stakes deal over stolen Russian nuclear weapons. Other than Bullen, there's scarcely a decent human being in these pages-particularly nasty are Kyle and Evan Bannick, identical twins with a yen for homicide-but Curtis (Crow's Parliament) handles his bleak, violent material with aplomb, shaping it into a splendid popular entertainment. (Jan.)