Maze

Although the indefatigable Collins ( Is Paris Burning? ; Fall From Grace ) has come up with a far-fetched and even foolish plot this time around, his uncanny command of the inner workings of the international intelligence apparatus lends a semblance of plausibility to events in this espionage thriller. The action begins with the KGB's murder of a New York psychic with a flair for locating the coordinates of Soviet submarines. She had been helpful in CIA mind experiments, but the Russians are onto something even better: a device that uses electromagnetic waves to trigger responses in the brains of unsuspecting people at a distance. The KGB intends to use this magneto-encephalogram to zap the U.S. president during a crisis. First, Arab terrorists controlled by Moscow blow up a U.S. Army-run high school in Germany, killing many teenagers. Then the zapping of the president begins, and our enraged, mentally unhinged Chief Executive gives the order to nuke Iran in retaliation. A subplot involving rebellious Moslem nationalists within the U.S.S.R. provides an unusual perspective on internal pressures facing Kremlin and KGB bureaucrats. Collins gives his spies and politicos some psychological depth, even if he stretches credibility when the CIA chief of behavior research falls for his hyponotherapist in a fatally dumb dalliance. Author tour. (June)