Valhalla's Wake: The IRA, Mi6, and the Assassination of a Young American

Loftus and McIntyre are, respectively, a Boston lawyer and a retired professional spy for West Germany. The book is mainly about the latter's son, John McIntyre, a likable young man who grew up in the Boston area, became involved in Mafia drug trafficking, then threw in his lot with the Irish Republican Army. Arrested for his part in an attempted transfer of arms to an Irish ship in mid-Atlantic, he purportedly fell victim to an arrangement between the American and British governments and was last seen on November 30, 1984. The authors, with John McIntyre Sr., also a retired spy, convincingly claim to have uncovered evidence that the young man was assassinated by British agents to protect an in-place mole. Loftus declares that ``the two governments painted a bull's-eye on John McIntyre's back and they didn't even tell him.'' The book is a high-powered narrative about multiple betrayal that reads at times like a le Carre novel with dialogue by George V. Higgins. (Aug.)