Traitor

Author of eight previous novels (including The Man Who Loved Mata Hari, Sherman turns his considerable skill with espionage fiction to the American Revolution with extremely interesting results. Set in 1779, when the outcome of the war is still in doubt, the novel creates the same climate of intrigue and conspiracy one expects from a modern-day novel of espionage. Two lovers are found brutally murdered in their bed, victims of a seemingly ritualistic killing. Matty Grove, General Washington's most effective agent-assassin, is ordered to find the murderer and, more importantly, the man behind the slayings, who is surely a traitor to the Revolution. Grove, a loner who is feared on both sides of the conflict, quickly realizes that the traitor may well be among those closest to the rebel cause. Out of this hunt, Sherman fashions a fascinating portrait of the political and economic intrigues behind the Revolution, a portrait quite at odds with storybook history but an artfully constructed and most satisfying read. (May 5)