Quiller Meridian

From Publishers WeeklyHero of 16 earlier adventures ( Quiller Solitaire , et al.), the eponymous British agent can still be depended on for quick thinking and unflinching derring-do. Here, his mettle is put to the test in the former Soviet Union when he is called in to salvage Operation Meridian. Quiller travels from Rome to Bucharest to Moscow trailing a skittish Russian contact, who then books himself on the Rossiya (the Trans-Siberian Express), bound for Vladivostok. Quiller entrains too, and the book plunges into almost nonstop action. During the course of the narrative, Quiller is shot at, survives a car crash and a train wreck, and battles the Russian militia, the violent Stalinist Podpolia underground and a rogue ex-KGB agent who is fond of bombs. The final confrontation takes place in Novosibirsk with leaders of the Podpolia , who are plotting a coup with the Chinese and the rogue bomber. As ever, narrator Quiller's voice is knowing and insouciant, deftly turning plot points with razor-sharp characterizations and keeping readers on the edges of their seats. The subtleties of the spy trade--and the inadequacies of British intelligence--are nicely limned, as is life in the new Russia. Adam Hall is the pseudonym of Elleston Trevor ( Deathwatch ). Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library JournalWhen Quiller, British secret agent extraordinaire, is called upon to take over a botched mission code-named Meridian, he finds himself on a train to Siberia. His assignment: to track Zymyanin, a Russian informant who has startling information for the West. Quiller soon discovers the existence of a plot by the Podpolia, hard-line Communists unwilling to yield power, which involves the Russian army. Before he is able to pursue this lead, Zymyanin is killed and Quiller is framed for his murder. Not only must he run from the police, but he must uncover the plot without alarming the conspirators. Hall ( Quiller Solitaire , Morrow, 1992) also introduces a subplot, adding even more twists to a story already full of action but light on characterization. At times, Quiller talks to himself, at other times to the reader, but in any case the terse prose provides a minimum of information. Recommended only for those who prefer action to anything else.- Roberta Pessah, St. John's Univ., New YorkCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.