British Cross

in this 4th installment of the November Man series, November aka Deveroux is cooling out in Finland trying to see if a would-be Soviet defector is worth the trouble. After 7 weeks of freezing cold and no progress, the Russian brings up the name of a Tomas Crohan. It appears that this Crohan is a long missing Irish/CIA operative who disappeared near the end of WW2. Why is he important? While he is lost, so are his secrets, and British Intelligence, CIA, and Deveroux's own R Section would like to keep it that way. Enter Rita Macklin, the reporter who helped Deveroux trak down the Priest, Leo Tunney, in the 2nd November Man novel "Schism". Macklin is put onto the story of the missing Crohan by her magazines Publisher after his wife receives a letter from an Irish Priest mentioning his name. There are evil assassins and double agents and the grim Deveroux once again must make the no-win decisions that have made him an iconoclast of the genre. The sad romance angle of Macklin/Deveroux is especially poignant. Overall, a fine read and economical at 245 pages.