Children of Tender Years

Paperback

Condition: Very Good

Publisher's Weekly Even 30 years after his childhood captivity in Auschwitz British agent Jake Malik has nightmares. He's very much a loner though apparently assimilated into English life. Sent to investigate possible Soviet involvement in anti-Semitic incidents in West Germany Jake falls in love with his German counterpart's sister and must come to terms with his fear of her compatriots. Meanwhile he discovers that a group of Israeli and West German businessmen have set up their own plan for retaliation against Soviet-Arab threats to Israel. Malik is ruthless in his determination to squelch this ''unholy alliance'' without informing any official agencies and eventually someone tells him ''You would have made a splendid Nazi.'' The fanatic conspirators cause several murders to be commited and Malik in anguish becomes more alienated. After his ''promotion'' to Washington Malik's MI6 bosses hint that his future is not to be a happy one. Allbeury (No Place to Hide) has written a fast engrossing and ultimately very bleak thriller. Library Journal For a much-practiced espionage writer ( No Place To Hide The Judas Factor etc.) Allbeury projects little of interest here. He stocks a formulaic pool with flat unexciting inhabitants and barely ripples the surface with intrigue. Sometime in the early 1970s British Intelligence sends operative Jake Malik a 38-year-old Polish/Jewish concentration camp survivor to Germany to investigate a spate of anti-Semitic vandalism supposedly orchestrated by the KGB. Jake and his German counterpart Heinz Fischer discover instead a nongovernmental German-Israeli conspiracy to avert Russian aggression through threatened use of hidden nuclear warheads. Expected conflicts due to Jake's background arise but fail to add needed depth or poignancy of character. Disappointingly uncomplicated and unconvincing. Rex E. Klett Anson Cty. Lib. Wadesboro N.C.