SPYTIME

William F. Buckley, Jr., trades in fictional spy hero Blackford Oakes for real-life CIA spymaster James Jesus Angleton in this novel based on actual events. The U.S. counterintelligence founder spends his life searching for traitors during the Cold War era but eventually finds himself coming under question. Much of the novel moves at a glacial pace as it provides biographical details and sets up its situations (an abridgment wouldn't have hurt), but the pace quickens toward the end. Reader Raymond Todd is a bit lacking in subtlety with accents but otherwise handles the job admirably. His matter-of-fact readings of Washington scenes give way to more passionate tones as the story shifts to field missions. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/ JAN 02]