The Magnates

In Crosland's (Dangerous Games) lively new novel about two rival media moguls, power--not money or sex--is the ultimate prize. Having added the Washington Express to his media empire, Miles Brewster, a 42-year-old upper-crust, reserved American, now plans to bid for the London Dispatch. Bidding against him is the charming yet ruthless Lord Gerald Scrope, 46, a self-made British mogul who owns publications on both sides of the Atlantic as well as a global electronics conglomerate. Scrope, who bears some resemblance to the late media baron Robert Maxwell, wants to buy the Dispatch to advance his cause in ousting the British P.M. (whose policies threaten Scrope's profits). After outbidding Scrope for the Dispatch, Brewster goes to London to become its editor, bringing with him the Express's best features writer, the ambitious yet naive Zoe Hare. In response, Scrope sets out to sabotage Brewster by hiring away his employees, seducing his wife and uncovering startling information about Brewster's past. Although Crosland introduces a number of other characters and subplots, Scrope and his fierce drive for power dominate this entertainingly melodramatic, but rarely lurid story. (June)