Quiller Salamander

In this latest Quiller espionage thriller, the eponymous agent, bored in London, takes on a rogue assignment-one the Bureau has not sanctioned but which is the private effort of one of the ``controls,'' the enigmatic Flockhart. The mission: discover what Pol Pot is up to in his ongoing efforts to return the Khmer Rouge to power. Arriving in Phnom Penh, Quiller finds himself attracted to his first contact, a female French photographer who harbors an important secret, and suspicious of his field director. Following a narrow escape from a Khmer Rouge encampment, Quiller uncovers plans for yet another Cambodian bloodbath, to be directed by General Kheng, the man who has become Pol Pot's successor. As events come to a head, Quiller must either compromise his principles to change a nation's fate or allow millions of lives to be sacrificed. Aficionados of this series will no doubt find much to enjoy here, though a tendency toward repetition continues to mark Hall's style (the frequent use of the term ``killing fields'' becomes particularly irksome). (Sept.)