cover image An Accurate Watch

An Accurate Watch

David W. Doyle. William Morrow & Company, $20.95 (382pp) ISBN 978-0-688-09054-8

After taking the rap for an agent's death, CIA case officer Mark Cameron hopes to rehabilitate his reputation in this appealing spy novel. Cameron believes that his mission was compromised by a mole in CIA headquarters--but he will have to prove it from a far-off punishment posting in Bwagania. Fortunately for him, that African nation is about to gain its freedom, and KGB proxies abound, ready to test his theory. Pyotr, the Soviets' ostensible consul, is likewise in hot water with his boss; he and Cameron form a plausible, if disingenuous, friendship. After sending photographs of Pyotr's sultry trysts and sundry disinformation to CIA headquarters, Cameron is gratified to observe a KGB response that proves his hunch about a mole. An attempted KGB overthrow of the Bwaganian king is foiled through his own efforts and he returns to Washington. By coincidence, Pyotr has been sent there, too, to handle the mole while the usual conductor is on leave. Cameron baits a trap, unmasks the CIA traitor and redeems himself. Neglected since the novel opened, the redemption theme's sudden reappearance seems an afterthought. Capturing the mole is the point of it all, and first novelest Doyle gets the job done with grace and dispatch. (June)