Life in the Spy Business.(The Company)

So you think cold-war spy novels are passe and that you couldn't possibly be lured into reading another one? Especially one that's 894 pages long? Think again. Robert Littell's "The Company" (Overlook Press) reads like a breeze and is guaranteed to suck you right back into the Alice-in-Wonderland world of spy vs. spy. It's a ripping good yarn--entertaining, chilling and insightful.

Littell, a former NEWSWEEK writer who has been churning out spy novels for the past three decades, has hatched his most ambitious work yet, spanning the entire history of the cold war. As one of his characters explains, the split between the "two mentalities" of the CIA--the company of the title--dominates that history. "There are those who think we've been put on earth to steal the other side's secrets and then analyze the secrets we steal," he says. "Then there are others who want this organization to impact events, as opposed to predict them-- rig elections, sap morale, promote rebellions, bribe officials... eventually eliminate political figures who frustrate us."

Among the mix of fictional and real characters in this sprawling drama, Littell focuses on the risk takers. Harvey Torriti, known as the Sorcerer, learned his tricks during World War II when he lined up the mafiosi on the side of the invading Allies, and continues to play hard, rough and dirty in Berlin, Cuba and other hot spots. Recruited fresh from Yale, his apprentice, Jack McAuliffe, carries on his legacy. Jack's three friends from college also go straight into the spy business. The trajectories of their careers are the vehicle that allows Littell to cover so much ground and intrigue, so many blunders and disasters--along with a few shining moments.

One of the Yalies is a Russian who becomes a KGB undercover agent in the United States. His mission: to run a mole, a company insider who betrays top-secret CIA operations with ruthless efficiency. That means relaying Moscow's instructions to the American and then getting his information out. The reader knows the Russian's identity, but throughout the book is kept guessing about who the mole is. The prime suspect surfaces. Is he or isn't he?

Enter James Jesus Angleton, the CIA's infamous real-life mole-hunter. There's a morbid fascination in watching his bosom-buddy relationship with another real-life figure, Kim Philby, whom he trusts to the point of compromising operation after operation ...