by Brian Garfield
If you can believe that Winston Churchill recruited a 15-year-old schoolboy to spy, steal, fight and kill for the greater glory of England, then you may enjoy this World War II novel, which the author claims is based on the life of a real secret agent. In this kind of book, everybody has to have a code name, so the hero becomes Christopher Robin and his chief is Owl. Churchill is not called Winnie the Pooh but Tigger—another officer is Pooh. That's just part of the confusion. Not only is the young hero asked to kill a submarineful of Dutchmen, but he also dispatches some good British people because they may have information Churchill doesn't want the Americans to get. Christopher goes to Germany as a double agent, has hairbreadth escapes, and survives, blind in his adoration of the harrumphing Churchill. The author, a New Jerseyite who wrote Death Wish, is no stranger to scenes of bloody violence. There is also sex, which, like the fumbling hero, is tentative. The writing is at best adequate. (Simon and Schuster, $12.95)
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