by Paul Erdman
Erdman, an economist turned novelist, has another entry in the intrepid-executive field. It's set in the mid-1980s when Germany, through a cynical international deal, gets hold of America's most advanced missile system, and Japan has gutted America economically by producing everything better and cheaper. The No. 2 man for a U.S. munitions maker is sent to Europe to find out why NATO is about to reject his firm's superb, billion-dollar missile. But the hero, supposedly jaunty, comes off silly, especially in his pseudo-Bondian adoration for chic drinks and fine restaurants. His brainy Swiss ex-mistress, who still loves him years after their affair, suffers from an incredible devotion to this supercilious ninny, and the hero's wife is no better. All the characters, from the bribe-taking royalty on down, are awful, corrupt people. The writing, though, is bouncy, despite the constant forecasts of doom. But Erdman is no prophet; The Crash of '79's fictionalized gloomy predictions proved wrong. He is also the kind of writer who gets his plot ideas from obscure kinks in international law. This potboiler is mean-spirited and hollow. (Simon and Schuster, $13.95)
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