Books in Brief: Out of Control

Out of Control, by G. Gordon Liddy (St. Martin’s, 307 pp., $10.95). It is virtually impossible to separate this novel from the enigmatic persona that its controversial author has assumed. And though his protagonist is a blond Aryan, the dark visage of a glowering Gordon Liddy and the code of honor which earned him four and one-half years of hard prison time hovers broodingly overhead. Which is why this book will probably be ignored by most of the press and roasted by the remainder who maintain their ideological “watch on the Rhine.” Unfortunate—for this tale of a rogue who is lured by the CIA to ferret out a Soviet operative intending to seize control of one of America’s multinational corporations is rather engaging. Once you digest a coalition of the hero’s Mafia inlaws and the United Tongs, who are provided by his Chinese girlfriend, the aerial denouement over Manhattan goes down rather smoothly. And lest Blackie Oakes take offense, his creator is duly included in the finale. Some of the dialogue is rough, and the title would be more appropriate as a characterization of the Carter Administration. Yet the story works, because Liddy has the wry perception that accrues to a professional, and a casualty, of the system.

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Alan L. Miller

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Out of Control, by G. Gordon Liddy (St. Martin’s, 307 pp., $10.95). It is virtually impossible to separate this novel from the enigmatic persona that its controversial author has assumed. And though his protagonist is a blond Aryan, the dark visage of a glowering Gordon Liddy and the code of honor which earned him four and one-half years of hard prison time hovers broodingly overhead. Which is why this book will probably be ignored by most of the press and roasted by the remainder who maintain their ideological “watch on the Rhine.” Unfortunate—for this tale of a rogue who is lured by the CIA to ferret out a Soviet operative intending to seize control of one of America’s multinational corporations is rather engaging. Once you digest a coalition of the hero’s Mafia inlaws and the United Tongs, who are provided by his Chinese girlfriend, the aerial denouement over Manhattan goes down rather smoothly. And lest Blackie Oakes take offense, his creator is duly included in the finale. Some of the dialogue is rough, and the title would be more appropriate as a characterization of the Carter Administration. Yet the story works, because Liddy has the wry perception that accrues to a professional, and a casualty, of the system.