Tool of the Trade

Agreeable near-future science fiction-ish spy thriller from the author of generally superior science fiction (most recently Dealing in Futures, 1985). Fifty-ish MIT psychology professor Nicholas Foley, a happily married man, is also a survivor of the siege of Leningrad - and a KGB sleeper. The KGB decides to activate him for low-level talent-spotting; simultaneously, the CIA penetrates his cover and, in the person of genial agent Jacob Bailey, tries to turn him into a double agent. What neither the KGB nor the CIA knows is that Foley, through his experiments in hypnotism, has invented a device that can compel anyone within earshot to obey Foley's orders - including instantly forgetting everything they've done! (At night Foley uses the device to free-lance as an avenger, causing muggers, drug dealers, pimps, etc. to blow their own brains out.) Then some bad-guy KGB types kidnap Foley's wife Valerie and bring in a sadistic torturer (they want to know how Foley controls people); chased by both Bailey and assorted KGB agents, Foley rescues Valerie in a bloody showdown - but now neither is safe. So: off to Mexico for plastic surgery and new identities, and then Foley hones his final plan: to participate in a big disarmament conference, disguised as a translator, intending to use his device on the Soviet chairman and the US President and force them to sign a realistic disarmament agreement. Fast-moving and enjoyable if barely plausible stuff, with Haldeman's levelheaded narrative voice as engaging as ever. (Kirkus Reviews)