AN ENTICING TALE OF WASHINGTON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200740014-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: February 10, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

ApproVi~deFo~,ftgIeas?g?2065/08/22 : CIA-RDP88-0135
CHICAGO, ILL.
NEWS
E-466,42.4
FEB 10 1968
An enticing tale
..Of Washington
V.%NISRED, by Fletcher Knebel (Doubleday, $5.95).
By kit Gordon Sauter
X GLANCF at the book shelves would indicate there has
developed in recent years a genre of *books about, con-
temporary American politics: A glance inside the books would
reveal that most of them are painfully mediocre.
But ever since Upton Sin-
clair's "Lanny Budd" series,
;luthors have been ,-drawing
upon the game of politics -
and some of its more curious
players-to titillate .our curio-
sity about the dilemmas and
'~ual,ities of those in the seats
of power.
FLETCHER KNEBEL has
perhaps been the most durable
of the writers in this field. For
one t h i n g, he is a skilled
craftsman. As a Washington
correspondent for many years,
he knows the subject and can
draw "from it the ingredients
of a good yarn.
His six books (three of them
in conjunction with Charles
Bailey) have all borne a dis-
tinct relationship to what we
all read in the newspapers. But
he carries us forward by one
vital step-into the Ova) Room
of. the White House, into the
director's office at the CIA., in-
to.-the private corpoTafe` din-
ing rooms of the lawyers and
lobbyists who wield vast. se-
cret power.
IN "VANISHED," Mr. Krie-
bel has far outdistanced both
Allbn Drury and Gore Vidal.
the novel ties in a presidential
election; a power struggle be-
tween the chief excutive and
the CIA, a super-secret effort
to control nuclear power, and
the always fascinating stories
of those who must deal with-
the great problems of state.
of embarrassment, such dread-
ful lines as: "It was one of
those fresh, bright clays of
June that seem as newly scrub-
bed as a schoolgirl in early
morning." Such drivel is re-
deemed only by the validity of
his characters and the true
ring of dialogue. And his pre-
cise plot easily supports the
air of suspense resulting from
the disappearance of a key
presidential adviser during a
period of considerable nation-
al unrest.
"Vanished" is hardly good
literature. But the "Lanny
Budd" business wasn't that
memorable either. What Mr.
Knebel offers is a story as en-
tieing as the gossip at the Na-
tional Press Club. After read-
ing him, even t o d a y's dis-
patches from Washington seem
bland by comparison.
STAT
At times, Mr. Knebel's prose co-author, w i (it Burleigh
is in ati, m es c{ r ~7;c
Appro.~re`,Aka a 8/ ? III J a ~, x(000200740014-8