21 NOVEMBER 1958, Page 68

The Man Who Came Back. By John Bryan. (Faber, 15s.)

In one chapter alone are such implausibilities as a London pub that does 'venison damn well. Also wild duck with orange salad .. and a Soviet diplomat in good standing who quite casually, over tuna, blows the gaff to some FO secret policeman about the under-the-counter activities of a fellow-Communist. There is a central good idea in the book-the return of a sort of Burgess-Maclean figure, with a peace offer-but it is obfuscated by preposterously idiotic detail and Made unpalatable by too many references in the tight-lipped dialogue to 'a very gallant lady.' This once promising author seems to have •spent too much time since his first success on a diet of Dornford Yates and Ian FleMing, and still has hand-made shoes on the brain.