27 MARCH 1959, Page 28

Against the Public Interest. By Robert Gaines. (Macdonald, Its. 6d.)

Best of its kind for a long time—its kind being a mixture of political satire and off-through-the-Iron-Curtain thriller. Excel- lent characterisation, male and female; convinc- ing Westminster and Whitehall background; an agreeable tinge of Greene in the prose style.