16 NOVEMBER 1956, Page 23

HOUSE OF SECRETS. By Sterling Noel. (Andre Deutsch, 13s. 6d.)

Reads like a parody of all those thrillers that begin with mistaken identity in Marseilles, and the parcel that falls into the wrong hands, The inevitable American hero who, inevitably, was at Okinawa then establishes a beach-head on the Left Bank, com- plete with blondes. Only a film company could take it seriously— and one film company has. Yet it is confident enough in its own Pace to he compellingly readable.