Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-12-28
Walk the Dark Bridge. BY Will

The Darkening Door. BY Bill s.
Ballinger. (Harper & Bros;
$2.5O.)
Once upon a time this author
wrote some robust mysteries.
Then he strayed into suspense"
fiction. This is the second Of
that genre, a heavily psychologist
cal novel that forces the I'M
whiting reader to examine the
life history of every character
major and minor. AS has been
demonstrated more effectively
before. no man is an island.
Each of these characters touches
in a small way the life of an
other to bring final disaster to
one of them. Passages on dope
addiction are vivid. The rest
Is drab.
The DISCUSSES of Love
BY Robe Macauley.
(Random;; 49,
To provide a new twist to the
eternal triangle is a well-nigh
impossible task and Robbie Ma
cauley deserves full marks for
an original novel on the subject.
He has chosen to tell the story
of a middle-aged professors in
fatuation for a delicious, wanton
student from three points of
view: The professors. his wife's
and their sons. 1t is not COM
pletely successful, largely be-
cause the character of the other
woman is always shadoWy. and
her motives are never defined.
But the son, an intelligent and
sensitive adolescent driven to
play the lout through his par
ents' onerous ambition for him
is fresh Characterization. The
wife, however, revealed in her
own words as a bored matron
frantic for recognition in her
woman's club, seems inconsist-
ent. Mr.. Macauley has man
aged to ring some new changes
on the old theme. The great
outpouring of sympathy the
wife receives from other faculty
wives when the deception is dis
covered makes her happier than
she has ever been. Her trans
formation into an attractive
woman only serves to drive the
husband further away. The
final dilemma of the husband
could hardly be more pitiful.
This is a fresh and rueful
study of a painful old question.
M. Meg.
The Traitors
BY Alan Moorehead. (Scrib-
ner'S; $780,
Any writer discussing con-
temporary spies Immediately
puts himself in competition
with Rebecca West-not exactly
an enviable situation. Mr.. More
head, in describing the three
scientists who betrayed Britain.
and in fact all Of us. does not
embroider with the gorgeous
thread Of speculation which
made Miss Vests musings so
memorable. He contents him
self with facts and chronology
in very workmanlike fashion.
When he evaluates motives he
comes to grief. or at least to
manufacturing conclusions.
The unholy trio is comprised
Of Alan Num- May, Klaus Fuchs
and Bruno Pontecorvo. Mr.. May
was a colorless character whose
disclosures to the Soviets were
revealed only through the dra-
matte detection of a Soviet en-
bassy functionary. Mr.. Ponte-
corvo's treason is at yet I'M
proven. although evidence points
strongly to the supposition that
when he and his family disap-
peared they went willingly be-
hind the Iron Curtain. To Klaus
Fuchs. the brilliant and eccen-
trio young German who found
refuge and friendship in Brit
ain and still excuse for treason,
Mr.. Morehead devotes the lions
share of his book. Fuchs espio-
mage was as efficient and me-
ticulous as his work in the lab
oratory. He revealed it under
the gentle pressure of an agent
who sounds stranger than any
f1ctional detective. Mr.. Moore
head goes to considerable, but
not entirely successful pains to
defend British security measures
in this case. M. Meg.