Talk:The Antagonists (Haggard novel)

Reviews -- Kirkus

Col. Charles Russell, last seen in The High Wire, is a scrupulous spy who does not care to employ methods that England's enemies and allies occasionally stoop to. ""We musn't be caught out cheating,"" his supervisor tells him and, reluctantly he takes his elegant gloves off and gets into the fray surrounding Gorjan, a top level scientist from an iron curtain country that everybody would like to keep. Mr. Haggard supplies an expert atmosphere of watching for his spies and an active conclusion for the likable Col. Russell who prefers to play fair but knows how to play rough.

Pub Date: Aug. 26, 1964

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/william-haggard-2/the-antagonists-4/

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1964 _______________________________________________

There is no suspense author whom I read more slowly than I do William Haggard. I hate to miss the least nuance of his intricate constructions of plots and ploys and power‐plays, as delicate, and as deadly as a spider's web. In THE ANTAGONISTS (Washburn, 53.50), the web is woven around a great Yugoslav scientist in England, who is wanted (varyingly dead or alive) by Russian agents, two factions of Americans and several factions of his own countrymen—a situation which calls for all the peace‐keeping dexterity of Col. Charles Russell of the Security Executive. This is the modern novel of political intrigue at its subtlest and most fascinating. (Last year's comparably good “The High Wire” is now out in a Signet paperback, 50 cents.)

https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/30/archives/criminals-at-large.html?searchResultPosition=2

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1964/08/30/119441118.html?pageNumber=118 Anthony Boucher