Again Helen MacInnes has done it and this time in a more complex and ambitious work than her first espionage novel, "Above Suspicion." The new book, "Assignment In Brittany" leaves small doubt as to her creative powers. She is more than the weaver of an exciting tale of war intrigue; she is a novelist who can hold her own on literary grounds. Her background, her characterization, her detail of plot and dialogue possess finesse and subtlety and reality. And just as she brought the feeling and atmosphere of Germany into her first book, so does she capture and translate for the reader the strength and the spirit of the land and the people of Brittany….

Brilliantly Miss MacInnes develops and expands the complexities of her plot. But even better than her plot is her description of the Breton countryside and its natives. She writes about them as one...