The abrupt raising of the Iron Curtain, it would appear, has released a thousand intriguing ghosts from the past and given the spy novel a whole new lease on life. If Finder's fiction debut doesn't outdo Frederick Forsyth in grace of style, it surpasses both Forsyth and Ludlum in density of mystery and swirl of action. At the same time--not entirely surprisingly, coming from the author of Red Carpet, a study of the intricate connections between the Kremlin and U.S. big business--the plot is crammed with and even a little overwhelmed by details regarding the darker side of Soviet history and the workings of Soviet and U.S. intelligence.