Fly on the Wall See You Later Alligator

By Stefan Kanfer

In Cruising Speed (1971), William F. Buckley Jr. analyzed himself: "I am, for all my passions, implacably, I think almost unfailingly fair; objective, just." Some readers thought that autobiographical judgment was self-parody, but in fact it is largely true. One proof lies in Buckley's latest spy novel, See You Later Alligator, the sixth adventure of Blackford Oakes, secret agent.

In this thriller about Cuba at the time of the 1962 missile crisis, Buckley, the archetypal conservative, presents a Che Guevara who turns out to be a humane and tragic figure; even Fidel Castro, between bouts of egomania, is a | fully developed antagonist. The least satisfactory character, curiously, is Blackford Oakes, a CIA soloist whose IQ seems to be only a couple of digits higher than James Bond's 007.

In Havana to help alleviate tensions between the U.S. and the Castro regime, Blackford begins a series of negotiations with Che. The Commandante is a sardonic figure who sometimes talks like William F. Buckley in fatigues and beret: "Disappointing . . . is a distinctively English, meiotic expression." Wherever Oakes settles in, a pair of alluring hazel eyes cannot be far away. This time they are blinked by Catalina Urrutia, a Cuban translator, moralist and flirt. After the requisite tango, the CIA man and the beautiful bilinguist end up in the percales. Heavy breathing leads to weighty revelations, and the smitten Catalina shows Blackford her ultimate secret: four medium-range Soviet ballistic missiles hidden in the hinterland.

As in any Bondage fantasy, hero and bimbo attempt to defuse the situation, only to get captured, manacled and headed toward annihilation. But Dr. Castro is not Dr. No, Che is not Goldfinger, and the Cuban missile crisis was not some apocalyptic fantasy. It is to Buckley's credit that within his fiction, actual events are made as urgent and terrifying as they were in the bad old days.

Along the way, Buckley amuses himself by playing fly on the wall. In the White House, President John F. Kennedy muses, "It took me two years before I figured out that Harry Truman was Harry Truman's real name. I thought he was being informal and was really Harold Truman." At the Kremlin, Nikita Khrushchev admonishes his journalist son-in-law, "Does Izvestiya have to be boring? I suppose so, otherwise I would send you to Gulag." But Buckley's most cutting remarks come from newspapers of the day: Columnist Walter Lippmann assures his readers, " 'The present Cuban military buildup is not capable of offensive action.' " The New York Times reports that not even " 'a water pistol, as one official put it,' " had got through to Cuba.

Still, history through hindsight is a mug's game, and Buckley never forgets his plot or pace. If Blackford Oakes had a bit more wattage--his creator could spare some--he might be worth an additional sequel or two. As for Castro, one suspects that he is so plausible because Buckley shares many of his attributes --among them an affection for crowds. The author dedicates this book to 49 nephews and nieces and acknowledges help from 22 individuals. One of them, he says, "couldn't stand the book's title, and I think the world should know how heavily she labored to persuade me to change it." She should have tried harder.