'Firebird', James Carroll's seventh novel, is about the most fateful act of espionage of the twentieth century. Set in the era of Hiss, Fuchs, McCarthy and he Rosenbergs, all of whom feature in this story, 'Firebird' is a breathtaking political thriller. But like the best works of that genre - Carrol is often compared to Graham Greene - it is also a disturbing examination of our political and moral disenchantment. Like the classic Russian folktale from which the title comes, 'Firebird' is a moving and passionate love story. But it is also a novel of suspense, the outcome of which is as shocking as it is unpredictable.

The time is 1949. When American officials learn that the Russians have detonated an atomic weapon, they realize that the most tightly held secret in their nation's history has been penetrated. How? By whom? Is the traitor still in place? Is the future of atomic research jeopardized? The FBI, in its most urgent mission ever, is charged with finding out.

Christopher Malone, a young agent with a knack for opening locks and a surprising gift for posing as a man he can nvever be, is called to glamorous postwar Washinton from mundane duties in Kansas City. His job: to assume a new identity for the sake of gaining entee to the Russian embassy, where the key to the secret is hidden. Malone is better at what he does than even he knows and he pushes further into the Firebird mystery than anyone - including his own superiors - expects or wants. Malone is idealistic, patriotic, in awe of Hoover and in love with the Bureau. But as he becomes more and more entwined in the machinations of spy and counterspy and in a love affair with a Russian woman who may be his ultimate betrayer, he realizes that the articles of faith that have shaped his life and are far too simple, that the world is a place of duplicity and mirage.

'Firebird' is a novel about the terrible human cost of the Cold War - the loss of American innocence, the corruption of sacred American institutions. But it is also about the noble capacity abiding in each of us - and in our nation - to discover the truth and to live by it.