[Detective fiction has come so far as] to embrace political philosophy in the person of William F. Buckley Jr., that essayist, columnist, hymnodist of all things conservative, in his second thriller, Stained Glass. The first, Saving the Queen, was replete with ambiguity, irony, suspense—all those qualities we associate with Ambler, Greene, le Carre and company—and yet it put forward by example an argument about loyalty and guilt which was, to this reviewer, thoroughly convincing. Now Buckley advances his argument a further step, and onto more dangerous ground…. [In Stained Glass all] is ambiguity, all contributes to forwarding Buckley's analysis of a time when a truly bold West might have broken through the stranglehold Stalin had laid upon the Cold War, yet all is realistic in its conclusion that ultimately one must take action rather than wait for all of the facts, the options, the moral judgments to be in: "I don't believe the lesson to draw is that we must not act because, in acting, we may prove to be wrong." This is Dulles …, and while the action belongs to Oakes, the book belongs to Dulles.
Buckley has remarked that he would have liked to have called this chilling, compelling book "Detente." The title would have been apt, for while Stained Glass is about the past, its attitudes are for today. If history is philosophy teaching by example, this novel is a work of history, for it parallels those options that might well have been open to the West in the long ago years when, had boldness been our friend the world might today be vastly different—and when another form of boldness helped determine our present condition. One suspects Buckley intends to carry us, through the eyes of Oakes, from the seemingly clear perceptions of right and wrong of the Cold War years to our own muddy days, unraveling his ever more complex political views as he goes. At least I hope so, for Stained Glass is closer to the bone than le Carre has ever cut. (pp. 26-7)
Robin W. Winks, "Robin W. Winks on Mysteries: 'Stained Glass'," in The New Republic (reprinted by permission of The New Republic; © 1978 The New Republic, Inc.), Vol. 178, No. 23, June 10, 1978, pp. 26-7.
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