"The Billion Dollar Sure Thing" is an exciting novel despite itself. It is not particularly well written. It is loosely organized, and it stops here and there for long-winded explanations of the methods of the gnomes of Zurich and their cousins in Basel. But the concept of the book is tremendous—a Russian raid on the dollar, the manipulations of a sharp American operator all set to make a killing, the theft of a top secret document concerning plans for devaluation and a shift in the price of gold. All that, and a surprise at the end. Or to those who know something about the big-money boys, perhaps not so much of a surprise. Can these things really be? Erdman makes it plentifully clear they can.

Newgate Callendar, "Criminals at Large," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1973 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), August...