Don't be scared away by the unfortunate title. "While Still We Live" … is another successful effort by Helen MacInnes, who proved in "Above Suspicion" and "Assignment in Brittany" that she has a happy flair for combining exciting fiction with her own personal war against the nazis….

You get the feeling that Miss MacInnes is straining a bit, trying to do something more important than just another good mystery thriller about fighting Hitler. For such heavy-duty stuff it doesn't appear that she has quite enough artillery. She is always intelligent and interesting—well, nearly always—but outside the heroine, who is obviously Miss MacInnes and very charming, the characters are just a little too simple, a little too much like the people you meet in good mystery thrillers.

But Miss MacInnes's talent is considerable and for a vivid picture of Polish resistance and a most sympathetic reminder of the...