from nyt.com: SPIES & THRILLERS
By NEWGATE CALLENDAR
Published: July 28, 1991

Will anybody ever have a good word to say about Texas oil barons? Certainly not Robert Moss in MEXICO WAY (Simon & Schuster, $21.95).

Mr. Moss, the author of "Moscow Rules" and "Carnival of Spies," follows the approved party line for novelists. Oil barons are greedy, hypocritical and amoral; they consider themselves above any kind of social contract, including relationships with their own Government.

Thus in "Mexico Way" we get a group of oil barons, headed by a billionaire who is desperately overextended, who dream up a way to take over the oil fields in northern Mexico, and Heaven help anybody who gets in their way. Opposed to them is the good guy, Jim Kreeger, head of the C.I.A. mission in Mexico.

Apropos the Central Intelligence Agency: few writers of espionage novels in our time have shown anything but contempt for the C.I.A. But Mr. Moss, even though he follows the party line about oil billionaires, shows a certain respect for the Company. At least, he is willing to admit that it does have some honest, able, sincere men and women working for it -- even if they have to fight their miserable, bureaucratic, protect-their-rear superiors.

It's a credible scenario that Mr. Moss has put together, mostly because he is a suave writer who knows how to create believable characters and take the reader along with them. "Mexico Way" has its share of action, but the novel has something more: the author takes a thoughtful, sympathetic look at Mexico and its problems. And there is a touch of humor here and there as well.

This book is very much worth a try. ( )