Brave Spy

Nightmare and Dawn, by Mark Aldanov. Translated by Joel Carmichael. 343 pp. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce. $4.50

Mark Aldanov, the late Russian novelist and anti-Communist emigré, produced, as his last book, an intriguing tale of modern espionage. This contest between American and Soviet military intelligence officers begins in West Berlin shortly before the death of Stalin and ends at the Brandenburg Gate during the East Berlin riots of 1953.