AMSTERDAM

On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throngoutside a London crematorium to pay their last respects to MollyLane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly's loversin the days before they reached their current eminence: Clive isBritain's most successful modern composer, and Vernon is editor ofthe newspaper "The Judge." Gorgeous, feisty Molly had other lovers,too, notably Julian Garmony, Foreign Secretary, a notoriousright-winger tipped to be the next prime minister. In the days thatfollow Molly's funeral, Clive and Vernon will make a pact withconsequences that neither could have foreseen. Each will make adisastrous moral decision, their friendship will be tested to itslimits, and Julian Garmony will be fighting for his political life.A sharp contemporary morality tale, cleverly disguised as a comicnovel, Amsterdam is "as sheerly enjoyable a book as one is likelyto pick up this year" ("The Washington Post Book World").