CRIME: Speaking of Crime

Last week a sensational book called Out of the Night was sweeping the U. S. (TIME, Jan. 20). In one month it had sold 350,000 copies. It told how OGPU agents murdered on order—and saw to it that the murders looked like accidents. It told how they kidnapped their enemies—and the kidnappings looked like unsolved disappearances. The work of a German ex-Communist who wrote under the name of Jan Valtin, it painted a savage picture of the depravity of the Comintern, OGPU agents, the world's Communist parties.

Last week for many readers the...