Israeli intelligence services have made their share of mistakes but few have been as stupid as trying legally to suppress publication of By Way of Deception. Not only did the effort fail miserably, but the attendant publicity made the book a number-one best seller for weeks on end. As a result, Ostrovsky has gained a huge audience for his grab-bag of true and imaginary stories... Ostrovsky has enshrined the banter and braggadocio of the mess, freely mixing fact and fantasy. His account is not all wrong, but it has no credibility.

There is not only violence in this book but enough gratuitous sex (poolside orgies, a female officer hanging upside down by her ankles while performing acrobatic erotic exploits) that the authors seem undecided whether Mossad is made up of sadistic killers or of full-time satyrs. Much of ''By Way of Deceit'' reads like a supermarket tabloid. Mr. Ostrovsky and Mr. Hoy spare us no mayhem, torture or gore. Or speculation

By Way of Deception is the sort of exercise—conspiracy theory incoherently expressed—that usually causes sophisticated people to turn away in disgust. Yet it is referred to in the press in hushed tones of respect. That can only be because it is now chic to think of Israel as evil. Insufficient in so many ways, Ostrovsky nonetheless has shown himself a shrewd judge of the people whose money he is taking... the book is so badly written, its logic is so tortured, its evidentiary base is so lacking, that if not for the scandal, no serious reader would have paid to plow through it.