An Expose That's Also a Mystery

By DAVID ELLIS

The book is not listed in any catalog, and the publisher, Random House, refuses to reveal anything beyond its tentative Oct. 20 release date. What is the object of this secrecy? The Sampson Option, a new work by ace investigative reporter SEYMOUR HERSH. The dogged author will only confirm that the book is "about Israel," but other sources are willing to fill in some of the blanks. They say the tome provides potentially explosive new details about the country's secret nuclear-weapons program and often complicated relationship with the U.S.

With reporting by Georgia Harbison