My Worst Date

Hugo, the hero of this uneven and dispiriting first novel, is a 16-year-old Miami high-school student whose first real affair is with Glenn, his mother's boyfriend--a premise that a gifted novelist could spin into giddy farce, erotic fiction or a coming-of-age tale. Leddick attempts all three--with more contrivances than so slender a novel can support. Hugo moonlights as a stripper, then becomes a Versace model and an actor in a TV pilot about the South Beach scene--all while maintaining a solid GPA, continuing a secret affair with Glenn and shopping around for a college in New York. Hugo's long-absent father, debauched and jaded, shows up late in the novel, as does Hurricane Andrew, though neither episode provides the dramatic payoff the reader expects. Leddick's talent in evoking the voice of a sensitive adolescent is evident at the outset, but the convolutions of the plot, narrated by different characters in alternating chapters, defeat any patient exploration of Hugo's inner life. More disturbingly, Hugo is ultimately little more than a monstrous fantasy figure--a nubile adolescent whose libido triumphs over any ethical qualms either he or his adult lover might have about their relationship. (Nov.)