Any Day Now

Mixing romance, politics and rejuvenated '60s idealism, Quinn (Alliances ) concocts a stirring novel. Kate Buchanan, a criminal lawyer, is jolted when Nick Ricci--her first love, and from the wrong side of the tracks--appears in her office in 1985. They haven't seen each other since 1968, when he left for Vietnam without saying good-bye. He needs her help--he is convinced that his black war buddy Leon Jackson is alive, despite the burial of his remains by his family. Aided by another vet, Tom Wilcox, who is a minister to the homeless, and Kate's friend Deborah Tate, they interview other vets, including ex-POWs, and comb through government files. Kate confronts her own discomfort with the vets: ``Their knowledge of Vietnam didn't come from two minutes of film on the evening news. They knew the taste, smell, and feel of it.'' The mysteries surrounding Leon and Nick's unwarranted guilt are too easily resolved here, but the lives of Nick, Kate, Tom and Deborah dovetail into a fresh exposition of the vagaries of racism, war and love. (Dec.)