Tim and Pete

``I'm bored with straight people,'' narrator Tim remarks about midway through this L.A.-based, Two for the Freeway odyssey, by which point readers may have begun to note that homosexuals, at least these homosexuals, aren't exactly a barrel of laughs either. The eponymous duo, ex-boyfriends, reunite in a chance encounter and spend a night rehashing their experiences and revisiting former haunts: with their indistinct personalities and ambivalent feelings, it's hard to tell if these guys are friend or faux. Incessant references to the music industry--and abundant inclusion of bad song lyrics--grow tiresome, while pop culture allusions abound, and celebrity names drop fast and furiously. The narrative is not sufficiently funny or barbed to qualify as satire, and its frequent excesses preclude a more serious reading. Amid all their talk of--and occasional indulgence in--sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, characters mouth platitudes and earnest messages. The lack of action is somewhat redeemed in the book's final third, in which an exuberant activist/terrorist kidnaps Tim and Pete while perfecting his explosive technique. This energy, however, is an unfortunate case of too little, too late. (Apr.)