Soehnlein's third novel reintroduces Robin MacKenzie, the gay teen protagonist from The World of Normal Boys
. Robin is now 20, in the mid-1980s, and on the night that his older, scholarly lover breaks up with him, he shares an intense sexual experience with George, his black, longtime best friend. When a phone message from his sister, Ruby, on summer break after her first year at college, disturbs him, and he learns that she's disappeared from a party, Robin takes off with George to look for her. Ruby, meanwhile, has been having a hard time with her boyfriend, Calvin, and her housemates at the Jersey shore who are either drunk or high and teasing her about her virginity. Reconnecting with a troubled boy from her past, Ruby leaves to search for him and sets out on her own adventure of discovery. While the bother and sister encounter danger, passion, and sex, Ruby's story is the more engaging, capturing intimately the mood of the period. (Apr.)
