Eddie Black

Opening Shapiro's first novel, narrator Eddie Black tells his fellow truck driver, Vincent Minetta, how he'd like to eat a womanactually chew, swallow and consume her entire bodysex being tied to hunger, according to Eddie. Later that day, the two men argue with their boss, a New York butcher, Frank Popowski, whom Eddie kills when the man threatens him and Vincent. From that point, the story debauches into various events as Eddie and Vincent elude detection, for a while. Eddie revels in an erotic idyll with Charlotte, who shares his odd sexual appetites, but only briefly: she has a live-in lover, Margaret. Luckier in his career aspirations, Eddie lands a role in a popular TV soap, a rosy future that is blighted, however, by a crooked cop. The latter offers to shelve the Popowski case in return for a huge bribe from Eddie's rich gangster uncle. Bad thingsmore murders, mutilations, etc.keep happening to bad people as the author seems determined to strain the limits of the First Amendment. Film rights to Marcia Nasitir and Lorenzo Semple Jr.; major ad/promo. (February 26)