Shivering in the Sun

Fadiman ( Hollywood Now ), a former film studio executive, has written a shallow, uninvolving novel about fast-lane Hollywood life in 1963. Little firsthand industry knowledge emerges as he depicts the personal and professional predicaments of Judd Haber, a veteran agent at respected Global Talent Associates. While Judd ignores his wife Milly, their dissolute son, Kerry, stars in porn movies, and Judd himself wonders anxiously if he will succeed Global's late president. Milly has a meaningless affair with a meek professor, while Judd regularly beds Mira, a lovely but calculating prostitute who exploits him. To spite his father, Kerry courts Mira, too, setting up an explosive situation until Judd and Milly decide to reaffirm their lapsed love. The author fails to coax drama or tension from his material, nor does he mine the glitzy, high-pressure world of top talent agents. (Dec.)