The sex police take to the stacks in Griffith's pithy, clever follow-up to Spikes; the title novella here shares space with four noteworthy short stories. Myrtle Rusk is a university librarian drifting in the haze of an unfulfilling marriage, "having passed (thank God) her change in life." An unexpected complication arises when Rusk is enlisted by her boss, Mort Bozeman, to crack down on couples who sneak off to neck and copulate in the library's nooks and crannies. As she warms to her new mission, Rusk develops a casual friendship with one of the students, an Egyptian named Seti who is busy trying to impress beautiful, nubile Lili, who happens to be Bozeman's daughter. Seti initially ignores the possibilities offered by his friendship with Myrtle, but Griffith concocts some inventive coincidences to set up the finale in this sexual comedy of manners, with the climax featuring an unlikely but hysterical tryst. Clever treatment of libido aside, the combination of wry, ironic character portraits and sharp academic satire often reads like William Gass with Christopher Buckley handling the plotting and some of the political commentary. The short stories feature a beguiling array of eccentric, excessive characters, including a macho wrestler whose son develops a passion for chess, a gay English teacher who has been imprisoned in a cage at an amusement park and a balding hair scientist who tracks his decline according to his hairline even as his wife seems to grow more vital by the day. While the short stories aren't quite as vibrant as the novella, Griffith remains a formidable literary talent who continues to carve out a very particular niche with his sly humor, imaginative plotting and trenchant musings. (July)
Forecast:Building on the popularity of
Spike should be easy for booksellers, with so many quotable lines and zany situations here to pique readers' interest.
