Fiction Reviews: Week of 7/10/2006

Former McSweeney's online editor Shay travels in his debut novel to the now-stale heart of late-'90s political hysteria and pre-millennial angst. The "end" of the title refers to the End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI for short), the global meltdown that is to occur as a result of the unchecked Y2K computer crisis. Randall Knight, a former elementary school teacher, quits his job and tours the country as a roving puppeteer, hoping to make others believe in the impending computer-related doomsday. Shay puts the reader in the quixotic situation of rooting for a protagonist whose every action is in the service of a supremely puerile cause; as Randall crisscrosses the U.S. in search of allies, running headlong from his own problems into the maw of an imagined global catastrophe, it's hard not to feel his pain (in the words of another presence whose then-current impeachment trial haunts this book). If the book ends with more of a whimper than a bang, perhaps that is only to be expected in a novel about an impending but never-arriving tragedy. (Dec.)

A truck jackknifes off an "arrow straight country road" near Kearney, Nebr., in Powers's ninth novel, becoming the catalyst for a painstakingly rendered minuet of self-reckoning. The accident puts the truck's 27-year-old driver, Mark Schluter, into a 14-day coma. When he emerges, he is stricken with Capgras syndrome: he's unable to match his visual and intellectual identifications with his emotional ones. He thinks his sister, Karin, isn't actually his sister—she's an imposter (the same goes for Mark's house). A shattered and worried Karin turns to Gerald Weber, an Oliver Sacks–like figure who writes bestsellers about neurological cases, but Gerald's inability to help Mark, and bad reviews of his latest book, cause him to wonder if he has become a "neurological opportunist." Then there are the mysteries of Mark's nurse's aide, Barbara Gillespie, who is secretive about her past and seems to be much more intelligent than she's willing to let on, and the meaning of a cryptic note left on Mark's nightstand the night he was hospitalized. MacArthur fellow Powers (Gold Bug Variations, etc.) masterfully charts the shifting dynamics of Karin's and Mark's relationship, and his prose—powerful, but not overbearing—brings a sorrowful energy to every page. (Oct.)

An impoverished Russian sold into sexual slavery at 15, Lili, now 22, finds herself at the mercy of a band of Sahara oasis dwellers after abandoning her Moroccan "husband," who dragged her into the desert on a murky business deal and was felled by a snakebite. Lili fears she will be hunted down and jailed because she refused to drive him to a hospital. "The Arab," as she refers to him, repeatedly raped her, yet he also sprang for an education and fancy clothes. Lili desperately tries to determine if her newfound desert companions are foes or friends: is a Spaniard really searching for a silver mine, and who is the mute "lunatic" who lives in the bushes and tends the camels? Does the Berber sell camels or land mines, are his two black-robed wives trying to poison each other or Lili, and is an Algerian runaway wife some kind of insurrectionist spy? The premise that Vonnegut (cousin of author Kurt) tenders in this debut is gripping, and her Sahara comes to life vividly. But Lili's opacity frustrates, and her confusion comes at the expense of an underdeveloped plot. Readers not versed in the region's political conflicts will find the motivations difficult to track. (Oct.)

Shearer, probably best known for his work on The Simpsons and This Is Spinal Tap, sets his farcical first novel in the world of Native American–owned casinos. After being "savaged by downsizing, by outsourcing, by plant-closing," the citizens of withering Gammage, N.Y., successfully petition Washington to be recognized as the Filaquonsett tribe so they can build a casino. Their gambling operation has a negative impact on the casino of a neighboring tribe, and that tribe settles the score by having a toxic waste dump built next to the Filaquonsett casino. It's a silly setup, and Shearer uses it to beat home points about greed, materialism and ethnic identity. The book often becomes a morass of easy one-liners ("the process was proceeding at a pace that glaciers and snails would envy"). Stereotypes about Italian-Americans and Native Americans similarly fail to go over the top, instead occupying the queasy middle ground between funny and unfortunate. One bit of inspired nonsense involves a group of diaper-wearing grownups (they consider holding DiaperCon XII in the Filaquonsett reservation), but the scatological humor won't be enough to pull readers through. (Oct.)

On November 7, 1985, Mary Veal, 16, a not especially distinguished upper-middle-class girl, disappears from New England's Semmering Academy. A month later she reappears at Semmering, claiming amnesia, but hinting at abduction and ravishment. The events in Believer editor Julavits's third, beautifully executed novel take place on three levels: one, dedicated to "what might have happened," is the story of the supposedly blank interval; another is dedicated to the inevitable therapeutic aftermath, as Mary's therapist, Dr. Hammer, tries to discover whether Mary is lying, either about the abduction or the amnesia; and the present of the novel, which revolves around the funeral of Mary's mother, Paula, in 1999. There, Mary feels not only the hostility of her sisters, Regina (an unsuccessful poet) and Gaby (a disheveled lesbian) but Paula's posthumous hostility. Or is that an illusion? This structure delicately balances between gothic and comic, allowing Julavits to play variations on Mary's life and on the '80s moral panic of repressed memory syndromes and wild fears of child abuse. While Julavits (The Effect of Living Backwards) sometimes lets an overheated style distract from her central story, as its various layers coalesce, the mystery of what did happen to Mary Veal will enthrall the reader to the very last page. (Oct.)

A story of love interrupted by the mundane realities, bittersweet victories and disappointments of life, Delbanco's 24th book juxtaposes young infatuation with mature romance. Lawrence and Hermia meet as college students in the heady environment of 1962 Cambridge and begin a passionate love affair marked by the idealism and excitement of youth. Soon, however, they drift apart, he toward travel and a career in architecture, and she toward life as a political activist, then an heiress. Throughout their lives they think of one another often, and when they meet on a cruise ship in 2004, it seems like a second chance. Now in their 60s, the couple haltingly takes up where they left off, understanding that they might finally be getting a chance for the happiness that has eluded them thus far. Delbanco maintains a hopeful outlook on the surprises life brings. (Oct. 19)

Freudenberger fulfills the promise of her 2003 collection of short stories, Lucky Girls, in her expansive first novel. Yuan Zhao, a Chinese performance artist entangled in the subversive community of the Beijing East Village (an artist enclave located in Beijing's "industrial dump"), moves to Los Angeles for an exhibition of his work and to teach studio art to gifted students at the St. Anselm's School for Girls. Upon arrival at the Traverses', his host family, Zhao finds himself in a domestic minefield: Cece Travers, the family matriarch, is having an affair with her brother-in-law, Phil. Meanwhile, her children fumble through adolescence, and her husband, psychiatrist Gordon, phones in his familial obligations. Freudenberger juxtaposes Zhao's early artist days in the East and his unrequited love for the woman he left behind with his solitary life in Los Angeles, where he grows obsessed with a Chinese art student. Under a blanket of cultural misunderstandings and xenophobia, Freudenberger tackles big questions about art: what makes an artist; how artists and writers borrow from each other; and how they appropriate details from the lives of their friends and families. Freudenberger sometimes missteps into humdrum Hollywood satire and uninspired relationship drama, but Zhao is distinctly fresh; it's when describing his journey that Freudenberger's novel takes flight. (Sept.)

The search for a serial killer during Sigmund Freud's 1909 visit to New York City, his one trip to the U.S., propels the plot of Yale law professor Rubenfeld's ambitious debut. Freud's arrival coincides with the sadistic murder of a beautiful young woman in an upscale hotel. A similar attack on another woman results in the victim's hysterical paralysis. The efforts of Dr. Stratham Younger, a protégé of Freud's, to recover the survivor's memories of her assailant lead Younger into a morass of politics, big money and kinky sexual escapades. Freud plays a background role, but the father of psychoanalysis does get to expound his ideas, demonstrate his diagnostic acumen and don an apparent martyr's robe. Readers will learn much about Freud's relationship with his then-disciple Carl Jung, the building of the Manhattan Bridge, the early opponents to Freud's theories and the central problem posed by Hamlet's "to be or not to be" soliloquy. While not as well crafted as Caleb Carr's similarly themed The Alienist, this well-researched and thought-provoking novel is sure to be a crowd pleaser. $500,000 marketing campaign; 15-city author tour. (Sept.)

Turnipseed's well-received 2003 debut, A Love Noire, traced the unlikely relationship between Noire, a socially conscious doctoral candidate, and Innocent, a wealthy investment banker from Côte d'Ivoire. The author's sophomore effort revisits the same characters post-breakup and post-9/11. Back in New York after a predoctoral year in Haiti, Noire—broke, alone and still sans Ph.D. in comparative lit—grieves over the recent terrorist attack, only to be plunged further into despair by the death of her mentor, Bonita. Innocent, who has given up the hectic world of finance, is plagued by survivor's guilt and learns that a woman he slept with back in Côte d'Ivoire is pregnant, setting off a host of questions about where he belongs. Though Noire and Innocent find themselves back in each other's beds, it's a temporary fix; Noire heads for the therapist's couch, and Innocent travels to Côte d'Ivoire to care for his dangerously prematurely born daughter. Turnipseed is strong on sexual politics, but her boldness backfires with her use of 9/11, as the magnitude of that event makes Noire's angst come across as shallow self-pity. Despite that, Turnipseed writes with genuine and contagious affection for both Noire and Innocent, and she mostly succeeds in dramatizing their respective crises. (Sept.)

In Wozencraft's brilliant third psychological thriller (after 2004's Wanted), Katherine "Kit" Metcalf must contend with post-traumatic stress (she was raped as a college student) and face her ultimate fear, her Texas Ranger dad, Wade, who hides immoral appetites behind a heroic image. A former realtor, Kit now pole dances for Blaze, "Austin's premier gentleman's club," though in order to do so she numbs herself with alcohol. Her sister, Jenny, an Austin police detective investigating a porn ring, is about to marry Luke Saner, an undercover cop looking into the murder of a Blaze regular. When Jenny's body later turns up in a Blanco County well, Kit seeks therapy and unwittingly puts her therapist (and herself) in danger. As the pace quickens, whom can she trust? Luke? Her dad? With eloquent prose that's unflinchingly honest, Wozencraft charts Kit's crusade for justice, revealing not only the rocky terrain of grief, addiction and rape recovery but also the smooth shores of survival. (Sept.)

Canadian Hollingshead (The Roaring Girl) offers a sprawling story based on a contentious historical episode. In 1797, James Tilly Matthews was committed to Bethlem (aka Bedlam), the notorious British lunatic asylum, after nattering on about an "air loom" machine used by villains to control people. But there was more to it; Matthews claimed he was being punished for going on a peace mission to France during the Revolution. Certainly his confinement had not been ordered by John Haslam, the Bethlem apothecary who treated him, nor by his wife, Margaret, who tried for nearly 20 years to have him released. Hollingshead deploys all three as narrators of this fictionalized account: Matthews, who slips in and out of lucidity; Mrs. Matthews, singleminded (and therefore largely uninteresting); and Haslam, whose use of Matthews as a research subject makes his motives suspect. Hollingshead's language slides between the centuries as he tangles with provocative themes: the causes and treatments of mental illness, the battle between service and self-interest in the doctor/scientist, and the ways mad members of society can reflect the chaos of the world outside. A vivid picture of the grotesque patients and sadistic staff of the "English Bastille" adds density to the gallows humor that peppers this brutal story. (Sept.)

The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad and the Thai prostitutes might be men in comedienne Rudner's Vegas-based mystery romance. Allie Bowen is newly divorced and settling into her job as vice-president of marketing and public relations for Heaven, the Strip's newest and biggest casino that "is deliberately hidden... behind an obscuring cumulous mountain of man-made fog," when her life implodes. First, she gets dumped by her power-hungry boyfriend, Christian, "the third most important executive within the casino hierarchy," then he frames her for making fake casino chips. She's blackballed from casino work, and her ex-husband, Barry, also implicated, lands in jail. While Barry does his time, Allie launches First Impressions, an escort service specializing in celebrity "look-alike call girls," and travels in seedy circles in her quest to clear both their names. Rudner's satirical sense shines as she follows casino executives on a trip to Thailand to scout for the newest restaurant idea—drinking cobra blood—and tours Heaven's new Hello Goodbye project, where customers can have their birthing and dying needs met (one funeral package includes placing customers' ashes into golf balls with their picture emblazoned on them). An over-the-top sendup of an over-the-top city. (Sept.)

At the start of Davis's beautifully written debut, 11-year-old Charlie York leads an idyllic life in the shadow of Angel's Rest, a mountain in the Virginia Alleghenies "so high the earth's caretakers took breaks on the peaks before they came down to help those in need of God's assistance." Then, one late afternoon in 1967, Charlie's father is killed by a shotgun blast and his mother is arrested for murder. Put in the care of Lacy Albert Coe, an old black man, Charlie hears the music of Coe's many stories as he tries to understand the hate that fills the people of rural Sunnyside, Va. Charlie vacillates between wanting to escape on a raft like Huck Finn and wanting to know the truth behind the tragedy. Was it an accident? Or was his mother guilty of murder? Or was the killer really the reclusive Korean War veteran, Hollis Thrasher, who had been seen walking from their house that afternoon? In his painful search for answers, Charlie leaves childhood behind and gains an unparalleled understanding of courage and love. (Sept.)

The rediscovery of the previously unpublished title work is the occasion for collecting Vidal's short stories—all eight of them—for the first time. That piece, which closes the collection, features an episode from Tennessee Williams's childhood in which the young playwright decides to pre-empt sin through suicide, a decision complicated by knowledge that his uncle is being blackmailed for sexual misconduct with a minor. Discretion kept this story from Vidal's 1956 collection A Thirsty Evil, but it's clearly continuous with the seven others, many of which also contain homoerotic elements and a tone of tart disillusion: in "Three Stratagems," a suave young man suffers an epileptic seizure before he can sell his body; in "The Zenner Trophy," a prep school athlete is expelled for an affair with a male classmate. Mortality and shades of E.B. White's famous distortions of time enter as well, as a middle-aged man runs into himself as a boy ("A Moment of Green Laurel"), and another spends a night in his childhood bedroom ("The Ladies in the Library"). Vidal's short-form execution is strangely ineffective: he often locates action off the page, then labors to bring the information into the story cleanly. But readers will recognize the frosty vision and frequently artful prose of the essayist of United States and the novelist of Myra Breckinridge. (Sept.)

A lightly sparring debut collection of nine stories by Floridian Barr delves into the Hispanic community of Miami. "Braulio Wants His Car Back" pits the loyalty of two men who journeyed from Cuba on a raft together against their edgy relationship to American capitalism. In "Faith," a TV news anchor grapples with a potentially substantial story about a woman claiming to have seen the Virgin Mary, while all the while a hurricane bears down angrily on the city as if in divine retribution. "Melancholy Guide Through the Country of Want" is a strange, sad tale of two very wealthy neighbors—a solitary bachelor with aristocratic Caribbean roots and a lonely young wife with a restraining order against her husband—whose relationship proves a valiant but doomed attempt to cancel the violence contained within each other's respective histories. The title story, appearing last in this uneven collection, is made up of diverse voices in South Beach, high brow and low, that collide tragically on the beach with the suicide ride of an ultralight glider. Barr demonstrates fine storytelling with a good ear for nuance in this year's Bread Loaf Bakeless Prize winner, introduced by Francine Prose. (Sept.)

Native Tahitian Vaite returns to the charming world of Materena Mahi, the "professional cleaner" and mother of three introduced in early 2006's Frangipani. This second installment begins when Pito Tehana, the father of Materena's children, drunkenly proposes marriage. Though he's forgotten about it by morning, Materena can't get it out of her head. In between jobs, caring for her kids and visits with her many cousins, Materena fantasizes about her wedding, even though Pito does nothing but dash Materena's hopes; in one of the book's most moving chapters, Materena scrimps to buy Pito a silk shirt for his birthday, but when he opens it, he grumpily tells her to return it and buy him a case of beer. Although the novel is driven by Materena's intense longing, it's peppered with witty encounters between Materena and her nosy family members. Among the wide cast of friends and family, there's Cousin Giselle, who gave birth in the back of a Mercedes Benz; Mama Roti, Pito's doting mother; Mama Teta, who drives a wedding car; and Rita, Materena's favorite cousin. None are particularly nuanced, but when combined with Vaite's light touch and the exotic setting, the result is redolent of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series—a delightful diversion. (Sept. 4)

A year after surviving a brutal attack, Pasadena, Calif., police officer Nan Vining returns to duty in Emley's sizzling debut, a hard-edged police procedural with a psychic twist. Nan, a 34-year-old single mom who still bears emotional and skin-deep scars, has her mettle tested by her first case back. The gory corpse of young, blonde LAPD vice cop Frankie Lynde, who got "too close to her work," murmurs a cryptic message to Nan at the crime scene. Nan's ability to hear the dead may be connected to her near-death experience or may be a symptom of post-traumatic stress, but it does help crack Frankie's case and eerily provides a clue about Nan's unknown attacker, whom she and her 14-year-old daughter, Emily, dubbed T.B. Mann or "The Bad Man." Readers will cheer as the fast-paced, high-stakes investigation empowers Nan to triumph over a repugnant criminal and her fears. (Sept.)

In Massey's winning ninth crime novel (after 2005's The Typhoon Lover), brassy Rei Shimura, now working for an elite U.S. spy agency, infiltrates a Tokyo department store whose profits are suspiciously inflated, though she wonders why this is a matter of American state security. Since it's her first covert mission, Rei has a lot to learn, including how to lie convincingly and how to be cautiously distrustful. When she overhears the store's head make a death threat, Rei's boss, Michael Hendricks, gets concerned and flies to Japan to give her backup. This causes as many problems as it solves, because Michael and Rei are forced to admit to themselves that they're falling for each other. (The hilarious scene in which they share their first kiss could easily have come across as trite or predictable in lesser hands.) Readers will find Rei's cross-cultural escapades as engrossing as the department store's shenanigans. The minor characters—a clerk with a bitchy attitude, an anxious banker from New Jersey—are as well developed as the delightful heroine. 3-city author tour. (Sept.)

A chance encounter in 1895 between a princess and a debonair military man leads to a scandalous relationship in British writer Jacobson's woefully stilted 10th novel. Princess Louise, daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium, leaves her husband and embarks on an orgiastic spending spree across Europe with Geza Mattachich, a Croatian lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army, racking up debts and fraudulently securing a lease for "one of the most beautiful properties on the French Riviera," the latter giving Louise's family an excuse to imprison Mattachich and place Louise in an asylum. After long years of internment, both escape and are reunited, thanks to the unlikely help of Maria Stöger, a working-class woman who had an affair with Mattachich in prison. Jacobson, unfortunately, fails to capitalize on the story's dramatic potential and errs on the side of half-baked biography over taut narrative; footnotes and excerpts from the historical princess's and lieutenant's self-serving memoirs and other obscure reference materials clutter swaths of pages, and the prose rarely rises about lackluster. (Sept.)

Dennis Pratt works part-time at a North Dakota toxic waste recycling plant; approaching 40, he has no friends and no career plan, but is a devoted father to daughter Whitney. His wife, Patricia, a successful real estate title closer, gets into shape, gets a tan and plans an anniversary trip for them to Mexico, where she expects her indolent and apathetic husband to play golf, swim and fish for marlin. Dennis complies by taking up golf, learning to swim and reading up on deep-sea fishing. But he suspects suddenly sexy Patricia is having an affair with Bruce Carver, the family dentist. As evidence compounds, Dennis falls into a depression. Encounters with a gypsylike father-and-daughter team who live in a camper near the local country club and with a beautiful widowed former therapist (with whom he begins to fall in love) complicate matters, but also spur Dennis to action. For the most part, Salter's debut breezes along with its likable but not entirely sympathetic hero bumbling through an ordinary life, but the book feels more like a set of short story–like set pieces rather than a whole work. A series of contrived revelations at the end spill out all at once, with head-shaking results for readers. (Sept.)

Art history, architecture, ghosts, two romances separated by a thousand years, murder and more fill Lenoir and Cabesos's grab bag of a book, a bestseller in France and Spain. In the present, Johanna, an archeologist, is tormented by dreams of a headless monk associated with the abbey Mont-Saint-Michel. In 1022, Benedictine Brother Roman is undertaking the construction of an immense new church. After brigands beat Roman, the beautiful Moira, a Celtic healer, cares for him and the two fall in love. When Moira refuses to renounce her pagan religion, the church authorities torture her to death. In the meantime, Johanna slowly unravels the mystery of the headless monk while a killer picks off members of her archeological team. Despite some clunky romance fiction touches and tedious digressions, the novel has a certain grandiosity and heft that's undeniably appealing. While American readers may not have the same appetite for medieval minutiae as their Continental counterparts, religious-thriller fans will find much to savor. (Sept.)

Beall's hard-edged debut explores the familiar territory of drugs and corruption on the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles. In scenes that alternate between the past and the present, rookie police officer Ben Halloran, who's partnered with tough veteran Miguel Marquez, struggles to conceal his secret affiliation with a ganglord, even as the pair probe a series of murders. Beall, himself an officer in the LAPD's 77th Division, writes what he knows, but loads of pointless, gory violence (including gougings and mutilations), some awkward prose ("The party was Carcosa's schizophrenic attempt to reconcile his criminal origins with the propriety of a Mexican tradition"), improbable plot elements (thugs who quote Macbeth) and a lack of redeeming characters limit this one's appeal. Author tour. (Sept.)

The blood-drinking, mind-reading, shape-shifting Carpathian clan and their human friends gather for Christmas—and to stave off encroaching enemies—in bestseller Feehan's latest entry in her Dark series (after Dark Demon) and her first in hardcover. The guests hunt vampires, confront a dark mage and, most importantly, face the extinction of their species due to a mysteriously low birth rate and high infant mortality. Shea—once a human surgeon, now a Carpathian healer—studies the Carpathian's procreative problem even as she carries the child of her "lifemate" Jacques, whose brother, Prince Mikhail, also hopes for more children with his mate, Raven. The action suffers from the author's efforts to feature each of these couples and others, but the stage is set for future, more plot-driven books. A section of recipes by Feehan fans, "Dark Desserts," rounds out this sex- and magic-filled treat, which makes a good entry point for newcomers. (Sept.)

Byrnes (Trust Fund Boys) plumbs the depths of variously closeted men in this sly charmer that's less niche than the goofy cover art suggests. Though Noah Abraham is attractive and successful, he hasn't dated in the year since his relationship with Harry ended; his life revolves around the book about closeted congressional staffers ("The Project," he ruefully calls it) he's been contracted to write, but his subjects are less than willing to go on the record. While on vacation in New York City, Noah meets Bart Gustafson, the handsome personal assistant to cantankerous former movie star Quinn Scott and his companion, Jimmy, a former dancer. Noah is astounded to learn Quinn is gay and decides that this—not the bland exposé of sexually reluctant bureaucrats—is the real story. Now all he has to do is convince Quinn to break decades of silence, something much easier said than done, as Noah finds himself up against not only Quinn's reluctance, but the fearsome ire of Quinn's ex-wife, a powerful Hollywood player bent on quashing Quinn's would-be tell-all. The romance between Noah and Bart has its intensely cheesy moments, but clever dialogue and an astute rendering of the prices people pay to keep secrets buried add crossover appeal. (Sept.)

English author Bigsby unflinchingly explores a mushrooming tragedy that begins when a black man walks through the front door of a white-owned store in turn-of-the-century rural Tennessee in his fourth novel (first published in Britain). The black man is lynched for raping the store owner's wife, even though Jake Benchley, a white widower in his 50s who witnessed the confrontation, argues the only crime the man committed was not using the back door. The lynch mob beats Jake nearly to death and brands his chest with an "N" (as in "nigger") for his insistence on the truth. The dead man's boy, James, latches onto Jake after witnessing the lynching and shoots dead twin brothers of the notoriously spiteful Steadman clan who show up at Jake's home to wreak more havoc. The two mismatched fugitives flee hunting dogs and the murdered twins' brothers, as well as the sheriff and his agents, who catch wind of the shootings. Bigsby's tale gains a full head of suspenseful steam through concrete description ("There was a groan and the first brother moved an arm like something that had been run over on the road") and the relationship Jake and James forge, equal parts brothers-in-arms and father and son. (Aug.)

Chefs (and lovers) John Rickey and Gary "G-man" Stubbs (first appearing in Liquor and Prime) are once again involved in drama and suspense at their trendy eatery, Liquor. Chef Milford Goodman, an old friend of Rickey's, shows up after a 10-year prison stint for murder (of a restaurant owner) ends, thanks to a retrial acquittal. Just then, as it turns out, the current chef, Tanker, quits in a huff. Milford takes over, and through him, Rickey meets a manipulative, pill-pushing doctor named Lamotte, who pressures Rickey to join a restaurant venture, Soul Kitchen, involving a shady local businessman-investor, Clancy Fairbairn. Rickey, hooked on Lamotte-supplied Vicodin and wanting to give Milford the break he needs to become a top chef, agrees, various complications ensue, and the deal ends in tragedy. Throughout, Brite demonstrates a deep passion for and knowledge of New Orleans' food scene, and winningly sends up the city's wealthy elite, who "were like great dark sea creatures circling below the water's surface." The novel is brisk and entertaining, and manages to deal sharply with homophobia and racism amid a frothy plot. The novel was completed, Brite notes, the night before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the city where she was born and now lives with her chef husband. An open-ended conclusion hints at another installment to come. (Aug.)

The marriage of Ted and Elinor Mackey, a yuppie podiatrist-lawyer couple in their early-40s living in Northern California, is pushed to the brink when Elinor learns that Ted is having an affair with his trainer, Gina Ellison. Elinor's reaction—pity—surprises her. Winston (Good Grief) adroitly makes it clear that Ted's affair is a symptom: infertility problems have caused years of emotional turmoil. And Gina's no bimbo: she has a loving but difficult relationship with Ted, complicated further by her young son, Toby, and his immediate attachment to Ted as a stable father figure. When Elinor confronts Ted and Gina, Ted quickly ends the affair; neither is sure if infidelity or infertility should end their marriage. During their separation, Elinor takes a sabbatical from her law firm and casually dates Noah Orch, a hunky but dull arborist. Ted haphazardly resumes his relationship with Gina. As he realizes that his connection to her is more than an escape from a bad marriage, all concerned have decisions to make. Winston has a real feel for the push and pull of a marriage in crisis, and delivers it in a brisk, funny, no-nonsense style that still comes off as respectful of the material. (Aug.)

Lizbet and Cassie Montgomery, Jewish sisters in London, seem to like their lives: Lizbet, cute but schlumpy, has a mid-level job at Ladz Mag and a smart, sweet long-term, live-in boyfriend in product designer Tim; barrister Cassie, glossy, smart and hot, is married to fastidious BBC production assistant George Hershlag, which suits her fine. The two sisters have a close if constrained relationship, but when Lizbet announces she's pregnant, Cassie turns cold, even as their parents ("Vivica and Dad") are immediately thrilled. When, 30 or so pages later, Lizbet miscarries the baby in the second trimester, she plunges into despair. Cassie comes to her aid, but it may be too little, too late. Maxted (Behaving Like Adults, etc.) alternates smoothly between Lizbet's and Cassie's perspectives, giving each a distinctive voice and nailing lapsed London Jewry amusingly. When she shifts to Cassie, she handles a series of major revelations with the same emotional acuity that she gives Lizbet's devastation at the loss of her baby. As Lizbet discovers her fabulous side (but perhaps not for the better), what looks from the outside like Cassie's comeuppance is full of crushing sadness. Maxted has to do a lot of wrangling to manage the happy ending, but it offsets this chick lit novel's surprisingly harrowing center. (Aug.)

When Victor Aruna's liver tissue sample shows up under the microscope of San Diego pathologist Dr. Paul Leander, the two men have not seen one another for 20 years. Paul, who met Victor—then a rich young man with an parentally arranged, unearned lawyer's degree—while in medical school in Mexico City, takes it upon himself to inform Victor that Victor has terminal cancer. Upon his hospital discharge, Victor shows up at the home of Paul and his wife, successful art director Adele Zarbo, perhaps to die (and to avoid troubles at home). Paul and Adele met through Victor in Mexico City, and the three had, for a time, formed a charged trio. But as Rabasa (Floating Kingdom) deftly makes clear early on, the friendship is fraught and chock-full of secrets that have been on full simmer for two decades—and that may have a lot to do with Paul and Adele's present state of near-estrangement. With coolness and concision, Rabasa flashes back and forth between Victor's almost taunting visit and the months in Mexico City where the three uneasily gelled, building tension as small revelations pile up and giving vivid snapshots of mid-'80s Mexico City. The denouement is quiet rather than explosive, and it suits the scale of this winningly constrained work. (Aug.)

Following street lit sensation Candy Licker, Noire returns to gangsta Harlem to tell the tale of Andre "Thug-a-Licious" Williams, a "Dawg-4-Lyfe" whose death is announced in the preface and whose life unfurls in a series of dark, stop-start flashbacks. At the time of his death, Dre, or Thug, was, improbably, "the baddest NBA rookie in the league," who was, at the same time, a rapper with a "club-banging album with triple platinum potential." Noire doesn't show us much of Thug's practice on the court or time in the studio (though a number of his rhymes are strewn through the narrative): the action is concentrated on his dick (which is big) and his exploits (nine children by nine different mothers by page 257, along with herpes). Through it all, Dre loves Carmiesha "Muddah" Vernoy, with whom he's hoping to settle down. He shields her from his criminal activity with cousins Pimp and Smoove (Carl and Todd Williams). It's Pimp who does the worst of it, and who also does time in jail while Thug accepts a basketball scholarship to Syracuse. Meanwhile, Muddah, who has gone to college and started her own beauty salon, Locks of Love, is keeping a secret that will eventually catch up with her and with Thug. The plot sputters, and the lives of all concerned are unrelentingly grim, but the sex really is hot. (On sale Aug. 29)

Single mom Zoe Hayes has a knack for being in the wrong place at the worst time—like in the Schuylkill River late at night, clinging to a capsized sculling shell and surrounded by floating corpses. In her second Philadelphia adventure (after 2005's The Nanny Murders), Zoe, a therapist, and Susan, her best friend, have taken up rowing for pleasure and exercise, but their boating mishap dumps them among the casualties of a human trafficking ring. Homicide detective Nick Stiles, who now lives with Zoe and her six-year-old daughter, Molly, says he's on the case, but remains secretive, despite a break-in at their home and the carjacking of Susan's vehicle. As the bodies pile up, Zoe realizes the danger may be far closer than she previously imagined. While Jones keeps the plot zipping along at a fast pace, readers may occasionally cringe at Zoe's naïveté and the surfeit of coincidences. Those who enjoyed Zoe's first outing, however, should stick with her, as the best is probably yet to come. (Oct.)

Pirie's third novel, like its predecessors, The Patient's Eyes and The Night Calls, evokes the spirit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories with a gripping plot and psychologically sophisticated characters. Again, Doyle plays the Watson role to the Holmes of Dr. Joseph Bell, the real-life inspiration for the master detective. Doyle is a complex, wounded figure, still struggling with the loss of his beloved at the hands of a madman, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream. Cream has confined Doyle to an isolated cabin at the story's outset, but the prisoner manages a desperate escape and soon is able to reconnect with his mentor and partner. In pursuit of their ingenious quarry, Doyle and Bell face an eerie mystery in a small seaside town haunted by the apparent reappearance of a legendary witch. Pirie's subtle storytelling gifts, which may remind ghost story aficionados of M.R. James and Sherlockians of The Hound of the Baskervilles, elevate this novel far above the run-of-the-mill pastiche. (Sept.)

The fourth mystery to feature art historian Sweeney St. George (after 2005's Judgment of the Grave) is every bit as riveting as the previous installments in Taylor's series. The opening of a funerary art exhibit at Boston's Hapner Museum of Art goes swimmingly, until the museum's housekeeper is found murdered—it seems she interrupted an attempted heist. The circumstances of her death recall a still unsolved theft that took the same museum by surprise more than two decades earlier. Sweeney and her detective friend, Tim Quinn, wonder if the two events are connected. Meanwhile, Sweeney herself is feeling oddly down in the dumps—she'd been planning this exhibit for three years, and she's not sure what to do with herself now. But instead of jumping at the chance to move to London with her live-in beau, she finds herself occasionally daydreaming about Quinn. Cozy fans will eagerly await Taylor's next offering. Regional author tour. (Sept.)

Mexican crime writer Taibo and a real-life spokesperson for the Zapatista movement, Subcomandante Marcos, provide alternating chapters for this postmodern comedic mystery about good, evil and modern revolutionary politics. Elías Contreras, a detective for the Zapatista National Liberation Army (and Marcos's creation), heads to Mexico City to investigate the case of a nefarious government-backed murderer named Morales. Taibo brings back one-eyed Mexico City detective Héctor Belascoarán Shayne (Return to the Same City, etc.), who becomes involved in the case when he learns of strange telephone messages about this same Morales. Taibo's expertise ensures a smart, funny book, and Marcos brings a wry sense of humor. The authors mix mystery with metafiction: characters operate from beyond the grave or chat about the roles they play in the novel, and Marcos writes his fictional self into the story. Literary readers will nod and smile knowingly, though serious mystery devotees who prefer more grounded noir might be mildly annoyed by the hijinks. (Sept.)

The chill of Michigan's Upper Peninsula doesn't cool the action in Edgar-winner Hamilton's expertly paced seventh Alex McKnight novel (after 2005's Ice Run). On an unusually frigid Fourth of July night, the retired Detroit cop and his sometime partner, Leon Prudell, save three men from a boating accident in Lake Superior's Waishkey Bay. But the men return to accuse their rescuers of stealing a locked box off the boat, and Alex discovers that they're squeezing members of the Bay Mills Indian reservation for government-financed prescription painkillers. As Alex closes in on the dealers, he narrowly avoids death. Meanwhile, his long-distance girlfriend, Ontario police officer Natalie Reynaud, goes undercover in Toronto to ferret out an illegal arms dealer. When she pays Alex a surprise visit at his Paradise, Mich., cabin, their operations intersect with tragic results. Plot turnarounds and double-crosses ensure a startling conclusion. Author tour. (Sept.)

Bruns substitutes exotic locale for suspense in his lukewarm third beach-based mystery (after 2003's Barbados Heat) featuring music journalist Mick Sever. Based in Chicago, Mick heads to Miami when he hears from his ex-wife, Ginny, that her client, legendary rocker Gideon Pike, has vanished. Pike's sudden disappearance leads Ginny, who's editing his forthcoming memoirs, to fear for his safety. Mick has saved Gideon's life before, and he turns detective once again to track him down, a quest that leads him to a seamy underworld of Korean gangsters and recording industry corruption. Bodies, gunfire and betrayals abound, but superficial characters and flat writing make for an unconvincing depiction of Sever's transformation from scribe to action hero. (Sept.)

This tantalizing "found" journal of a troubled young wife and mother combines the diary of Amy Mason, correspondence, clippings from newspaper accounts and remnants of the 19th-century novel Amy used instead of a blank notebook to frame the story of her disintegrating marriage. Amy's husband, Robert, moves to Boston to head a new cardiology institute, but Amy and her two small children remain behind in Houston, planning to follow later. As the relocation process drags on, Robert throws himself into his new responsibilities and Amy fights a deepening depression. She finds a new friend in her Houston real estate agent, Vanessa Garamond, but the beautiful Vanessa provokes Amy's suspicions with an unannounced trip to Boston. Sisters Kristine and Joyce Atkinson only hint at the occurrence of a crime, and readers will have to draw their own conclusions from the open-ended assemblage of visual and textual clues. Traditional mystery readers may want a more definitive story, but amateur scrapbookers will find inspiration in this collage. 5-city author tour. (Sept.)

Correction: The title of Jacqueline Winspear's new Maisie Dobbs novel (Reviews, June 19) is Messenger of Truth, not Messenger of Death.

SF/Fantasy/Horror

British author Robson's third novel to appear in the U.S. (after Natural History and Silver Screen) maintains throat-tightening suspense from its teasingly enigmatic introduction of its major characters to its painful conclusion that evil will succeed if well-meaning people try to achieve good at any cost. "Matter is only energy with information and identity was only information" is the guiding hypothesis of a number of idealists attempting to improve humanity through "Mappa Mundi," a mind-altering program. FBI specialist Jude Westhorpe, who's part Cherokee, tracks soulless Mikhail Guskov, the mastermind of a plot to steal the program's secrets, while fey genius-level British psychologist Natalie Armstrong fights inner battles against a father she can never please and her own debilitating self-pity. Meanwhile, the CIA and Pentagon work on developing mind-control technology worse than anything George Orwell imagined in 1984. Shortlisted for the 2001 Arthur C. Clarke Award, this near-future SF thriller presents convincing characters caught in profound moral dilemmas brought home through exquisite attention to plot details and setting. (Sept.)

In Australian author Fallon's solid second installment of her Wolfblade fantasy trilogy (after Wolfblade), Damin Wolfblade, heir to the High Throne of Hythria, learns "the Rules of Gaining and Wielding Power" from the dwarf Elezaar at the insistence of his powerful mother, Marla, High Prince Lernen's sister. The teenage Damin, along with his siblings, stepsiblings and various other young relatives, find themselves caught up in court intrigue and backstabbing schemes, not to mention an assassination plot or two. As Damin grows to manhood, he learns whom he should hold close, whom he should keep at a distance and just how much of his keen intelligence and political skills he needs to hide. Damin is indeed his mother's son. While this middle book's somewhat predictable maneuvering for position engages the reader's interest, one is left hoping the concluding volume will offer more swashbuckling action. (Sept.)

Stirling concludes his alternative history trilogy that began with Dies the Fire (2004) in high style. Some U.S. survivors of "the Change" that destroyed all modern technology just want to enjoy balanced, wholesome lives in tune with nature, such as former Marine Mike Havel's Bearkillers, who warily defend their territory in cooperation with peace-loving neighbors, especially Juniper MacKenzie's pagan clansfolk. Not far away, however, ex-history professor Norman Arminger is building a fascistic, neofeudal empire with himself as Lord Protector. The inevitable conflict builds, through layers of scheming and skirmishing, into full-scale war. Characters are cut from good quality cardboard, but the real interest lies in watching the different cultures exploring ways to solve problems. The story begins slowly, with detailed descriptions of scenery and armor. But readers will discover that the massive thing is moving after all and realize how much it resembles one of the cavalry charges the novel describes—gorgeous, stirring and gathering such earth-pounding momentum that it's difficult to resist. (Sept.)

Longtime fans may be surprised by the fourth book in Erikson's masterful fantasy epic that began with Gardens of the Moon (2004), because the long opening section follows a single character, the Teblor warrior Karsa Orlong, and his companions on a gory raid through enemy territory and into the human lowlands of Northern Genabackis. The time-hopping, perspective-shifting, looping story lines typical of this Canadian author return later, as Erikson ties Karsa's actions to the ultimate showdown between the forces of the Malazan Empire and Sha'ik's Army of the Apocalypse. Against a backdrop of brutal power struggles, the stubbornly determined Karsa is able to accomplish more than even he could have imagined. Unusual among fantasy writers, Erikson succeeds in making readers empathize equally with all sides involved in his world's vast, century-spanning conflict. Newcomers will eagerly seek out previous books in the series. (Aug.)

This story collection from fantasy legend Beagle offers a sublime mix of reprints and original works. "Two Hearts," the coda to his masterwork, The Last Unicorn, is a sweet, slight story sure to leave fans hungry for the novel's promised sequel. Yet even Beagle's lesser efforts contain delicate shadings and subtle prose. The brief selections grouped as "Four Fables" pay tribute to George Ade and James Thurber, while the tantalizing "El Regalo," a bittersweet tale of two Korean-American children with strange powers, deserves to be expanded to novel length. The volume closes with "A Dance for Emilia," which Beagle in his introduction calls "as autobiographical as anything I've ever written" (quite a statement from the author of the autobiographical I See by My Outfit). It is a tapestry woven of love, friendship, art and a very special cat. This book is a fitting tribute to a beloved author who one hopes has several more novels left in him. (Aug.)

The genre writers tend to be the better storytellers in Morgan and Keegan's ambitious anthology of "Fabulist and New Wave Fabulist" stories. Where Ira Sher works up to an interesting image and stops in "Lionflower Hedge," Kim Stanley Robinson moves from premise to character to genuine moral complexity in "The Lucky Strike," imagining an alternative history in which the bombardier over Hiroshima deliberately missed. Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Birthday of the World" starts as a primitive world fantasy, filled with gods and warriors, until it suddenly turns interplanetary. Michael Moorcock's "The Third Jungle Book" is both a continuation of Kipling's myth of the wild and effective political satire. Rudy Rucker, Jeff VanderMeer, Stepan Chapman and Jeffrey Ford also contribute high-quality work. The editors ponder calling some of these selections "Non-realistic artistic fiction." More seasoned readers will recognize "quality fantasy and science fiction." (Aug.)

Mass Market

Napier follows up his Da Vinci Code–esque Splintered Icon with a novel that mines Cold War Communist hysteria, of-the-moment natural disaster anxiety and, yes, centuries-old-secret-code mania for a winning thriller. In the near future, British physicist Dr. Oliver Webb is recruited for a top secret assignment. A reconstituted Soviet Union has concocted a brazen offensive against the free world, redirecting an asteroid, code name Nemesis, on a collision course with the United States. Webb and his colleagues have five days to locate Nemesis and conceive a plan to stop it before the United States will be forced into a preemptive nuclear strike against the Russians. As pressure to find the celestial needle in a haystack mounts, Webb becomes convinced that the secret to locating the asteroid lies in a manuscript written by a little-known Italian astronomer more than 400 years ago—a manuscript already procured by a murderous adversary. Meticulously researched—especially sobering are descriptions of the destruction an asteroid strike would wreak on humanity—Napier has delivered a thought-provoking and speculative novel, with plenty of twists to keep the pages turning. Fans of Michael Crichton will find a kindred spirit in Napier. (Sept.)

In this delightful anthology, 16 authors take traditional fantasy premises and color them ironic. The only criteria for inclusion is a whimsical sense of humor and a keen appreciation for the fantasy genre, giving the writers—among them veterans like Alan Dean Foster, as well as virtual unknowns—plenty of room to make their unique voices heard. Almost without fail, the results are entertaining, amusing and original, and remarkably self-contained. Expanding the genre beyond the usual "wizards and dragons" limitations, authors bring to bear such modern phenomena as psychoanalysis, online video gaming, criminology and management techniques. Of particular note are "Food Fight" by Foster, an intensely funny tale of a man whose food speaks to him; Christina F. York's cheeky "A Day at the Unicorn Races"; and "The Murder of Mr. Wolf" by Josepha Sherman, a police procedural that skewers nursery rhyme and fairy tale staples like Hickory Dickory Doc and Little Red Riding Hood. Though not always as clever as it thinks it is, Greenberg and Koren's refreshing collection should strike fantasy fans just right. (Sept.)

Although the book's goofy cover art screams "D-grade syndicated sitcom," fans of Grant's action-packed interstellar romances (The Scarlet Empress, etc.) would do well to remember the old adage that you can't judge a book by its cover. Fueled by suspense and a sweet, playful romance between state senator Jana Jasper and Cavin Far Star, a human soldier from a distant planet, this colorful tale defies categorization. It starts out tender and whimsical, with hero and heroine connecting as children during Cavin's brief visit to Earth. Then, after the two meet up 20 years later, the story takes a decidedly Terminator-like turn, as the couple find themselves on the run from a bioengineered assassin and on a mission to save Earth from alien invasion—all while keeping Jana's political reputation squeaky clean. The story runs short on energy midway, bogged down by a transparent subplot involving a group intent on ruining Jana's political career. But once the race to save the planet starts up again, readers will rocket through to the book's pat but satisfying conclusion. (Aug.)

In her latest, Greiman re-enters the Regency world introduced in Taming the Barbarian, which mixes high society and the supernatural. Nairn O'Banyon, a centuries-old lass-crazy werewolf known as the "Irish Hound," is struggling with the curse that transforms him into a bestial killer and the ladies who threaten to trigger it with their lusty advances. Meanwhile, Antoinette Desbonnet, countess of Colline, is wrestling with a curse of her own—everyone she touches comes to harm, including her late husband and estranged son. So when O'Banyon and Antoinette meet and fall instantly in love, they begin a dogged fight against the passion between them. Both strong and witty characters, the two are supported by the equally engaging stars of the first volume: the Black Celt Hiltsglen—O'Banyon's best friend—and Hiltsglen's wife, Fleurette. Greiman uses sensual details to make the simplest scenes shine—especially when she gets into the head of the beastly O'Banyon—and the sex, when the heroes finally succumb, is dangerous and delicious. Though the narrative moves fitfully, for readers who enjoy paranormal and historical romance—and who don't mind their banter rendered in revolving English, Scottish and Irish dialects (" 'As any nidget can see, ye've na more strength than a swaddled bairn,' he said")—Greiman brings the genre goods. (Aug.)

Comics

Kahoko Hino is an ordinary student at Seiso Academy until she encounters Lili, a spunky fairy who just happens to be on the same musical wavelength. Now Hino is in possession of a magical violin and competing in the prestigious Seiso Academy musical contest. Kure has created a world that is as delicate, and complicated, as a house of cards. Seiso Academy is segregated between the music students and the general education students, and the entire student body seems to accept music students as superior. Hino initially struggles with both her lack of musical ability and the cold treatment she receives from some other students. Yet her love of music and the emotional connection she has with her violin slowly begins to assert themselves. As Hino begins to come into her own, she catches the eye of five male students, four of whom are fellow contestants—more than just the competition will be in play as this story unravels. The musical element is a veritable love interest for the students and Kure's skillful character designs and chic artwork create endearing character that enhance this lyrical romance. (Oct.)

This story of a pride of lions that escape from the Baghdad zoo during Operation Iraqi Freedom bombing is simple, lavishly drawn and devastating. The four lions—Zill; his two wives, the young, ideological and passionate Noor and the older, more cautious Safa; and his son, Ali—must negotiate life outside their pen. The insanity of war and of Saddam's state comes out in Henrichon's stunning images, which can move seamlessly from earth-rocking video game to a grieving peaceable kingdom. A turtle mourning his dead family notes that the local humans called their tanks "the lions of Babylon," and then the tanks rush in. Later, an image of Safa facing a portrait of a winged lion backed by lightning is startling, as she wanders the splendor of an abandoned palace in wonder. Without taking sides, Vaughan has his marvelously imagined characters debate the concept of freedom versus desire for safety, and fills the animal conflicts between lions, antelopes and monkeys with all-too-human tropes of honor and betrayal. Pride parodies the surrealism of war, with bewildered yet realistic animals among the ruined, megalomaniacal monuments of Baghdad—and the total effect is memorable. (Sept.)

Many years ago a powerful human-turned-demon named Fulcanelli experimented with the transmutation of metals to produce tools with Demonic Powers. Today, Eukanaria, his demonic lover, is in search for the perfect "shell" for Fulcanelli's soul: he's lost his corporeal form and she's determined to bring him back. Enter Haruhiko Kanou, good with machines and the perfect candidate for Fulcanelli's new body. Chaos quickly follows, as Haruhiko must suddenly fend off both demons and Eukanaria. This manga struggles to fit itself into many different genres—romance, comedy, and action—and falls short in the process. The frequent sexual jokes and shots of Eukanaria's panties become stale, and actually succeed in slowing the story down. What saves it from becoming unbearable is Haruhiko. His naivete and bashfulness make him charming and his passive manner offsets Eukanaria's overbearing personality, making the interactions between the two feel (almost) like a well-played comedy routine. Fan service aside, Kawachi's artwork is an interesting mix of cuteness and masterfully drawn action sequences, with an appeal to both male and female fans. This series has the potential to become quite enjoyable, depending upon whether or not it can focus itself more clearly. (July)

Having curated actual museum shows, cartoonist/designer Yoe turns to the print medium to exhibit little known cartoon art. Appropriately, the book opens with cartoons about fine art museums by Charles Addams, Chester Gould, Cliff Sterrett and others. Some of these works, like Frank King's, demonstrate links between cartooning and "high" art. Others, including an essay by Rube Goldberg, voice a populist disdain for modern art and art critics. In the wake of the King Kong remake, Yoe presents works pairing apes and women, running a gamut from horror to simple titillation, such as photos of Bettie Page with guys in literal monkey suits. A segment on tattooing includes an EC-style horror tale written, surprisingly, by Stan Lee. In the book's most extraordinary works, 19th-century cartoonist Charles Bennett transforms animals into humans through a succession of images that Yoe insightfully compares to CGI "morphing" effects. Other highlights are remarkable, previously unpublished color paintings by Richard Outcault of the Yellow Kid, American comics' first iconic character. The book concludes with an examination of Picasso's interest in the comics. Lavishly illustrated, this survey of the long history of pop art entertains with a succession of bold, unexpected images. (July)

This prequel to the immensely popular GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) actually came out first, but is lesser known. It's a high-school soap opera full of street fighting and unrequited love. The story hits the ground running when we find our two schoolboy heroes—good with their fists but unlucky in love—about to lose their virginity to two college cuties. Of course, they don't; where would the story have to go if they scored in the first few pages? And a good thing this unintentional celibacy turns out to be; those two gorgeous girls are, in fact, teachers at the boys' new high school. Whoops! From these racy beginnings, Eikichi Onizuka and Ryuji try to get even with their teachers, protect their reputations as tough guys and finally get lucky with the females. There's slapstick galore, from an accidentally shaved head disguised with an absurdly large pompadour wig to the more problematic near-rape of one of our heroes. There's also plenty of tear-jerking pathos. This manga offers lots of rowdy high-school fun, with a pleasant absence of shrinking girls and an abundance of good humor. (June)