DANCE OF KNIVES

A dark near-future world and emotionally distant, troubled protagonists starved for affection make for bleak storytelling in McMahon's first novel. Rival tong gangs vie for power in Vancouver in the 22nd century, and runaway Klale Renhardt finds herself in the middle of the action. She lands a job as a server at the KlonDyke, Vancouver's lesbian bar, after a mysterious man, Blade, rescues her from a nasty situation at the waterfront. Klale quickly befriends the 'Dyke's bartender, Toni, and learns that Blade is the enhanced tool of a powerful tong lord. Toni and Klale both become fascinated with the enigmatic Blade, who is much more than he seems, while they attempt to negotiate Vancouver's touchy power structure, whose instability threatens the 'Dyke and the community of Guildless people surrounding it. The action moves toward an explosive showdown: Blade's increasingly erratic behavior mirror the escalation of political infighting, forcing Toni to realize that she will have to confront her own dark past in order to help Blade, who has some secrets of his own. McMahon handles the lesbian subtext deftly, but the characters are so unlikable that it's hard to root for them. In addition, while she attempts to mediate the grittiness with laughter and dance (including Blade's dance of knives), a few too many coincidences spoil the fun. Finally, the author missteps by supplying an incongruously happy ending. (June 29)