cover image Second Vision: 2a Novel

Second Vision: 2a Novel

Ralph Vallone. Dutton Books, $22.95 (464pp) ISBN 978-0-525-93765-4

Apparently written for fans of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous , this pretentious first novel avidly drops names of expensive champagnes but offers little in the way of quality characterization. Narrator H. W. Somerset, billionaire financier, discovers one day that he is ``freshly dead.'' Unable to quit the earthly plane, Somerset's spirit encounters E. C. Douglas, another wealthy businessman, when Douglas makes a trip to the cemetery. Enjoying his newfound ghostly powers, Somerset uses Douglas as his proxy in his most spectacular business deal yet, one with the added bonus of bankrupting his wife, his lawyer and anyone else whom he perceives to have wronged him when he was alive. But the deal, which involves the Vatican and the Mafia, disintegrates when Douglas falls in love with a callous but beautiful opera singer who breaks his heart and causes him to drive his Ferrari off a cliff. Filled with adolescent fantasies of sex and money, including numerous scenes in which Somerset spies on others making love, the long and repetitive narrative lingers over long lists of dinner parties, furniture and jewelry. Although the author takes some broad swipes at morality toward the end, most readers will have been long turned off by Somerset and his rich, immoral playmates. (Aug.)