Boy's Town: West Hollywood

In its breezy beginnings, Bosch's first novel, about homosexual men living in West Hollywood (``Boys' Town''), Calif., paints the stereotypical picture of gays preoccupied with show-business celebrities, muscle-building machines, designer clothing and sex. There is, curiously, no mention of safe sex for the first half of the book, making it falsely appear that the action takes place in the mid-'70s rather than the mid-'80s, or that the protagonists are living in Shangri-la. And, although one of the characters is a TV-news anchor, AIDS does not seem to be newsworthy, or even a factor, in Boys' Town. Eventually, one of the figures is diagnosed as having the disease, and the plot takes on more depth, despite the constant (and sometimes tiresome) barrage of puns and bitchy quips. These quirks aside, Bosch delivers a sensitive, humorous story about the gay community in Tinsel Town. The episodic plot centers on Scout deYoung and his lifelong friend and roommate Nash Aquilon, and their search for lasting love in these ``times of disposable everything.'' Scout has an easier time of it than Nash, and when he wins $25,000 in the lottery, he is able to buy a house big enough to accommodate everyone important to him. The touching Thanksgiving dinner near the end warms the heart. (July)