Could Be a Crowd

Munoz’s character-driven novella is light, airy, and amateurish. Nicolas Jefferson and Pierce Lanter are co-CEOs of a successful tech company that appears to be located somewhere in the United States. Munoz’s failure to anchor the story to a locale leaves the characters hovering just out of reach, unconvincing. The two have been working together for seven years, and the unrequited torch Nicolas carries for Pierce is beginning to weigh on him. He has so far succeeded in keeping his business partner single by manipulating each new batch of interns so the good-looking ones never get to interact with Pierce. So when blond, blue-eyed Lynn Poston shows up, he is immediately assigned to work with Nicolas and ends up rivaling Pierce for Nicolas’s affections. So far, so-so. But then the trio takes a pointless, overlong trip to the local zoo in a filler piece that has no place in such a short tale. The dull sex scenes can’t rescue the too-thin plot. (Nov.)