Cock-A-Doodle-Doo

In his affecting first novel, journalist and essayist Weiss charts the tortuous route of a young lawyer struggling to find his professional, social and psychic niches in life. The narrative rolls along on waves of Holden Caulfield-esque banter (with plenty of second-person pronouns to draw in the reader) and Hemingway bravado (women are ``girls''; men crave constant sex and lots of liquor; many things are ``fine,'' ``brave,'' ``good'' or ``true''). The story opens during the Democratic National Convention, where Jack Gold is just winding down from a six-month stint as ``head of issues'' for presidential candidate Stony Walker, the liberal underdog. After Stony loses the nomination, Jack briefly returns to his job as deputy director for a public interest-law center--only to leave (or be fired) when his boss objects to a newspaper photograph that captures Jack with the socialite daughter of the conservative democratic candidate for governor, Early Quinlan. Before long, Jack is enmeshed in a relationship with Early's daughter and working to gather dirt on Early's opponent. Jack fears he is losing his moral compass and assuming Early's expedient politics. Danger lurks, as seemingly trivial events can spiral out of control. and Some stilted dialogue (Jack actually says, ``Get off my cloud'') occasionally derails the reader, but the book packs raw, visceral imagery and the power to surprise with small yet universal truths. When we leave Jack, he is lonely, lost and miserable, but at least he knows where he doesn't belong--and that, the author convinces us, is a triumph in itself. (Mar.)