Body Blows

Bisexual actor/hustler Cal Lynch moved to San Francisco to get away from a bad affair in New York, and to vanquish memories of growing up in Oklahoma and of studying architecture at Yale. Things aren't much better now, though; he has a few acting jobs, but most of his time is spent selling his body or working out. When he kills a male client in self-defense, Cal runs away again, first to his hometown, where he encounters old friends and his brother, and then to L.A., where he becomes tentatively involved with a woman. A private eye he has assumed is trailing him for the murder turns out to have been sent by a worried ex-lover, and Cal returns home to the Bay, learning that running away from murder is not unlike running away from life. Startlingly graphic in sexual detail, the novel is a powerful, visionary and driving debut, on a par with Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero. Simmons depicts desperation, loss and sexuality very well, but he is also not afraid to move toward resolution. (March 24)