Tears of the Moon

Convicted of murdering his common-law wife Angela, Owen Wesley insists on his innocence to prison psychiatrist Ron Yoshino. Did she leap to her death, or did he push her, enraged by her affair with another man? Cleverly cast in the form of Owen's lyrical, staccato-voiced prison journal, this convincing novel oscillates between therapy sessions and graphic scenes of life behind bars, as the reader gropes for an answer along with Owen's therapist. A man detached from his own feelings, Owen must come to terms with his empty marriage, hatred of his violent-tempered father, his own romantic affair, homoerotic impulses for another inmate and sibling rivalry with his solicitous older brother Jay. While the meandering psychoanalysis eventually bogs down, the author provides compensation through insightful portrayals of the prisoners, among them a heroin addict, a kidnapper and the perpetrator of a voyeuristic telephone hoax. Novelist Ross ( Always Tip the Dealer ), who also wrote the nonfiction crime book Stung , brings a sense of urgency to Owen's poignant confessional. (Jan.)