Flash

Advance publicity suggests that Mallory's first novel is a descendant of Nabokov's Lolita, told from the female viewpoint. Not so: Flash springs straight from the loins of the X-rated cassettes video-rental stores hide on their back shelves. The heroine, aspiring movie star Maya Endicott, is so expert at casting-couch sex that she wins the female lead in The Starlet, a role Maya must play in the nude, handcuffed to a bed. Intrepid Maya rises to the occasion (as do most of the men on the set). But there is more to Maya than sexploitation film cutie. Abused by her mother as a child, later dumped by Jean-Paul, her wealthy French boyfriend, and supposing herself in love with the kinky, unattainable producer Sacha Sachtel, Maya exacts vengeance against the world by exposing herself to unsuspecting cabbies and deliverymen. Reconciliation with Jean-Paul and a move to Paris do not change Maya's ways, only the nationality of the men who glimpse her favors. Ultimately, hard living takes a toll, and she is hospitalized. A temperate, feminist Maya, who generally keeps her pants on, emerges. There are both funny and sad moments in Maya's story, but the bombardment of very graphic sex all but obliterates them. (June)