A Paper Mask

In this relentless ``medical chiller,'' the author of Kingsley's Touch exploits the notion that ``we're all pretending to be more competent than we actually are.'' Matthew Harris, bored with life as a London hospital orderly, takes on the identity of the recently deceased Dr. Simon Hennessy; with little more than the expired doctor's resume to carry him, he successfully interviews for an emergency-room position in distant Bristol. Only the unwitting assistance of a more-than-capable nurse enables the bogus Dr. Hennessey to maintain his gruesome charade through hair-raising emergency-room sessions. Reck less lies piled on well-calculated ones set the charlatan on a careening course that forces him to take more desperate action. The author's experience as a medical practitioner supplies a wealth of knowledgeable detail and adds a sense of hor rifying possibility to this gripping account of twisted hospital procedures. Literary Guild alternate. (Jan.)