Breathing Water

Opening with a light and breezy tone, this intriguing novel slowly turns into a dark, quirky exploration of faith and identity. Rich old Edna Kane plans to give the town of Rising Sun (in a deliberately unspecified but seemingly Eastern state) the millions that would have gone to her grandson Powell, who was kidnapped nine years earlier. The local paper's page-one story about the impending donation catches the eye of wandering comic-book artist and con man Everet Dusseau, whose young companion Paul is the age Powell would be (12) and has a mole on his face just like the vanished boy's. Eyeing the Kane fortune, Dusseau convinces Paul to pretend he's Powell. Edna believes them completely, but many have their doubts, including reporter Frank Canby, who makes it his business to find out who Dusseau and Paul really are. Meanwhile Paul starts coming across evidence that he might really be Powell Kane. Alternating third-person chapters with Paul's version of events, Gavin ( Kingkill ) captures both the flavor of Rising Sun and the voice of a modern, streetwise kid who shares with Huck Finn a tendency to talk himself into corners as he tries to pretend to be something and someone he's not. A clever, well-told tale, half Twain and half Dickens, with its own provocative point of view. (Feb.)