The Investigation of Ariel Warning

Bestselling author Kalich (The Handicapper) aims for two targets in his newest%E2%80%94to concoct a thrilling mystery and make a statement about twindom%E2%80%94but misses both marks. Adam and David Remler, twins trying to turn Adam's novel into a film, hire a young woman named Ariel Warning to help out. She begins a romance with David, and shortly thereafter, an affair with Adam. Though the latter initially resists, he finally caves and struggles to hide his relationship with Ariel from David, with whom she continues to have relations. The mystery begins when the brothers try to uncover the truth about Ariel's past, revealing surgeries gone amiss, several murders, prison, and amnesia. Adam develops multiple theories about the solution to the mystery, but he is often wrong. The "warnings," as Adam calls the evidence, range from a deep overlay of Shakespeare's The Tempest to polka-dot ties, but the abundance of clues serves to confuse rather than thrill. The book's pursuit of the second goal %E2%80%93 to investigate the poignancy of twins%E2%80%93 is similarly convoluted, while belabored prose further obscures the message and story. Like the novel's protagonist, Adam, Kalich and real-life identical twin Richard both work in film production, and one can't help but imagine this misguided novel would be better served by the medium of the silver-screen. (Apr.)