Grey

A Romeo-and-Juliet tale of star-crossed lovers and their conflicted families plays out against a futuristic backdrop shaped by outrageous fashion trends in Armstrong's offbeat debut fantasy. Michael Rivers, heir-apparent to a hi-tech security empire, is poised to wed Nora Gonzalez-Matsu, heiress-apparent to a rival firm, when an assassin's failed attempt on his life humiliates the company and scuttles the nuptials. Though the planned union seemed as calculated as the business merger behind it, incurably romantic Michael believes that Nora, whose lifestyle is governed by the same fashion magazine to which he's addicted, is his soul mate. When he repudiates his father's scheme to marry him into another corporate family and attempts a forbidden reunion with Nora, he discovers nasty realities that have made his coddled life possible. This routine romance plot is virtually secondary to the giddy elaboration of a future world so saturated with advertising and fashion imagery that its most public transactions are orchestrated like runway walks. Though the story runs on a little longer than it should, its playful take on fashionistas of the future is diverting. (Feb.)