Reckless Abandon: A Novel of Mystery and Romance

Salinger's debut fills the bill as a light diversion one doesn't have to believe to enjoy. Nell is a kind of grown-up, sexy Nancy Drew relating the story about herself and friends Lily and Kit, newly settled in a New England coastal town. The women share lustful fantasies over Will, the stranger who moves to town. It is Nell who has the affair with Will, a secret from her friends and lover Paul; the idyll is smashed when drug smugglers invade the town. A murder follows and Will disappears, making him the only suspect, and torturing Nell's conscience during the hunt for the presumed criminal. Broad hints lead to the expected resolution onto which the author tacks an extra scene, perhaps designed for heightened thrills but merely anticlimactic. (Sept.)