In this unnecessary sequel to Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl
, Nancy Chan—now 30-something and newly wed to WASP banker Matt—is still working. She pretends to be a freelance copyeditor studying French, but maintains her old apartment for clients; she's even in therapy on the sly. Juggling her fake life with her kinky one (described in raw detail, not for the squeamish), Nancy is increasingly stressed out. On top of her carefully choreographed days ("Hooking is like backgammon. Dating and marriage are like chess"), Matt is pressuring her to get pregnant, and her friend Allie, a sex worker activist, is about to blow the covers of working girls everywhere by seeking media attention for her cause. And Matt, it turns out, may have some secrets of his own. Quan makes Nancy eloquent on the vicissitudes of her sessions with clients, but tiresome dialogue, lots of banal Nancy-to-client and Nancy-to-husband e-mails, and a light plot pretty much sink the book. The cover calls this "A Nancy Chan Novel," however, which means there's probably more to... come. Agent, John Brockman
. (Sept.)
