The Big Kiss

Complex and disorienting, this first-person narrative finds Steve Cork's world falling apart. The trendy London clothing stores that he and partner Tony Mold built from nothing are being taken over by the managing director and an investor; his marriage to Liz is disintegrating as his money problems intensify and he's having protracted hallucinations. The reader is sucked into Cork's nightmarish obsessions as the vortex of problems draws him through a breakdown to hospitalization, drug therapy, counseling and a vicious attack that sends him back to the hospital. Cork's putative allies are as ineffective as the lithium therapy that he avoids taking. Liz is unable to see his worries as anything but manifestations of his illness; Tony's loyalty is awash in his alcoholism. Huggins deftly keeps the reader off balance as reality blurs in a melange of drugs, sex and betrayal that only becomes clear as the story reaches its dark and violent climax. Sharply etched images and adroit handling of the psychological landscape make this a memorable debut. (Oct.)