Angel Strings

Small-time musician Joe Findlay, the hero of Eberle's first novel, is a caricature cynic. Son of a professional magician, he knows everything is a act: ``When you've been inside the trick since birth and you've seen the cheap wires and gears, and you've manipulated the silk threads and black velvet bags and mirrors, and you've learned how they all work, then it spoils you for later.'' Following his father's career of low-rent illusion, he plays backup for Elvis impersonators in a Las Vegas casino. Yet he is driven to leave by a vague yearning for the meaning somewhere out there. On the road he meets Violet Tansy, who carries a baby in a box, needs to get to San Diego and matches his cynicism with credulous innocence. Their adventure resembles a madcap buddy movie, but the territory they explore is a dead-on satirical rendering of the American spiritual landscape: Bible believers, neo-Pagans and New Agers pick and choose among the remains of religions in search of something to believe, without any means to discern the true from the false. Eberle relies on cliched devices-from the road trip itself to a wise old man to the conniving ex-wife-and his conclusion is unconvincing. But he writes deftly enough that the result is funny and mostly delightful. (Oct.)