A wacky, long-lost relative instructs a nerdy Denver teenager on gay life, love, rock-climbing and larceny in Kenry's zippy second addition (after Can't Buy Me Love) to gay fiction's fluff shelf. Clarinet-playing Dillon, "an awkward, ugly, all-too-ordinary suburban adolescent," has his hands full fending off the school bully and dealing with Lana, his boozy, floozy mother. Less-than-divine Christian intervention produces a sobered-up, born-again Lana, who wants Dillon to attend Bible school at the advice of her boyfriend, Wayne, the assistant pastor at church. Dillon, however, is more interested in the men's underwear section of the Sears catalogue and the contents of Lana's wine cellar. Found drunk in band class, he's suspended. A sudden hailstorm signals the arrival of flamboyant, shifty con artist Uncle Max, fresh out of prison, followed closely by his parole officer and Serge, his rock-climbing boyfriend. Needy Dillon quickly becomes entangled in Max's shoplifting jaunts, which escalate to elaborate insurance scams and several home robberies, assisted by antiques dealer and partner-in-crime Jane Nguyen. Still, Max finds time to counsel his nephew on clothes, men and his blossoming homosexuality, and Dillon grows increasingly enamored with his uncle. Dillon's days of thievery become "almost narcotic" until a narrow escape while robbing a million-dollar mansion forces him to reconsider his life of crime. Kenry has a knack for spinning clichéd, banal material into endearingly comical, featherweight entertainment. The great leap to more substantial literary terrain feels but a book or two away for this talented author. National advertising. (May 7)
Forecast:The cartoon cover art is cute, but doesn't do the book justice. Kenry's name may draw some readers in.
