Adulteries, Hot Tubs & Such Like Matters

McCauley, author of two works of fiction set in Sierra Leone, turns to domestic matters in this disappointing collection of stories about the sexual appetites of middle-aged suburbanites. There is Morgan, who in “The Wedding Party” calculates the number of his “illicit climaxes” and discovers that he is “ninety-nine and seven-tenths percent loyal” to his wife; in “Allergies,” Sandra, with her Bible on her lap, tells her husband she is allergic to his penis; in another story, Jack flirts with a naked woman in front of his wife. With few exceptions, the men are foulmouthed louts, and the women are either seductive or religious. McCauley occasionally conveys a powerful sense of isolation—the elderly religious fanatic in “The Gates of Sodom” and an old man with dementia who sits in front of the television in “Edna's Mission.” But overall, the focus is on lust in its least complicated form. McCauley takes readers on a steamy and mildly entertaining romp through hot tubs and bedrooms, but the stories are thinner than a pair of pantyhose. (Sept.)