On a Beam of Light

Positively captivating, this warmhearted sequel to K-PAX (1995) revisits the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute, where psychiatrist/narrator Dr. Gene Brewer works with a highly unusual patient, a sexually repressed man suffering from multiple personality disorder whose alter ego ""prot"" (rhymes with goat) claims to be from the utopian planet of K-PAX. In K-PAX, a psychiatric detective story told over the course of 16 therapy sessions, Dr. Brewer eventually reveals prot to be Robert Porter, who fled Montana after killing the man who had just raped and murdered his young wife and daughter. At the novel's conclusion, prot returns to his home planet, promising to reappear ""in about five of your years."" Robert, meanwhile, is left in a state of intractable catatonia. The sequel opens as prot returns five years later, almost to the minute, and the plot evolves over the course of another 16 therapy sessions. Brewer's diagnosis of multiple personality disorder is confirmed as the tortured events of Robert's past surface and other personas begin to emerge. In the meantime, prot brings solace and healing to the other patients and visits the Bronx Zoo, where he comforts the captive animals with the assurance that humans aren't long for the Earth. As Robert's ego strengthens, prot appears less frequently and Robert's sexual repression disappears. But the lingering presence of prot, his amazing demonstration of light travel on national TV and conflicting DNA tests suggest that prot/Robert actually may be an extraterrestrial. Miracles and love abound in this clever modern fairy tale, pitched somewhere between Oliver Sacks's nonfiction and John Irving's novels. (Mar. 19) Forecast: K-PAX, just out in mass market paperback, has an ardent cult following, and Kevin Spacey is slated to play prot in the film version, all of which should help boost the sequel's sales.