Fast Lane

Though there are quirks aplenty, Arnote's sixth Willy Hanson escapade is a mechanical exercise that just goes to prove that all the clever plotting in the world doesn't necessarily make characters come to life. The thoroughly unadmirable Jason Granger has a road rage run-in with the equally unadmirable Sonny Houston, who trails Jason to a rest area and beats him up in the men's room. Sonny also likes to beat up on his son Tad, and when the boy goes missing after a ride through some Jersey rapids, he ends up in New York City in the care of a hooker who calls herself Empress Carlotta. Everything comes to a head when Jason's wife, Amanda, hires Willy Hanson and his partner, Coley Doctor, to get the goods on her husband, who's having a torrid affair with the--yes--unadmirable Blair Lawton. The various plot strands converge in predictable fashion: Arnote knows all the right moves, but they're jerky and mechanical. It seems as if he picked up the latest Carl Hiaasen and said to himself, ""I can do that."" Judging by this effort, he can't. (Dec.)