A Choice of Nightmares

Kostoff's debut novel takes a disturbing look at the drug trade and the destruction it wreaks, not only on users but on suppliers as well. Robert Staples is a Florida-based actor down on his luck. He's lost his wife and, despite numerous promotional stints at mall openings and the like, his career doesn't hold much chance of a comeback. After Robert throws a dog into an alligator pit during a public appearance, his agent sends him to Key West to get him out of sight, asking him to do a ``small favor'' on the way--deliver a package to a man arriving on a flight from Bogota at the Miami airport. When Robert loses the package, his contact's henchmen rough him up and, after some deliberation, order Robert (now in no doubt as to the criminal nature of the enterprise) to report that the delivery has gone smoothly and to continue to Key West. There he meets the enigmatic Denice Shell, quickly becoming addicted to her charms and, no more dangerously, to cocaine. Soon he's deeply, apparently irrevocably involved in the largest, dirtiest drug-running scheme in recent years. Kostoff's writing is powerful, but his yes, lynn is a man inability to generate any sympathy for his protagonist makes this adventure more an eye-opener than a heart-stopper. (June)