The Magic Touch: 2a Novel

This playful, bawdy first novel is presented as a biography of ``sexual healer'' Celeste Kipplebaum Runetoon Kelley, whose convoluted moniker characterizes the overall goofy spirit. Simon imaginatively combines a young woman's coming-of-age story with the concept of deities in human form and pure evil infiltrating homes through TV sets. From day one, Celeste performs miracles, delivering herself from her dead mother's womb, then reviving her. Celeste grows up able to see colored patterns in people's shadows, and she can heal by drawing out the negative colors. During puberty, she begins to use sex to cure the sick. Ailing people turn her on; even criminals are helpless against her, for she exerts superhuman strength in dangerous situations. The down side is that villains intend to end her altruistic ways, and Celeste herself fears that her unquenchable lust is a tool of the devil. If suspension of disbelief is well-nigh impossible to come by--Celeste's hometown is the Bullwinklesque Fossilfink Falls, Pa., the venal U.S. vice president's name is Stinkweed and Celeste motors around in a Dodge Royal that talks--Simon ( Little Nightmares, Little Dreams , a collection of stories) deserves credit for unpredictability, inventiveness and a slam-bang finish. Easy-going readers with a high tolerance for sexy, often raunchy escapades are in for a wild ride. (May)