Half Moon Street

Half Moon Street, the first of these two short novels, stars Dr. Lauren Slaughter, a young, brilliant, beautiful American in London who signs up with an ""escort service'' to prove to an ugly man she barely knows that she will ``do just about anything.'' The second novel, Buried Alive, is set in Boston and tells of middle-aged twin brothers: after a long separation they meet, George suddenly dies and Gerald assumes his identity as a doctorwith unforeseen complications. PW appreciated Theroux's two ``teasing, menacing'' novels. February