Locoland

A couple of drug-sodden Americans on their honeymoon along with two of the groom's on-the-road buddies provide Morris ample fodder for murder, adultery and pornography south of the border in this careening debut. Narrator Jack doesn't take himself or his bride Franny entirely seriously as he and his stoned hippie pals, George and Al, trip their way through Mexico. Their troubles begin when they pick up a hitchhiker (El Animal) who is a member of the Mexican National Police, and who tries to force his affections on Franny at gunpoint, with violent consequences. The murder is witnessed by a medicine man (Don Roberto) and his dwarf son (Manolo) who offer to get the Americans out of their scrape if Al and Franny (who are having an affair) agree to work in Don Roberto's commune. George and Jack end up back in San Francisco, where they later learn from the FBI that Franny and Al are the main attraction in a bizarre porno film scheme. The plot only grows more far-fetched, as Jack and George are recruited by the FBI to rescue their friends, and the two return to battle evil and mysterious Mexican forces. Morris barely manages to make it all work with his jittery, tongue-in-cheek prose, but many readers will be put off by the sexist descriptions of Franny and gratuitous scenes of pornographic violence. (Oct.)