Bombshell

In this counterculture tale of revenge from Reich (I, Judas), Varyushka Cash, former stripper and member of a now-disbanded radical feminist gang, is dying from thyroid cancer—a result of her having been exposed as a child to fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Hell-bent on sending a powerful message about the evil of nuclear technology to the world, Cash blows up the monument that marks the Trinity bombsite, where the first atom bomb was detonated in the New Mexico desert. After fleeing to her present home of Madrid, N.Mex., Cash runs into Molly Pinkerton, a misunderstood post-op transsexual who lends Cash her car. As Cash heads for the Indian Point nuclear facility in New York, Robert Dresner, a CIA agent with deep sadomasochist urges, follows in desperate pursuit. Readers won’t find much in the way of character development, and the twist that brings about the final confrontation between Dresner and Cash is unbelievable. Agent: Will Lippincott, Lippincott & Massie. (July)