Frankie Styne and the Silver Man

In this early novel from Page (Alphabet), first published in the U.K. in 1992, Frankie Styne—a pseudonym taken from the mangled version of Frankenstein that children taunted him with in the schoolyard—is a disfigured author of violent bestselling novels. After his publisher unexpectedly nominates one of his books for a literary prize, the introverted Frank is overwhelmed, viewing it as a petrifying “process of change” that will expose him to the world. Like Frank’s fiction, this book has the trappings of great pulp, as Frank hatches a grotesque plot against his agent: “What could you do to revenge yourself on... someone who could dictate a gush of words that would leave someone else—him—reeling?” Paralleling Frank’s own circumstances, Page’s novel plays with this concept of high literature versus pulp fiction conceits by contrasting Frank with Liz, a young mother with a beautiful but nearly brain-dead baby (the Silver Man). Practically more Liz’s story than Frank’s, Page’s novel never quite pays off. It is unbalanced in execution, its ending both weirdly abrupt and unearned. This imbalance isn’t fatal; Page’s prose is vivid and alive, with nary a scrap of throwaway writing to be found. Yet the ultimate success of the novel lies in its individual moments, not in its whole. (Jan.)