From Publishers Weekly
City sin comes to the suburbs in this hard-to-swallow thriller from Davis (Voyage of the Storm). When Jack Murphy takes a fatal dive into his empty Nassau County swimming pool, his screenwriting partner, Phillie Liebowitz, tries to find out why. Computer messages left by Jack soon lead Phillie into a suburban underground of drug abuse, group sex and S&M that tunnels across the East River into the even more wicked city. Before Phillie uncovers the main villain behind Jack's death, this 44-year-old has gone riding with a biker gang, had his house bombed, been shot at and poisoned, had a tortured woman die in his arms, visited a Manhattan S&M club with his Jewish gangster cousin, picked up a much younger woman for a night of mind-shattering sex-and killed two men with a giant ice-making machine at Madison Square Garden. If Davis had presented these adventures in middle-age wish fulfillment with the humor they deserve, this novel might have worked. Instead, he leaches away the fun by allowing Phillie's narration-which offers some sharp insights into suburban life and sexual license-to descend into moralizing and sour commentary on pet peeves like doctors, Roman Catholicism and the big, bad city. By the climax, which features a naked Phillie taking on the villain as a snuff film blares on TV, most readers will want to forsake both city and suburb for the mountains, the sea, the desert-anywhere to escape this overwrought silliness. Literary Guild alternate; major ad/promo.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Book Description
When his best friend Jack dies after diving off the roof, Phillie Liebowitz finds it difficult to believe that he committed suicide. 4 cassettes.