LEWIS

A debut novel of men’s fiction/suspense.

At 59, writer/academic Lewis Melton is a walking mandate for pharmaceutical reform. Plagued by general anxiety disorder and panic attacks, he stumbles through life in reactive mode, pumped up by prescription drugs with alcohol chasers. Lewis’ sagging flesh hasn’t dampened his appetite for nudist Caribbean beaches, where he ogles naked women and rates breasts and other body parts while working on an all-body tan. A call from old friend “Doc” from his Boston college days–his partner in a drug deal gone awry–exacerbates Lewis’ anxieties, which he treats by heavily self-medicating. In the deep purple haze of Lewis’ life, Doc is dead. Or is he? During a 14-day island getaway, Lewis reflects upon his past and sleeps with a young woman who, post-coitus, mysteriously disappears. The authorities won’t allow Lewis to depart until the woman’s whereabouts are known. Back in the States, Lewis’ ex-wife, and occasional bed partner, frets over his avoidance patterns and pill-fueled lifestyle. The narrative is far more effective when it probes the 1960s, particularly at an LSD-pot-wine-sex-fest at a deserted house in the Boston wilds. As a character, Lewis is more believable in his youth, as he progresses from stoner, to would-be criminal, to grad student, steeped in medicinal and orgasmic delights of the flesh. This Caribbean stew simmers for a long time and doesn’t boil until the final chapter. The time structure zigzags back and forth–perhaps to create suspense instead of confusion–and implies that Lewis is in a “time-slip.” It’s difficult to empathize with a soon-to-be-sexagenarian in need of a liver scan who pops pills while leering at women in various stages of undress. At least he’s grateful for that fall on the beach–an injured arm is an easy way to snag a stash of Demerol and Xanax. There’s a twitch or tremor on every page, and an unclear ending. Readers may swear off drugs for a lifetime, but what Lewis has learned remains hazy.

An enjoyable beach read for men, but suspense lags until the final pages.