THE EMPTY SUMMER

In a flashback during group therapy, Long Island teenager Maggie Gray relives the previous summer on Martha's Vineyard, when her fascination with Kimberly Porter, freewheeling, pill- popping teenage model, became an obsession. Drawn into Kimberly's crowd—the shadowy, androgenous ``Who Cares,'' who have names like ``Clipper'' and ``Snow''—Maggie became romantically involved with Munson, who—angry over his parents' divorce— sought solace in sex with a not-yet-ready Maggie. She was also attracted to Kimberly's boyfriend Zach, adding to her sense of guilt when, back in New York at Christmas, Kimberly (distraught over her father's death and her mother's remarriage) overdosed and died. Unfortunately, the interesting quick-take snapshot style here is bogged down in calamities (still more come in letters from a California friend, while even the dog has seizures). From its meaningless title to Maggie's clichÇ-ridden psychological catharsis, Brooks's debut is crammed with unlikely events and stagy, inane dialogue. (Fiction. 12+)