IMPERSONAL ATTRACTIONS

Yet another psychotic killer on the loose--this one living in San Francisco, with early ties to the KKK and preferring his victims black or Jewish. We know from the start that writer-teacher divorc‚e Annie Tannenbaum will eventually confront crazy Eddie Simms. Until that happens, though, we get a close-up view of the S.F. singles world--trendy restaurants, gay bars, health clubs, personal ads and just about everything else, including the angst, that make up the sad, raunchy scene--interwoven with flashbacks to the killer's horrifying past and to graphic accounts of his present kinky, bloody rampage. Meanwhile, Annie has some attractive friends--rich reporter Samantha Storey, for one--and some temporary bed partners before she finds true love and the murderer finds her and his nemesis. The S.F. police seem asleep on the job here, but detection's not the name of this game--it's sex, gore and local color The author handles them with breezy ‚lan and a natural writer's flair in this debut novel.