Heat

April 23, 2007
I
n Bernice McFadden’s third novel as Holliday (Groove
; Fever
), four New Yorkers let great sex cloud their better judgment. After her six-year-old daughter unintentionally humiliates her, waitress Geneva will go to any lengths to shed some of her 230 pounds, with disastrous results personally and professionally (although her boy toy, Deeka, thinks that more is more). Serious Crystal is the six-figure director of a nonprofit, but what she really wants is a man of her own: her sometime lover, Neville, supports himself in Antigua as a gigolo. Clotheshorse Chevanese (“Chevy”) is trying to stay one step ahead of her many creditors while getting down with a just-sprung ex-con; Noah is dealing with his lover’s demands for a child: “What are we supposed to do—trade in our two-seater Mercedes for a minivan?” All get it on repeatedly in a shifting first person, to the point where it can be tough to tell who’s in action at any given time. There are colorful secondaries (including Chevy’s crossing-dressing boss), but none of the leads comes into focus as all head for various happily ever afters. While it’s tough to suspend disbelief for the duration, steamy scenes and snappy dialogue nevertheless make for a quick and stimulating read.