ALBERT SANCHEZ PINOL -- COLD SKIN

It's summertime when this brief, dense tale opens, but the living's not easy. A European of unspecified country is set down on a tiny Antarctic island as its summer begins. The unnamed narrator -- a cousin, perhaps, to Kafka's "K"? -- is to spend a solitary year keeping scientific weather records, a task he never actually starts. There's a mysterious fellow who occupies a lighthouse, but in the house of the weather observer no sign of the man he is to replace. Terror is his first companion, when a subhuman species attacks in the short Antarctic summer night. Conflict with these creatures, eventual alliance with the lighthouse occupant and shifting perceptions of the weird enemy form an allegory of war in which we see that in fighting we become what we imagine our enemy to be. The language is spare and elegant, only occasionally touched by inequities of translation. The author is an anthropologist whose observations in the field and, presumably, in Barcelona where he lives, lead him to the somber conclusions of this first novel. Since its original publication in Catalan (a gesture in itself, as Catalan is not much used outside Catalonia) Cold Skin has been translated into 15 languages. Its message deserves telling in every language there is. (Jane Durrell) Grade: A

MARY GAITSKILL -- VERONICA (PANTHEON)

MARY GAITSKILL -- VERONICA

The most intriguing aspect of Gaitskill's 2005 National Book Award-nominated novel is also the most potentially frustrating -- its pinballing narrative. Gaitskill whips readers back and forth between the decadent 1980s and bleak present in the coming-of-age story of the narrator, Alison, a once-great fashion model whose nostalgia for the good times (sex, drugs and Dance Pop) threatens to overwhelm her. Much of the novel is narrated in retrospect, as present-day Alison -- now relegated to custodial work -- struggles with aging, hepatitis and a nagging hand injury. In affecting detail, the narrator recalls her heartbreaking and alienating fall from Parisian high society and her unlikely friendship with Veronica, a chronically eccentric and fiercely independent woman who, like Alison, shuns human connection. As Alison's stateside modeling career wanes, Veronica is diagnosed with HIV and refuses treatment. Bereft of all meaningful relationships except her strained friendship with Veronica, Alison desperately tries to connect with the standoffish woman before she dies of AIDS. Gaitskill deftly oscillates between the two periods, but the contemporary passages feel slack and are often un-engaging. Perhaps this is a deliberate choice by Gaitskill to suggest Alison's crushing boredom in contrast to the high living of her modeling days. Nonetheless, readers will be tapping their feet in the present-day sections, waiting for the narrative to return to the bacchanalian '80s. (Alex DeBonis) Grade: B+

SIMON WOOD -- SNEAKER FREAKER: THE BOOK (RIVERHEAD TRADE)

SIMON WOOD -- SNEAKER FREAKER: THE BOOK

Cracking open Sneaker Freaker: The Book is akin to a trip in a time machine: It takes me back to the first "sneakers" I bought with my own money -- a pair of $120 Air Jordan IVs. (That's a lot of lawns, people. But, hey, the playground girls loved 'em.) For the uninitiated, Sneaker Freaker is an Australian-based magazine that caters to the ever-rabid sneaker culture, offering up everything from interviews with shoe designers to first-person essays to lovingly rendered photos and illustrations of these worshiped works of art. The first issue sprang from the mind of founder and editor Simon "Woody" Wood in November 2002 and has sporadically appeared since (essentially two a year). This paperback original compiles the best of its six sold-out issues, iced with a few new treats for old-school fans and newbies. While certainly not comprehensive -- Nike and Adidas get mass attention here -- its 320, image-heavy pages are a nice complement to Wood's initial vision, which he described thusly in Issue 1, reprinted in the book's Intro: "Considering the passion out there, I decided it was about time to start a magazine about sneakers and this is it. It's supposed to be funny and serious, meaningful and pointless, all at the same time. Sneaker Freaker promises to represent the mental and the casual collector alike, but as I said, you'll get it or you won't." (Jason Gargano) Grade: B

DAVID BALDACCI -- THE CAMEL CLUB (WARNER BOOKS)

DAVID BALDACCI -- THE CAMEL CLUB

Four Washington, D.C., conspiracy enthusiasts are holding a meeting on Theodore Roosevelt Island. They're wondering if The Camel Club, as they call their group, hasn't outlived its usefulness as a conspiracy watchdog organization, when what should they witness but two government agents disguising a murder as a suicide, a scene vaguely akin to the allegations surrounding Vincent Foster's death. The ensuing tangle of surveillance, agency acronyms, terrorist cells and, yes, even Ninjas, manages to be more boring and precious than the drink menu at an airport bar. The only depth I grant Baldacci's brittle characters is their mysterious practice of stating out loud what everybody else already knows. Perhaps they engage in this strange

behavior to set their fellow characters up for witty retorts along the lines of, "Gosh, I thought you were only suggesting that the nuclear sub was going to end life as we know it," a peculiar brand of irony applied ad nauseam. Even as escapist genre fiction, The Camel Club fails, suffocating on its own thin-ply quilting of headlines gleaned from current events. On the upshot, the book's 400-odd pages, themselves rather insubstantial to the purpose, come enclosed in sturdy cardboard covers that will add several minutes to the cheery fire beside which you have

chosen to read another book. (Cedric Rose) Grade: F

UZODINMA IWEALA -- BEASTS OF NO NATION

UZODINMA IWEALA -- BEASTS OF NO NATION (HARPERCOLLINS)

With Beasts of No Nation, 23-year-old Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala has written the fictionalized account of Agu, a child soldier forced into the ranks of a blood-soaked rebel army in an unnamed West African nation. Separated by gun battles from his mother and sister, Agu witnesses his father's death, is enlisted by rebels, handed a machete, and instructed to kill: "The man is screaming, AYEEEIII, louder than the sound of a bullet whistling and then he is bringing his hand to his head, but it is not helping because his head is cracking and the blood is spilling out like milk from coconut." If you fancy a coming-of-age experience but you have a weak stomach, reread Catcher in the Rye or buy the first season of the O.C. on DVD; if you don't mind reading about maggots, lots of blood and a child who answers his instinctive urges to survive by killing, this is just the book for you. Even better, read it alongside the non-fiction Children at War by P.W. Singer as I did, and you'll wonder what kind of world we live in that we allow our children to do our killing for us. "Nobody is really telling how old they are anymore. All we are knowing is that, before the war we are children and now we are not." (Chris Kemp) Grade: A-