REVIEW: Booklist

Barry's delightful first novel delivers a charming and hilarious send-up of the wicked world of marketing.

The action is set at the almost obscenely gigantic Coca-Cola Company in L.A., home to all things shallow and greedy. Young Scat, whose main goal in life is to become famous, has ruled out acting or being a rock star. The alternative, he concludes, is to be very young and very rich. To that end, he comes up with a brilliant idea for a new cola, which is promptly stolen by his roommate, Sneaky Pete, a character you truly love to hate. Sneaky Pete beats Scat at every turn and begins a meteoric rise to the top of the marketing empire at Coke, leaving Scat with only one hope for victory (and revenge): the beautiful 6, a cool operator who tortures Scat like a cat with a mouse.

If this were a movie, Mike Myers would undoubtedly play both Scat and his Asian nemesis, Sneaky Pete. But don't wait for the movie. This terrific comic novel is certain to provoke as many belly laughs in print as it might one day on screen.