The Fourth Angel

A gang of four alienated teens raise cain all over El Paso, Texas in this, one of Rechy's earlier novels. The teens--a jaded rich girl; her two male friends; and the "fourth angel" who joins them, a young man recovering from his mother's death--turn to drugs and a little bit of the old ultraviolence to block out the pain of their lives. As an examination of troubled youth, this novel sometimes plunges into the kind of cliches I associate with bad JD movies (emotionally wounded kids rebelling against hypocritical society, etc., etc.). But Rechy manages to create four vivid, distinct characters here; they're more complex than the street-corner nihilists they proclaim themselves to be--and that's exactly the point. Tight prose and a quick pace are additional assets. Though not as impressive as "City of Night," it's a readable book that hasn't dated much (except for the occasional "far out!" dialogue) since its initial publication in 1972, whereas Bret Easton Ellis' vaguely similar "Less Than Zero" feels lost in the '80s. It's worth reading.