by Sylvia Wallace
This is the latest from the Wallace family assembly line. Irving's wife Sylvia, unfortunately, does not turn out Rolls-Royces (her first novel was The Fountains) but subcompacts—painted scarlet to hide their defects. The movie star heroine, much like Grace Kelly, marries a shah (an Aly Khan type who rules a country like Iran). There is a movie producer who kidnaps an international schemer (Kissinger?). By signaling that her characters are similar to real people, Wallace apparently thinks she is relieved of the need to create believable portraits. Since her players seem familiar, the sex scenes, especially between the schemer and his WASP wife, are quite distasteful. The Empress is 1980's crassest book so far. (Morrow, $ 12.95)
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