by Don Imus
The author of this novel is an early-morning deejay on New York's WNBC who operates in high hysteria, right on the edge of FCC-outlawed obscenity. His fictional protagonist, the Rev. Billy Sol Hargus, is an Imus radio character who offers outrageous, soul-saving premiums on the air. "Fall down on your knees and praise Jesus with me! A plastic Jesus from our automotive novelties division for you to affix to the dashboard of your own personal automobile! Turn that thing from a Chrysler...into a Christ-ler!" In this novel, Hargus disappears after a failed attempt to walk on water, and transcripts of tapes he is supposed to have made suddenly appear nearly 15 years later. God's Other Son is rude, crude, gross, scatological, sacrilegious and racist. But it's packed with laughs for readers who can stifle their outrage at the sheer tastelessness of it. (Simon and Schuster, $12.95 cloth, $5.95 paper)
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