A CLICK IN TIME

Generation Loss. By Elizabeth Hand. Small Beer Press. 265 pages. $24.

"Generation Loss" by Elizabeth Hand has been rightly compared with the sort of crime fiction turned out by the late, great Patricia Highsmith. Of course, Hand's sensibilities are much more in tune with the time, making it an easy read.

Having had her time in the sun - taking photographs of once-famous Punk Rockers in the 1970s - Cass Neary is a has-been who chomps at the bit when an assignment to photograph Aphrodite Kamestos, one of the '60s great photographer/artists, lands in her lap.

Of course, Cass discovers that her idol isn't nearly as noble as the art she created. What's more, the reader discovers that amorality (and morality, for that matter) is all in the eye of the beholder. Cass' actions after meeting Aphrodite - and checking out a commune she created - led to the discovery of who might be behind a decades-old murder mystery. And judging by the fresh bodies, it's a mystery that could be ongoing.

Hand ("Mortal Love," "Black Light") expertly ratchets up the suspense until it's at the level of a high-pitched scream near novel's end. And her characters are expertly drawn.

- Dorman Shindler, Special to the Journal Sentinel