Sex Toys of the Gods.

Jason Dallin "has a problem." The central character of Christian McLaughlin's hilarious and biting new satire, Sex Toys of the Gods, Jason is a naive young college graduate from Ohio for whom a move to Los Angeles has not been quite the glittering showbiz dream he'd hoped. With his car a half-dead heap and his bank account barely more than a theory, Jason faces a veritable host of problems. But his "having a problem" simply refers to his being gay in the ultrahip slang coined by Andy Warhol and favored by Jason's queeny friend Andre.

The core of Sex Toys is the not-so-simple tale of a young gay man--virtually a virgin--who comes of age in the big city. Few readers will not have experienced at least some of the setbacks recounted here. Armed with a preternatural knowledge of pop music and vague aspirations to do something in films, Jason finds himself housed with a collection of oddballs: and losers in a run-down house in Hollywood. Worse, he's stuck in a thankless job, working as a clerk in a video store in the Valley. Worse still, his boss is an evil sow. Reality, Jason might say, bites.

When Jason accepts an offer to house-sit a Beverly Hills mansion for his friend, the talentless actor Fawn Farrar, he finds himself propelled into a mob of situations that change his life forever, situations that are alternately funny, irritating, terrifying, and rapturous. (That McLaughlin--who shows a lot of growth here from his first novel, 1994's enjoyable Glamourpuss--pulls off this range of emotions as effortlessly as he does is testament to his burgeoning talents as a storyteller.)

Foremost among the situations that change Jason's life is meeting his idol, Marina Stetson, a pop singer in the midst of a recovery-sparked comeback. Marina and her husband, Hank, live next door to Jason's temporary domicile. The two of them appear to be the answers to his prayers--Marina professionally, Hank personally. However, Jason learns--in fiction as in life--that it's important to be careful what you wish for.

Everybody is hipper-than-thou in this of-the-moment page-turner, which in its beguiling readability resembles nothing so much as Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. However, Maupin's classic series was ultimately a valentine to its locale, San Francisco; here Los Angeles gets skewered time and again.

While Sex Toys as a coming-of-age story isn't going to make college professors forget The Catcher in the Rye, it does stand tall among the ranks of coming-out stories. McLaughlin takes us through one man's journey with polished style, unflagging wit, and not a little compassion. We should all be grateful.