Margaret and William fall wholeheartedly in love, and then drift out of it, in this rather fierce debut novel by the Australian playwright Richard King. He adopts a promising sturcture in which the story is told from both points of view, in alternate chapters which crackle and spark with passion and tension, but the novel - like the relationship - is ultimately rather static. Still, it represents a worthwhile attempt to trace what William calls "the bug or bruise that will spread the infection that will turn cancerous that will kill the relationship". A.W.