from "A Look Through a Skewed Kaleidoscope" Chris Goodrich

You'd never guess, given the sophistication and craftiness of its narration, that this novel is Mark Coovelis' first. And that's not the only thing making "Gloria" a remarkable literary debut: Stone's version of events is ambiguously colored, and complicated, by the fact that Gloria has become, posthumously, something of a media star--through the accounts of the journalist-scholar Lauren, who seduced Stone to ensure his cooperation with her book on Gloria's murder, and that of the killer, Tunney, who prompted Lauren's interest by claiming Gloria had participated in his killing spree.

Like the film "Rashomon," famous for giving equal credence to various versions of a crime, "Gloria" shows us intertwined versions, all reactive to one another, none trustworthy. Together they demonstrate that truth is unavoidably incomplete, invariably dependent on context and personal interest.

Stone, a Berkeley restaurateur, begins his story by explaining that Gloria's real name was Elizabeth and that in adulthood, she began to disappear for days at a time. At first she lived in Oregon, near her parents and with a family of her own, but she eventually abandoned them, moving to the San Francisco area to be near her brother (or so Stone speculates).

Did Gloria want Stone to protect her, as he had not in the past, and even though she rarely talked to him? Did she blame him for her rootlessness, for her inability to form healthy relationships?

These are questions that pass through the reader's mind, and sometimes through Stone's, although he seems intent on avoiding rather than answering questions.

The ideas behind Gloria--the nature of truth, the distortions inherent in storytelling, the strange powers people have over one another--turn out to be more compelling than their execution.

Stone's narration, although generally sincere, is also self-protective and thus patchwork, fragmentary: He skips frequently from present time to the recent past to the distant past, then back to a new present time. Unable, and at times unwilling, to give a personal account, Stone quotes extensively from Lauren's tape-recorded talks with Tunney, reproduces a long passage from Lauren's best-selling book, sets down dramatic scenes from the film based on the book.

Reading "Gloria" often feels like looking through a kaleidoscope at an angle: It's frustrating as well as tantalizing, for the viewer must wait until a center reveals itself, until images resolve into a pattern.