In the darkly comic novel Heart Balm, Ricky Galeer, a sex-addicted attorney in uneasy recovery, suffers a major relapse when he hires an alluring secretary, making himself the target of her insanely jealous biker ex-husband, a seven-foot ogre street-named “Snuggle.” Ricky’s latest client is also his twelve-step sponsor, a psychotic who thinks Walmart is slipping Sani-Flush into his medication and who is charged with committing indecent exposure at the Santa Claus parade. When Ricky impetuously engages in a three-way with a convenience store clerk and her friend who drops in, his life complications multiply.
By Malachi Stone