INSTITUTE

Cain, even after last year's Rainbow's End—his first book in many years—still hasn't gotten his second wind back or that Sunday punch of sex and shock. The Institute, to be devoted to biography, is thought up by a young Dr. Palmer, backed by financier Richard Garrett who will use it for financial gain, and dedicated to Garrett's young wife who can achieve her own fame while also becoming Palmer's inamorata. If you're not choosy, the venal and carnal aspects may catch the transient eye but it's all too obviously rigged out of papier mache, not even sheetrock.