A BILLION FOR BORIS

When Boris, Annabel's upstairs boyfriend in Freaky Friday (KR, 1972), acquires a TV set that broadcasts tomorrow's programs, Annabel wants to use their foreknowledge for good deeds like helping the police entertain a lost child or providing a Daily News journalist with scoops, but Boris has bigger plans. It seems that Sascha, his mother (he was allergic to her in the last book), is not after all evil but just a flighty writer, and the only way he sees to straighten her out and make his own life bearable is to win $12,000 on the races at OTB — and spend it all on redecorating and furnishing their apartment, buying Sascha a new wardrobe (including mink jacket) at Lord & Taylor, and providing her with a good shrink, a new accountant, a decent housekeeper and a secretary. "It sounds like a lot" but never mind; when he loses his sudden wealth in the end on a disqualified front runner, Sascha (who really prefers her old junk) comes up not only with a $50,000 check from Hollywood to pay the bills but also with the apparent revelation that she loves him. This leaves Boris, who has essentially learned his lesson without suffering for his mistakes, blubbering with joy — but it's poor reward for readers who have taken in all the cheap crises and social insensitivity of Freaky Friday without any of the compensating laughs.