By Shirley Saad
From the Life & Mind Desk
Published 10/15/2002 9:00 AM

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- An amazing feat and a treat for the reader, "Extravagance" by Gary Krist, takes place in New York and London simultaneously. The story moves seamlessly from 1690s London to 1990s New York and follows the adventures and misadventures of Will Merrick, a young man from the provinces seeking his fortune in the city.

The fourth son, and therefore unlikely to inherit much, he arrives in London -- or New York -- to work for his uncle. But Will is much more interested in the stock market than in the cheese or wine import business, and soon meets people like Jack Petroni and Ted Witherspoon. They steer Will through the exciting new world of stocks and shares, leverage buying and initial public offerings.

He also meets Eliza Fletcher, an unconventional and exciting young woman with whom he is soon smitten.

Does Will get his girl in the end? Does he gain millions, respect and power? How far would you go to make a quick fortune? Would you betray your family, your friends, your principles?

Krist moves from one city to the other and from one century to the other, using language appropriate to each. From one chapter to the next, we might be in Bedlam, a goth club in New York, and then find ourselves in the real Bedlam, the infamous lunatic asylum where the London gentry went to watch the inmates' antics for entertainment.

The story and the characters are the same, but move from London to New York and back so smoothly that sometimes we are not quite sure what city and which century we're in. "Before our arrival, I had supposed Theodore Witherspoon to be taking me to a gaming club. Some weeks before, I had accompanied Ben Fletcher to just such an establishment, and an impressive sight it had been--" Are we in New York or London? By the end of the paragraph we know we are in London, but I couldn't help admiring the graceful way I was being led around.

"William and Mary strolled gracefully up the sun-drenched Mall, their deportment impeccable, their breeding obvious, their noble bearing unruffled by the ruckus of the hoi polloi around them--" The royal couple strolling among their subjects in London, right? Wrong, a couple of dogs named for the college Eliza Fletcher had attended, taking a stroll in Central Park!

There are many opportunities for humor in this novel, and Krist doesn't miss any of them. When Will is asked to leave his cell phone behind for a weekend in the mountains, Eliza tells him, "It'll be like we're back in the 1600s or something. When hearts were pure and life was uncomplicated."

But was life more simple and hearts more pure back then? Not really. Will is just as likely to meet crooks and cheats in 1690 as he is in 1990. There are just as many opportunities to make a quick buck (or guinea), to prey on the weak and greedy, to gamble on the new technology, and also, to lose it all.

Will finds that playing with real money, and especially your own money, is far different from the games he used to play with his cousin Josh. They juggled with the intricacies of "that new, uncharted world of notes and shares and annuities, of lotteries, bearer bonds, Refuses and Puts."

But playing on paper, or on the Internet, is not the same as putting your own cash on the line, and there are a few tense moments as Will joins in the national euphoria and excesses of his time(s).

"In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first."

This analysis is as valid for the 17th century as it is today. Opportunities differ, but human nature does not change. Krist gives us a morality tale, skillfully woven and entertaining. This would make a great movie, along the same lines as "Wall Street," but doubly exciting and visually entertaining.

Gary Krist has written two other novels, "Bad Chemistry" and "Chaos Theory", and lives in Bethesda, Md. He also writes for The New York Times and The Washington Post Book World.

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("Extravagance" by Gary Krist, Broadway Books, 291 pages, $24.)