SCARY KISSES <i> by Brad Gooch (Pocket Books: $7.95) </i>

As the novels of the “Brat Pack” writers focused on one small, self-indulgent group during the early ‘80s, much of their work already is dated. Brad Gooch’s attempt to evoke that blighted milieu is about as enjoyable as poking a needle in your gum to evoke your last root canal. “Scary Kisses” features all the cliches of the genre: vapid characters, disjointed conversations, New York locales, drugs, disinterested sex and huge dollops of ennui. Much of the dialogue is written in screenplay format, an affectation that does nothing to relieve the improbability of a previously monosyllabic lunk suddenly remarking, “The carhops at the Fountain of Youth get older faster I guess.” “Kisses” is set in the seamy world of high-fashion modeling, so everyone’s clothes are described in detail, down to the brands of their sneakers. Proust used styles of dress to illustrate the tastes and social positions of his characters; Gooch seems to be writing copy for department-store ads.