BOOK REVIEW : The Ordeal of a Faithless Family Man : GOODNESS <i> by Tim Parks</i> ; Grove Weidenfeld $17.95; 185 pages

It’s impossible to read Tim Parks’ fifth novel, “Goodness,” without being reminded of Martin Amis. George Crawley, the book’s narrator, resembles the prototypal Amis character--grasping, opportunistic, blithely cynical--but he isn’t nearly so dark or foreboding. Parks is almost as pessimistic about modern culture, to be sure, as his countryman, but in “Goodness” he gives Crawley something Amis never would: a good deal of conscience, and the opportunity to test that conscience in a climactic, telling ordeal.

As might be expected from the title, “Goodness” concerns moral ambiguity, and while the novel isn’t so entertaining as Amis’ fiction, it stands up perfectly well on its own. Parks tills the same ground but on a more intimate scale than Amis, allowing readers to share his characters’ quandaries rather than marvel at the author’s virtuosity and vision.

Crawley became familiar with ethical dilemmas at a very young age, we learn in the first paragraph, for his missionary father was killed in Africa after refusing to renounce his faith. It’s only in retrospect, however, that Crawley sees the significance of that event. Having believed since adolescence that he was a superior being, Crawley never expected life to deal him misgivings, let alone setbacks. Once his marriage and his career are in place--the former to Shirley, who seems to share his attitude, including his detachment, the latter as a software developer for a management company--Crawley feels set for life, on the fast track to ever-larger houses and ever-more-expensive cars.

Such grand dreams come crashing down, however, over the issue of children. Shirley staggers her husband by deciding that she wants a family of her own after all, and the couple soon grow apart. Before long Crawley feels justified in commencing an affair.

After much bitterness, fighting and a trial separation, Shirley and Crawley reconcile. Crawley resigns himself to parenthood and the damage it will inflict on his workaholic, materialistic lifestyle. Shirley becomes pregnant and in due course gives birth, Crawley confessing after the delivery that he and Shirley “felt extraordinarily whole, fulfilled as a couple, we really did.”

That feeling lasts only a few seconds, however, for as the delivery-room doctor tactfully puts it, the newborn Hilary is “a right mess.” Her feet are attached backwards, her legs disjointed, her brain massively impaired. Hilary is healthy despite these deformities, Crawley is told, and might become somewhat less handicapped through therapy and surgery. That information frustrates him all the more. As long as Hilary lives, she will drain Crawley’s time, energy, money and hope, making him hostage to, mortgaged to, a crippled daughter he never wanted in the first place.

Crawley’s story is deceptively simple, and it’s clear early on how he will attempt to extricate himself from his predicament. A thoroughly modern businessman, he draws up a flow chart showing that his options, should Hilary not improve dramatically, are “Leave home--Suicide--Euthanasia.” The game plan Crawley finally puts together fits fairly neatly within his moral code.

Although it doesn’t work out as anticipated, Crawley takes solace in the fact that at least he took the bull by the horns. Imagining himself on trial for his actions, he challenges a jury to find “just one, just one part of my overall vision which is out of line with the dominant social philosophy in England today. I bet you can’t.” And his wager, of course, is a safe one.

“Goodness” doesn’t hold many surprises, and its unexpected conclusion goes against the grain of the book. But the novel remains powerful and disturbing, for as self-centered and self-righteous as Crawley may be, his thinking is not completely beyond the pale.

Indeed, it’s fully consistent with his experience, given that he learned early on that faith is not a cure-all. Not only did faith fail to save his father, it killed him. Hilary’s disfigurement is the obvious tragedy in “Goodness,” but the deeper one is Crawley’s own--the lack of opportunity to believe in anything besides himself.

Next: Carolyn See reviews “Charlie Peace: A Fable” by Paul Pickering (Random House) .