Laughing Gas

''A lifelong treat'' Simon Garfield, Esquire

A P.G. Wodehouse novel

Joey Cooley is a golden-curled child film star, the idol of American motherhood. Reginald, Third Earl of Havershot, is a boxing blue on a mission to save his wayward cousin from the fleshpots of Hollywood. Both are under anaesthetic at the dentists when something strange happens - and their identities are swapped in the ether.

Suddenly Joey can use his six-foot frame to get his own back on his Hollywood persecutors. But Reggie has to endure everything Joey had to put up with in the horrible life of a child star - including kidnap.

Laughing Gas is Wodehouse''s brilliantly funny take on the ''If I were you'' theme - a wry look at the dangers of getting what you wish for in the movie business and beyond.