There are plenty of reasons not to like James Frey's new book, My Friend Leonard:

• It's nonfiction, but many of the details - repeat, many - appear to be made up. (Frey's account of a Super Bowl bash where millions of dollars were won and lost would make even a mobster scoff in disbelief. )

• It's written with annoying, on-again off-again punctuation.

• There's the jealousy factor, too, as the writer has become a huge success in Hollywood, penning bad movies. And the rights to his first book were purchased by Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's production company.

All that said, My Friend Leonard is an engaging and satisfying book about a junkie-alcoholic and his mobster friend, even if it should probably have been labeled fiction.

Frey made a big splash with his first book, A Million Little Pieces. While some critics took the author to task for his lack of punctuation and questioned the authenticity of some of the stories, it still got glowing attention from folks who felt his story of going through recovery somehow defined the inpatient rehab experience.

Frey will, no doubt, experience a similar mixed reaction with this new book, which has the same problems. The punctuation, for example, is just maddening.

The reason we have rules of punctuation is not to limit creativity but to increase clarity. Many writers - most notably Tom Wolfe - have used creative punctuation, but it never got in the way of clarity of thought. Frey's lack of proper punctuation comes across as laziness, and it forces the reader to figure out, for example, what is a quote and what is not.

Fortunately, the story makes up for such annoyances. The book begins with a recounting of Frey's first day in a county jail, where he was beat up by another inmate. That tale, it turns out, has nothing to do with the plot but it does a good job of establishing just how low his nadir reached.

After his stint in lockup, he tries to rekindle a relationship with a woman from rehab. He idealizes her so exquisitely that it's clear she won't last to Chapter 3, and she doesn't. She hangs herself after her beloved grandmother dies.

Frey is tempted mightily to drink, of course, but deals with it in an interesting way. He spends his last couple of dollars on a bottle of cheap, potent wine and keeps it with him nearly everywhere he goes. He meets friends at bars. He gets a job at a bar. Still, he doesn't drink.

The characters strewn about are straight out of central casting, and none more so than his friend Leonard. Leonard is the mobster, another pal from rehab. He has ridiculous amounts of cash and an "associate" by the name of Snapper.

At first, Frey goes to work for Leonard, doing low-level courier work for which he is paid extremely well, all in cash. The dramatic tension of a white kid from the suburbs entering a gangster's world is well worn, but for a reason: It works well and moves the plot forward smartly.

After a scare, Frey quits the mob business and moves to Hollywood. Along the way, he has a series of relationships with women, about whom he's always initially excited - until things fall apart for no real good reasons.

Through it all, Leonard comes into and out of his life, always lavishing him with gifts. Leonard, in addition to having no last name in the book, has no wife or children, so he wants to "adopt" Frey. He calls him "my son" and treats him as he might a family member, sort of a Marlon Brando-Robert Duvall thing if The Godfather was produced by Fox TV.

It's all engaging, even if infuriating at times. If you enjoy books that dabble in mob life and the world of rehab, and probably will get made into a movie someday, then you could do worse than spend a summer day with My Friend Leonard.

My Friend Leonard

• By James Frey. Riverhead, 368 pages, $24.95.

• Grade: B

Scott C. Yates is a Denver entrepreneur and freelance writer.

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