Nick Laird makes up one half of the hippest, best-looking literary duo on either side of the Atlantic. The Northern Ireland author is married to Zadie Smith, the twenty-something wunderkind whose smash debut "White Teeth" a few years back made her a star, Now, Laird's latest novel "Utterly Monkey" is available in the U.S. The book revolves around Danny Williams, a lawyer who is successful but also monumentally busy and ultimately unhappy. He left the various troubles of his native town in Northern Ireland for England, but these days only substance abuse in several forms seems to make him happy. Then, Geordie on the run from a Loyalist militia arrives in Danny's life, and for all the problems that ensue, Danny is at last forced to reconcile his past and his present. Funnier than it should be, Utterly Monkey is occasionally annoying - really, why is Danny so unhappy, what with all his money and status? - but Laird writes with undeniable energy. ($13.95 / 344 pages / Harper Perennial)