THE BOOK: New York is in the grip of a murderous heatwave, the city is full of fires and street corner preachers are proclaiming the Apocalypse. In this burning season, four lives come together at Ferdousine's Zoo, a sanctuary for exotic birds and snakes: Kate Root, a reformed psychic who was once a child visionary; Willie D a young Puerto Rican hustler in pursuit of status and repect; Anna, a belly dancer and human telegram; and John Joe, a black Irishman, newly arrived from Donegal. Meanwhile, the city goes on burning and in the subways a sect called the Black Swans has forgathered, awaiting the last days.