The consequences of media saturation are the basis for an urban nightmare in Lullaby, Chuck Palahniuk`s darkly comic and often dazzling thriller. Assigned to write a series of feature articles investigating SIDS, troubled newspaper reporter Carl Streator begins to notice a pattern among the cases he encounters: each child was read the same poem prior to his or her death. His research and a tip from a necrophilic paramedic lead him to Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent who sells "distressed" (demonized) homes, assured of their instant turnover. Boyle and Streator have both lost children to "crib death," and she confirms Streator`s suspicions: the poem is an ancient lullaby or "culling song" that is lethal if spoken-or even thought-in a victim`s direction. The misanthropic Streator, now armed with a deadly and uncontrollably catchy tune, goes on a minor killing spree until he recognizes his crimes and the song`s devastating potential. Lullaby then turns into something of a