There are so many books out there-boring, predictable books-about a charming, good-looking protagonist; a dashing hero facing impossible odds who saves the day after a giant, vapid climax. Good guys over here; bad guys over there. But not OXYGEN DEBT. Its anti-hero, Clay Griffin, is a real mess. His bulbous nose juts out like a ship's full-sailed mast; his fattened cheeks are pitted with acne scars that cast shadows like a lunar relief map. He's got a mullet that he feathers with a dandruff-speckled plastic comb. He listens religiously to Bob Seger while he drives his fourth-generation 1978...