Picks and Pans Review: All of Stone's Characters Battle Internal Demons. in "helping," a Psychologist and Recovering Alcoholic Is Overcome by Despair That His Life Is Without Meaning—and Goes on a Drinking Binge. Instead of Relief, the

UPDATED 04/28/1997 at 01:00 AM EDT • Originally published 04/28/1997 at 01:00 AM EDT

booze brings the man a dark night of the soul that includes a bitter argument with his wife and a near-violent encounter with his clean-cut, morally superior neighbor. Such menace abounds in these stories.

Stone, one of contemporary fiction's big talents, probes his characters to their existential core. At stake in these dazzling stories is nothing less than his characters' very souls. (Houghton Mifflin, $24)