cover image THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

Daniel Stolar, . . Picador, $23 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-312-30409-6

Simply written and carefully crafted, the eight short stories of this debut collection revolve around the continual surprises life springs on us when we are least expecting them. Several of the tales are set in St. Louis, Mo., which becomes a character in its own right ("Could it be that there was a different quality to the very air in St. Louis?"), and Stolar's protagonists are often Midwesterners uncomfortably adapting to shifts in social status or to family tragedies. In the opening story, "Jack Landers Is My Friend," a young father returns to St. Louis for the holidays and takes a wistful look at what might have been when he reconnects with the girl who was his best friend in high school and college. In two of the tales, characters lose their mothers to cancer. "Mourning" is the story of Matthew, whose mother dies while he is at Harvard. In his grief, Matthew's WASPy friend Tim is unexpectedly solicitous. As the years pass, and Matthew comes to rely on Tim, he realizes that their relationship is much more complicated than he ever imagined. "Marriage Lessons" tells the story of a young woman whose mother dies, refusing to the end to reveal anything at all about the girl's father. With the help of a private detective, she looks for him, but in the end it is he who finds her. In "Second Son," a 70-year-old man resists teaching his 16-year-old son to drive, yet when he sets out to do so, the results, though not what he expected, are much more pleasant. If sometimes a bit chilly in their quiet detachment, these stories are intelligently written, thoughtful, precise and memorable. Agent, Douglas Stewart.(June)