Blood Knot

Two-time Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association award-winner Fromm (Dry Rain) tries hard to rise above his single narrative obsession--fishing trips as a bonding device--in the efficient 10 stories of his latest collection. Too often, though, the attempt to attach symbolic significance to the sport overwhelms otherwise finely drawn character studies. The title story focuses on a narrator at the end of his marriage, driving from Montana to Georgia in an attempt to maintain a severed relationship with his eight-year-old son by spending three days finding new fishing territory in the boy's new home. In ""The Net,"" newlyweds Mandy and Dalton, united on the banks of a very cold Montana river, start their life's journey through shaky marital waters, battling whitefish, drifting when neither knows who should steer, and seeking their ""strongest desire"" as they learn to compromise. In ""My Sister's Hood,"" third grader Franky spends the day fishing with his sister's boyfriend and other high school seniors; although his line is too light to catch the big fish, his relationship with his sister changes forever when she leaves the family a few days later. Vivid regional details, an interesting compendium of characters and a fluid narrative style generously support this slim volume--even if non-fishermen may find themselves tiring of Fromm's piscatory conceit by the collection's end. (Oct.)