A GLIMPSE OF CANAAN

There's precious little milk and and honey in Canaan, Vermont, this novel's locale. The story's best effect is its Vermonter dialect, reflecting the citizens' insularity and hard-boned independence. The hero is an ex-Vermonter who learned (via the Air Force in WWII) just how much bigger the world really is, but who nonetheless goes home for a reluctant visit. The visit is prompted by discovery of his wife's adultery and her flight to Europe. (They are now Long Islanders.) He takes his young son with him. After the adultery revelation, the novel builds three times toward seduction scenes, the third of which explodes into love and a final killing on a hillside. The hero is a gun expert who is filled with war guilt and who continually rehashes his European war experiences when not boiling over about his wife or placating his son. There's plenty of fill about his family's three generations in Vermont and the character of the area. The style is serviceable, the plot fairly tight and the climax is inspired by the stony Vermont attitudes. Male soap opera.