The Fifth Station

Kevin McIlvoy. Collier Books, $6.95 (176pp) ISBN 978-0-02-034622-7

In this ``carefully wrought'' tale of three brothers who grow up in an Illinois steel town, Michael fails to help Matthew, the youngest, stay alive. And Luke, the oldest, fails to keep his promise of hope, leaving college and the family for a vagabond life in New Mexico. PW commended McIlvoy's ``vivid'' characterizations and ``powerfully rendered'' sense of place. (Oct.)