Sweet Nothing

With one noteworthy exception, which features a prison guard in France's guillotine era watching over "the Wolf," a cryptic child murderer, the ten longish stories in this collection are mostly set on the side streets of Los Angeles and infused with an urban realism laced with extraordinary circumstance. The titular tale has two roommates seeking renovation. At 400-plus pounds, Troy wants weight loss and fitness, while Dennis, once prosperous but derailed by addictions, seeks normalcy. Troy loses the weight but dies of a heart attack. Dennis befriends a distraught mother during his Subway night shift, moves up to Best Buy, and is soon a manager, going steadily in what he hopes is the right direction and maybe even renewed contact with his children. Another story finds a gambling addict on a hopeful date, but as his date wins at the ponies he keeps losing, forfeiting even her winnings, until he "borrows" $20 from a crony and wins a weird superfecta, netting more than $1,000 but losing the girl.