To get right to the question at hand, the answer is Yes Judith Guest has done it again. The hundreds of thousands of readers who were touched and amused by her lovely first novel, "Ordinary People," are going to find themselves touched and amused by her second, "Second Heaven." If from time to time Guest seems to be straining in the effort to demonstrate that she is no one-shot phenomenon, who's to complain? The virtues of "Second Heaven" are manifold, and far more consequential than its few flaws. (p. B1)

["Second Heaven"] strikes a number of universal chords. Set in Detroit, it involves three people who decide—slowly, painfully, with fear and trepidation—to take the risk of engaging themselves in the lives of the others. The narrative moves from one point of view to another: Mike Atwood, a lawyer who was divorced a few years ago …; Catherine...