That busy shuttler between biblical and medical novels, Frank Slaughter, dons his operating suit again for "Daybreak." On the surface this is the crisis-ridden story of Dr. Jim Corwin's efforts to save a lovely young schizophrenic named Lynn Thorndyke from destroying herself. But the real hero of "Daybreak" is reserpine, a tranquilizing drug that not only eases tension in the afflicted mind but also splits away the rational intellect from its delusions. Thanks to this quality, remarkable cures have been effected in recent years. It is the pioneer efforts in this field that take Dr. Slaughter into the snakepit of a state mental hospital, as it was day-before-yesterday—when admission, all too often, was a sentence to living death.

Jim's road to happiness, no turnpike of efficiency, is a perilous jungle path along which he must hack his way forward….

"Daybreak" is … several related dramas in one, the...