George Davies has an unusual problem: For some reason, he won't — can't — pick up his newborn son. A shrink dredges up memories from when he was 11, a plump outcast at school whose professor dad died suddenly. That's when his visions began, with hints of demonic possession. Justin Evans seems less concerned with things going bump in the night than in possible bumps to the head in A Good and Happy Child, exploring psychiatric rationales for George's condition as thoroughly as supernatural ones. Relating his otherworldly suspense story with the cool, calm eye of a skeptic, Evans makes the propulsive final chapter all the more horrifying. A-
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