FICTION

SUBURBAN GUERRILLAS by Joseph Freda. (Norton: $19.95; 214 pp.) The characters in Joseph Freda’s first novel are, for the most part, genuinely good. They love their town (Hurley, N.H.), love their spouses and do the best they can with what they have. These people believe. As a novel, “Suburban Guerrillas” may not be perfect, but it will leave many readers with an almost old-fashioned sense of faith.

It is 1989, and Hurley is slowly being overrun by developers who slap together strip malls and drab condominiums for a quick buck. After a particularly depressing tract of houses replaces the woods at the end of their street, four Hurley residents decide to fight back. What the fight symbolizes, and how it relates to each of the four people on a deep, individual basis, is the subject of Freda’s novel.