Yesterday in Kansas City my bank’s thermometer read 108 degrees the one time I ventured out of the house. The rest of the time I spent inside, in the air conditioning, reading this novel. I consumed the entire thing in a little over twelve hours.

William Styron’s “Darkness Visible” is short but it’s not an easy read. It’s all about Styron’s descent “into madness” just after his 60th birthday. Styron, who wrote “Sophie’s Choice,” was crippled, almost literally, by his depression.