WELCOME TO XANADU by Nathaniel Benchley. 304 pages. Atheneum. $5.95. Perhaps the pervasive influence of Freudianism has been felt most perversely in the genre of the thriller. Time was when characters ...

The Frogs of Spring (by Nathaniel Benchley) concerns two Manhattan families who live in adjoining houses—or, for stage purposes, adjoining backyards. Both the husbands (Anthony Ross and Hiram Sherman) ...