To pick up "The Wild Truth" (HarperCollins, 304 pp., $27.99) is to subject oneself to hair-raising tales of domestic abuse and dysfunction in search of a fuller picture of Carine McCandless' brother, Chris, who in 1992 died alone in the Alaskan wilderness. Writer Jon Krakauer brought Chris's life and mystery into focus first with an article for Outside magazine, then with the best-seller "Into the Wild."