“These potboilers about murder, obsession and death have a genre funkiness, a greasy pulp seaminess, that is reminiscent of forgotten subscription serials and old “Twilight Zone” installments. . . . For Oates, whose worldview is as flinty as that of any of her male peers, true horror is rooted not in the supernatural—that would be almost reassuring—but in the things that men and women do to each other under the spell of attraction.”— Washington Post

“These four Gothic tales run the gamut from creepy to mesmerizing. . . . All the while, [Oates] slyly critiques our culture, from parents who don’t protect their young daughters from sexual predators to killers hopped up on prescription meds.”— Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Exquisitely suspenseful. . . . The relationships between the damaged, sometimes monstrous individuals who people these pages will keep the reader riveted."— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Love doesn’t just go wrong between Oates’ characters, it blows up, drips poison, tortures, kills. . . . This is among her better quick-turn efforts. Each of its novellas makes your skin crawl even as it also seems completely believable, like something you heard once, from where, you can’t remember.”— Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

“This is familiar Oates territory, mapped with artistry and care; dark, bloody, and unforgiving.”—Barnes & Noble Review

“An extraordinarily vivid depiction of lives gone awry. . . . A creepy, macabre thrill from start to finish. . . . Terrific stuff.”— Independent (UK)

“Oates at her best—spare, swift, beautifully observed and quietly lethal.”— Times (UK)

“Immediately engaging . . . [the] suspense is palpable.”— Shenandoah

"With her focus on deviant and twisted characters, Oates continues to be a worthy descendant of the gothic tradition of Edgar Allan Poe."— Kirkus Reviews

"A quartet of shrewd and unnerving novellas. . . . Oates has a superbly disconcerting gift for orchestrating slowly coalescing realizations that something is horribly wrong."— Booklist

“A stunningly written, disturbing masterpiece. . . . The four worlds that Oates gives us here pull in the reader until she finds herself too fascinated to leave—even when everything gets creepy.”—Bustle.com

“Shrewd and unnerving. . . . Oates’ deft tales of vulnerable women with surprisingly deep reservoirs of strength and a capacity for revenge are infused with wry and knowing commentary on the battle between the sexes, the justice system, and the consequences of entitlement.”
—Booklist