A dazzling, disturbing, tour de force of Gothic suspense: four odd, compelling, ingeniously narrated tales that gain in power and resonance when read in conjunction with each other.”— Boston Globe
“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
These four exquisitely suspenseful novellas from Oates (The Accursed) offer sharp characterizations, whether it be the naïve and romantic 16-year-old Lizbeth Marsh; the deeply spoiled, deeply disturbed Bart Hansen; or Mariana Mohr, the fourth wife of an accomplished intellectual. The last named is in the title story, which is by far the volume’s strongest. The eye in question is both a beautiful glass nazar—a valuable talisman that’s in Austin Mohr’s art collection—and the missing eye of his diminutive, mesmerizing first wife who comes to visit. In “The Execution,” Bart Hansen’s plan to murder his parents is as inadequate as his father believed all his plans were. “So Near Anytime Always” has a surprise ending to the relationship of Lizbeth Marsh and the unfathomable Desmond Parrish. The relationships between the damaged, sometimes monstrous individuals who people these pages will keep the reader riveted. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins & Associates. (Sept.)
“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
★ 10/01/2013
In the most recent offering by the preeminent Oates (The Falls) are exquisite portrayals of young, vulnerable people who are preyed upon by one another, who sometimes succumb to the burden of memory and present-day events, and who sometimes achieve victory in working through "love gone wrong." The collection's opening novella, "Evil Eye," depicts Mariana, the fourth wife of a very demanding, wealthy man. When the first wife comes to visit, Mariana hears whispers of what happened to the woman's infant son from that first marriage. Mariana is unable to cope with this news, and her world is completely shattered. In "So Near, Anytime, Always," Lizbeth, an awkward, lonely girl, is initially flattered by handsome Desmond's attentions. When he turns to stalking and otherwise threatening her and when she finds out what happened to his younger sibling, Lizbeth tries to break off the relationship—with dire consequences for Desmond. "The Execution" is a nerve-racking page-turner characterizing young college student Bart, who has been continually bullied by his wealthy father. "The Flatbed," the last tale, deals with childhood sexual abuse and healing still raw memories. VERDICT These powerful, suspenseful novellas can easily keep readers awake at night and perhaps should be read in bright daylight. Highly recommended.—Lisa Rohrbaugh, Leetonia Community P.L., OH
Four novellas--and as the subtitle informs us, in each, love has definitely "gone wrong" in perverse and creepy ways. The titular story concerns a nazar, a "talisman to ward off the ‘evil eye.' " Mariana, the narrator, is the fourth wife (almost always italicized, to emphasize her outsider status) of Austin Mohr, prominent director of an arts institute in San Francisco. Twenty-five years younger than her moody and volatile husband, Mariana is timid and conforming--until her domestic equilibrium is disrupted by the visit of Ines Zambranco, the first wife. The second narrative introduces us to Lizbeth, a 16-year-old who shyly develops a relationship with Desmond Parrish, an outgoing, brash and highly intelligent young man who's supposedly taking a gap year before continuing his academic career at Amherst. Over a period of several months, Lizbeth gets increasingly nervous about Desmond's mental stability--a valid suspicion, as she later finds out he had killed his young sister and been incarcerated in a psychiatric ward for seven years. "The Execution" puts us inside the mind of Bart Hansen, a college student seething with a monstrous hatred of his father, so he plans what he hopes will be the perfect crime--killing him with an axe. Although things inevitably go wrong (like his forgetting about the evidence provided by EZ Pay when he makes the journey home to do the murder), an exceptionally clever lawyer gets Bart his freedom since the trial ends with a hung jury. The final novella, "The Flatbed," concerns Cecelia, a woman who's not able to have normal sexual relations because her grandfather abused her when she was young. A man romantically interested in her becomes furious when he learns of this and arranges a meeting to get revenge on the old man. With her focus on deviant and twisted characters, Oates continues to be a worthy descendant of the gothic tradition of Edgar Allan Poe.
