The Female of the Species: Tales of Mystery and Suspense » (Reprint)

In a prolific and varied oeuvre that ranges over essays, plays, criticism, and several genres of fiction, Joyce Carol Oates has proved herself one of the most influential and important storytellers in the literary world.

A New York Times Editors' Choice

"Suspense fiction is like a powerful drug: one page, one taste, can induce such a tingly, speedy feeling that it takes an almost superhuman effort not to finish everything off in just one sitting. At least, that’s how it is with Joyce Carol Oates’s new collection."—The New York Times Book Review 

A young wife is home alone when the phone rings in "So Help Me God." Is the strange voice flirting with her from the other end of the line her jealous husband laying a trap, or a stranger who knows entirely too much about her? In "Madison at Guignol" an unhappy fashionista discovers a secret door inside her favorite clothing store and insists the staff let her enter. But even her fevered imagination cannot anticipate the horror they have been hiding from her. In these and other gripping and disturbing tales, Joyce Carol Oates demonstrates why the females of the species—be they six-year-old girls, seemingly devoted wives, or aging mothers—are by nature more deadly than the males.

"As ever, Oates shocks, delights and amuses because she's so good at what she does."—The Baltimore Sun

"With the protagonists in The Female of the Species, [Oates is] at the top of her form . . . Nobody does that kind of well-written spookiness quite like Oates."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Joyce Carol Oates is the recipient of the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and the winner of the National Book Award. Among her major works are We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde, and The Falls. She lives in New Jersey.

An Otto Penzler Book

The New York Times - Hillary Frey

Mystery and horror fans are most likely to relish this collection, which works best as a source of cheap thrills. The short stories have all appeared elsewhere: some in literary quarterlies, many more in publications like Spook, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine … stories don't have to be great to be addictive; they just need a trick - and Oates has nailed that. Even as you're wishing you could, you can't put this book down.

So Help Me God

The Banshee

Doll: A Romance of the Mississippi

Madison at Guignol

The Haunting

Hunger

Tell Me You Forgive Me?

Angel of Wrath

Angel of Mercy