Double Trouble
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A double dose of gripping psychological suspense, pairing two complete novels and two rare short stories, from six-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates. Two serial killers – one female, one male – murder in the name of a higher cause. Ideal for fans of Alice Munro, Ann Patchett and Anne Tyler.
Celebrating 40 Years of pseudonymous suspense from JOYCE CAROL OATES
Four decades ago, acclaimed literary author Joyce Carol Oates penned her first novel of psychological suspense under the name “Rosamond Smith.” In the Smith books, Oates explored themes of betrayal and deception, lust and murder, through stories involving twins, doubles, and hidden second identities – initially, keeping her own double identity a secret.
Hard Case Crime is proud to bring these extraordinary works of crime fiction, long unavailable in bookstores, back into print in definitive double editions, each pairing two complete novels and two never-before-collected Oates short stories, all linked thematically, to weave a sinister web filled with dark reflections.
In This Volume…
A female serial killer seeks refuge in her twin sister’s home in STARR BRIGHT WILL BE WITH YOU SOON, while a male serial killer murders for the woman he craves in SOUL/MATE -- and the echoes continue in the rare short stories “The Murderess” and “An Unsolved Crime.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Oates (Fox) showcases her inventive approach to the serial killer trope in the first of three planned volumes collecting crime fiction she wrote under the pseudonym Rosamond Smith. It opens with the pulpy 1999 novel Starr Bright Will Be with You Soon, in which exotic dancer Sharon Donner, who performs under the name Starr Bright, murders men across the American Southwest in an effort to rid Earth of "adulterers and fornicators." Along the way, she seeks out her fraternal twin, Lily Merrick, whom she'd tormented when the two were children. Soul/Mate, originally published in 1989, centers on psychopath Colin Asch, who becomes obsessed with widow Dorothea Deverell after meeting her at a Massachusetts art museum. In a predictable development, Colin starts killing anyone who stands in the way of their romance. Also collected here are the late 1970s short stories "The Murderess," about an unlikely friendship between two women, and "An Unsolved Crime," which follows a man reflecting on the death of his stepfather. Oates's plotting sometimes veers into melodrama, but her prose is reliably sharp (a woman's face is "repulsive: not because it was ugly but because it had obviously been beautiful at one time and was now ravaged"). Fans of the author and of literary crime fiction will be pleased.
