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From Joyce Carol Oates, an exquisite, psychologically complex thriller about opposing forces within the mind of one ambitious writer and the delicate line between genius and madness.
Andrew J. Rush has achieved the kind of critical and commercial success most authors only dream about: He has a top agent and publisher in New York, and his twenty-eight mystery novels have sold millions of copies. Only Stephen King, one of the few mystery writers whose fame exceeds his own, is capable of inspiring a twinge of envy in Rush. But Rush is hiding a dark secret. Under the pseudonym "Jack of Spades," he pens another string of novels—noir thrillers that are violent, lurid, masochistic. These are novels that the upstanding Rush wouldn't be caught reading, let alone writing. When his daughter comes across a Jack of Spades novel he has carelessly left out, she picks it up and begins to ask questions. Meanwhile, Rush receives a court summons in the mail explaining that a local woman has accused him of plagiarizing her own self-published fiction. Before long, Rush's reputation, career, and family life all come under threat—and in his mind he begins to hear the taunting voice of the Jack of Spades.
Andrew J. Rush has achieved the kind of critical and commercial success most authors only dream about: He has a top agent and publisher in New York, and his twenty-eight mystery novels have sold millions of copies. Only Stephen King, one of the few mystery writers whose fame exceeds his own, is capable of inspiring a twinge of envy in Rush. But Rush is hiding a dark secret. Under the pseudonym "Jack of Spades," he pens another string of novels—noir thrillers that are violent, lurid, masochistic. These are novels that the upstanding Rush wouldn't be caught reading, let alone writing. When his daughter comes across a Jack of Spades novel he has carelessly left out, she picks it up and begins to ask questions. Meanwhile, Rush receives a court summons in the mail explaining that a local woman has accused him of plagiarizing her own self-published fiction. Before long, Rush's reputation, career, and family life all come under threat—and in his mind he begins to hear the taunting voice of the Jack of Spades.
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About the Author:
Joyce Carol Oates is the author of such national bestsellers as The Falls, Blonde, and We Were the Mulvaneys. Her other titles for The Mysterious Press include High Crime Area and The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares, which won the 2011 Bram Stoker Award for Short Horror Fiction. She is also the recipient of the National Book Award, for them, and the 2010 President’s Medal for the Humanities.
Review:
One of the Seattle Times' 10 best mysteries of the year
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Mystery & Thriller for Spring
Just when you think you’ve got her all figured out, Joyce Carol Oates sneaks up behind and confounds you yet again. She does it with a wicked flourish in Jack of Spades.” Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
Few writers better illuminate the mind’s most disturbing corners. Oates tightens her silken noose around our necks with the story of a mainstream mystery writer who secretly writes shocking, violent, explicitly sexual thrillers. This hidden life implodes, and he becomes increasingly unhinged after a bizarre woman sues him, claiming that he steals her ideas literally, by breaking into her house to pilfer manuscripts.” Adam Woog, Seattle Times, The 10 best mysteries of 2015”
Suspenseful, fast-moving.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Entertaining, page-turning . . . [A] perfect summer read." Tampa Bay Times
Oates’s latest suspense tale follows the psychic takeover of Andrew J. Rush . . . by the secret persona he uses to pen lurid genre novels. For added fun, Oates garnishes this machismo-laden struggle with a leavening pinch of one of her favorite feminist topics: witchcraft.” O Magazine, The Season’s Best Mysteries & Thrillers”
"Sleek and suspenseful . . . Readers are sure to be gripped and unsettled by [Oates's] depiction of a seemingly mild-mannered character whose psychopathology simmers frighteningly close to the surface.” Publishers Weekly (boxed and starred review)
A great psychological noir novel . . . [A] tour de force . . . This tale of suspense makes for another high-caliber Oatesian outing, displaying flair, noir sophistication, and [Stephen] King-like flourishes.” Library Journal (starred review)
A chilling thriller . . . Gothic in its paranoia, but thoroughly modern in its observations on fame’s destructive powers.” Bustle
A mystery writer slowly becomes subsumed by his dark alter ego in Oates’ tale of literary madness . . . With its homages to Poe . . . and the horror masters Jack of Spades so admires, this latest unsettling and chilling thriller from Oates does not disappoint.” Kirkus Reviews
"Delightful." Times (UK)
Joyce Carol Oates is known for her psychological thrillers, and she does not disappoint with her latest, Jack of Spades . . . Oates creates characters that make you think about the potential madness in others, something that, in the end, turns out to be more than a little scary.” Missourian
Playful . . . With Jack of Spades Ms. Oates places her cards on the table and shows us a Royal Straight Flush.” Three Guys One Book
A very good read . . . Oates does not let her fans down and she undoubtedly will pick up new ones with her latest effort.” Bookreporter
A fast-paced read filled with high drama and the expertly-rendered delineation of a writer’s descent into madness.” Lonesome Reader
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Mystery & Thriller for Spring
Just when you think you’ve got her all figured out, Joyce Carol Oates sneaks up behind and confounds you yet again. She does it with a wicked flourish in Jack of Spades.” Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
Few writers better illuminate the mind’s most disturbing corners. Oates tightens her silken noose around our necks with the story of a mainstream mystery writer who secretly writes shocking, violent, explicitly sexual thrillers. This hidden life implodes, and he becomes increasingly unhinged after a bizarre woman sues him, claiming that he steals her ideas literally, by breaking into her house to pilfer manuscripts.” Adam Woog, Seattle Times, The 10 best mysteries of 2015”
Suspenseful, fast-moving.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Entertaining, page-turning . . . [A] perfect summer read." Tampa Bay Times
Oates’s latest suspense tale follows the psychic takeover of Andrew J. Rush . . . by the secret persona he uses to pen lurid genre novels. For added fun, Oates garnishes this machismo-laden struggle with a leavening pinch of one of her favorite feminist topics: witchcraft.” O Magazine, The Season’s Best Mysteries & Thrillers”
"Sleek and suspenseful . . . Readers are sure to be gripped and unsettled by [Oates's] depiction of a seemingly mild-mannered character whose psychopathology simmers frighteningly close to the surface.” Publishers Weekly (boxed and starred review)
A great psychological noir novel . . . [A] tour de force . . . This tale of suspense makes for another high-caliber Oatesian outing, displaying flair, noir sophistication, and [Stephen] King-like flourishes.” Library Journal (starred review)
A chilling thriller . . . Gothic in its paranoia, but thoroughly modern in its observations on fame’s destructive powers.” Bustle
A mystery writer slowly becomes subsumed by his dark alter ego in Oates’ tale of literary madness . . . With its homages to Poe . . . and the horror masters Jack of Spades so admires, this latest unsettling and chilling thriller from Oates does not disappoint.” Kirkus Reviews
"Delightful." Times (UK)
Joyce Carol Oates is known for her psychological thrillers, and she does not disappoint with her latest, Jack of Spades . . . Oates creates characters that make you think about the potential madness in others, something that, in the end, turns out to be more than a little scary.” Missourian
Playful . . . With Jack of Spades Ms. Oates places her cards on the table and shows us a Royal Straight Flush.” Three Guys One Book
A very good read . . . Oates does not let her fans down and she undoubtedly will pick up new ones with her latest effort.” Bookreporter
A fast-paced read filled with high drama and the expertly-rendered delineation of a writer’s descent into madness.” Lonesome Reader
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- PublisherHead of Zeus
- ISBN 10 1784970980
- ISBN 13 9781784970987
- BindingPaperback
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Jack of Spades
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Head of Zeus
(2015)
ISBN 10: 1784970980
ISBN 13: 9781784970987
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