From Publishers Weekly
Under the pseudonym which she uses for her psychological thrillers, Joyce Carol Oates burnishes her reputation with this sensational page-turner, a BOMC selection in cloth, which follows a well-meaning lawyer who toils to release an accused murderer/self-professed sculptor from death row.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Under the pen name Rosamond Smith ( Nemesis, LJ 7/90), Joyce Carol Oates has written a creepy psychological thriller that seems at first to be about the effect a paroled convict has on a "perfect" Amer ican family and the suburban New York community in which they live. Michael O'Meara is a lawyer who helps get con victed murderer Lee Roy Sears's death sentence commuted to life in prison. When the "rehabilitated" Sears is re leased, Michael gets him a job and invites him, over the objections of his wife, home to dinner. Sears's destructiveness and hatred of women is soon all too obvious to the reader, but it is O'Meara, devoted husband and father, who is the more disturbing character. O'Meara's manner of "protecting" his wife is as frightening as Sears's malevolence, and the novel's horrifying conclusion leaves the reader wondering who the real criminal is. This is disturbing, gripping, and memorable to read.
- Eliza beth Mellett, Brookline P.L., Mass.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.