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The Frenzy: Stories
A gripping collection of propulsive, psychologically suspenseful stories by the legendary Joyce Carol Oates “who is surely on any shortlist of America’s greatest living writers” (The New York Times Magazine)
“A genius in the truest sense of the word.”—Rebecca Makkai
“One of the greatest writers among us today.”—Gillian Flynn
Frenzy (noun): a temporary madness; a violent mental or emotional agitation; intense usually wild and often disorderly compulsive or agitated activity
Joyce Carol Oates is a master of the short story and one of the legends of the form. Her collections of short fiction have twice been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and have won numerous awards, including the O. Henry Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Art of the Short Story. In The Stories, Oates plunges us into the lives of her characters at moments of crisis and confusion, when much of what they understand about themselves and those they love comes undone.
A young woman on a supposedly romantic weekend trip to Cape May, New Jersey, turns the tables on her older, married lover. A freak bicycle accident on a bridge haunts one family for decades. A girl jealous of her popular cousin discovers she is the lucky one. A widow waits at her riverside house for her dead husband's return. A young man hiking in the woods comes upon a couple in a heated, possibly violent argument—should he intervene?
Suspenseful and psychologically astute, Oates's short stories enthrall and captivate as they dissect her character's deepest fears—revealing our own in turn. "Literature is a texture of words," says Oates of her short fiction, "evoking life in the most vivid ways—psychologically, physically." These new stories blazingly evoke life at its most vivid and perilous, when fate and free will intersect, and one ominous encounter or bad choice can be the difference between an ordinary day and the point of no return.
“A genius in the truest sense of the word.”—Rebecca Makkai
“One of the greatest writers among us today.”—Gillian Flynn
Frenzy (noun): a temporary madness; a violent mental or emotional agitation; intense usually wild and often disorderly compulsive or agitated activity
Joyce Carol Oates is a master of the short story and one of the legends of the form. Her collections of short fiction have twice been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and have won numerous awards, including the O. Henry Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Art of the Short Story. In The Stories, Oates plunges us into the lives of her characters at moments of crisis and confusion, when much of what they understand about themselves and those they love comes undone.
A young woman on a supposedly romantic weekend trip to Cape May, New Jersey, turns the tables on her older, married lover. A freak bicycle accident on a bridge haunts one family for decades. A girl jealous of her popular cousin discovers she is the lucky one. A widow waits at her riverside house for her dead husband's return. A young man hiking in the woods comes upon a couple in a heated, possibly violent argument—should he intervene?
Suspenseful and psychologically astute, Oates's short stories enthrall and captivate as they dissect her character's deepest fears—revealing our own in turn. "Literature is a texture of words," says Oates of her short fiction, "evoking life in the most vivid ways—psychologically, physically." These new stories blazingly evoke life at its most vivid and perilous, when fate and free will intersect, and one ominous encounter or bad choice can be the difference between an ordinary day and the point of no return.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published June 16, 2026
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
853 books10.1k followersJoyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
⭐️ 3.25 ⭐️ Frenzy: temporary madness, a violent mental or emotional agitation, a compulsive or agitated activity. JCO stepped into the human psyche and gave us stories that felt like they stemmed from our freakish parts of our subconscious in the moments of crisis. While most of them were interesting, they were just ok for me. I felt that her stories were all very wordy and descriptive but in a way that I didn't enjoy the writing/storytelling. I struggled to find anything compelling about them and none of them provided a deeper look into the frenzy as the title promised.
The frenzy:
Cassidy is an older man in his late 40's who feels trapped in his marriage. He's having an affair with a much younger girl--his daughter's classmate, who is 19/20 years old, careless, free spirited and high on all meds possible. They are driving to Cape May, make a stop there and something happens. Later on they settle into their hotel room but the next morning, tables turn and the girl leaves the older man.
The Fear:
Juliet and Janette two cousins, same age, few months apart. One gets cancer, the other has a better life. They grow apart, the story shows a life trajectory of two people complicated by jealousy.
The bicycle accident:
Explores mother daughter relationship with the aftermath of a brutal bike accident that almost ended Evie’s life. It hints at inappropriate behavior/sexual abuse that went unnoted by the mother and the cost it had on her years down the line. (My favorite story)
The call:
A woman gets a call in the middle of the night and is informed her father passed away. Confused, she states her father passed away 6 years ago and this must be a mistake. The hospital staff assures her there is no mistake. She goes to her mother, for she has all the answers.
The return:
A woman returns to New York to visit her friend whom she hasn’t been in contact with for a few years. While visiting, the friend goes off on a tangent about her dead husband but speaks of him as if he was alive. (This one was sort of creepy)
Redwood:
A man is on a hike and sees another couple arguing, which appears to be more of an abusive sort of relationship. He is imminently taken by the striking woman ‘Lise’ and has been secretly in love with her…even when death came for him. The story shows a mans desire to be alone but hints/alludes to the point when one approaches death there is a yearning for companionship.
Small Veins:
An oncology patient goes to a clinic to have her labs drawn and realizes no one really sees you there. You are seen as a disease. Your time is running out and you can’t help but wonder if death is painless and merciful. (As a healthcare worker, I enjoyed this one a lot)
Refuge:
Lorene is looking for her estranged husband. Marcus was an eccentric individual who always sought refuge elsewhere. He liked to leave Lorene for days and weeks and then get in contact with her, then sound irritated and gaslight her. Lorene then rescued her mentally abuse husband only to find out how things have changed. (I did not enjoy this one at all)
Night Fishing at Antibes:
Two women form an unlikely friendship while they try to navigate through the recent deaths of their husbands.
JCO writes in a very sophisticated, mature way that examines grief, loss, human connections and conditions. Her stories explore life and death situations and the in-betweens that people sometimes find themselves in. None of the stories have resolutions and are kind of open-ended. I didn't particularly enjoy the short stories and some were very hard to get into. I found her verbiage difficult to process and hard to understand the point she was trying to make.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House/Hogarth and the author, Joyce Carol Oates for an early copy.
Publication date: June 16, 2026
The frenzy:
Cassidy is an older man in his late 40's who feels trapped in his marriage. He's having an affair with a much younger girl--his daughter's classmate, who is 19/20 years old, careless, free spirited and high on all meds possible. They are driving to Cape May, make a stop there and something happens. Later on they settle into their hotel room but the next morning, tables turn and the girl leaves the older man.
The Fear:
Juliet and Janette two cousins, same age, few months apart. One gets cancer, the other has a better life. They grow apart, the story shows a life trajectory of two people complicated by jealousy.
The bicycle accident:
Explores mother daughter relationship with the aftermath of a brutal bike accident that almost ended Evie’s life. It hints at inappropriate behavior/sexual abuse that went unnoted by the mother and the cost it had on her years down the line. (My favorite story)
The call:
A woman gets a call in the middle of the night and is informed her father passed away. Confused, she states her father passed away 6 years ago and this must be a mistake. The hospital staff assures her there is no mistake. She goes to her mother, for she has all the answers.
The return:
A woman returns to New York to visit her friend whom she hasn’t been in contact with for a few years. While visiting, the friend goes off on a tangent about her dead husband but speaks of him as if he was alive. (This one was sort of creepy)
Redwood:
A man is on a hike and sees another couple arguing, which appears to be more of an abusive sort of relationship. He is imminently taken by the striking woman ‘Lise’ and has been secretly in love with her…even when death came for him. The story shows a mans desire to be alone but hints/alludes to the point when one approaches death there is a yearning for companionship.
Small Veins:
An oncology patient goes to a clinic to have her labs drawn and realizes no one really sees you there. You are seen as a disease. Your time is running out and you can’t help but wonder if death is painless and merciful. (As a healthcare worker, I enjoyed this one a lot)
Refuge:
Lorene is looking for her estranged husband. Marcus was an eccentric individual who always sought refuge elsewhere. He liked to leave Lorene for days and weeks and then get in contact with her, then sound irritated and gaslight her. Lorene then rescued her mentally abuse husband only to find out how things have changed. (I did not enjoy this one at all)
Night Fishing at Antibes:
Two women form an unlikely friendship while they try to navigate through the recent deaths of their husbands.
JCO writes in a very sophisticated, mature way that examines grief, loss, human connections and conditions. Her stories explore life and death situations and the in-betweens that people sometimes find themselves in. None of the stories have resolutions and are kind of open-ended. I didn't particularly enjoy the short stories and some were very hard to get into. I found her verbiage difficult to process and hard to understand the point she was trying to make.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House/Hogarth and the author, Joyce Carol Oates for an early copy.
Publication date: June 16, 2026
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Janette understood that adults do not like you so much when you behave in a way they don’t expect even if it is a way truthful to you." p40
In Short: The form of this book, three clusters of three related short stories, really appeals to me. as I expect of Oates, she experiments with punctuation and formatting to convey tone, meaning, even character detail. Her stories tend to have interesting timelines; I often feel timelines converging, story past and story moment all connecting in one sentence with an addicting shape. She writes evil so beautifully-- you can touch it, taste it, see its shape reflected under the curtains of your own interior world. Sometimes, descriptions become poetic: "On the kitchen wall calendar June 23 was circled in red marker pen like an exploding nebula." p58. Sometimes, effects become experimental; for example, the fascinating treatment of first person perspective in "The Redwoods".
Preread: I love Joyce Carol Oates and I though her recent novel, FOX, was one of her best. Couldn't pass up the chance to read these short stories!
The Stories:
1. "The Frenzy" - "At the time she’d called he had (in fact) been lying in bed. Beside his (sleeping, oblivious) wife . Lying in bed and thinking of her, the girl, the teenaged mistress, what he would do with this girl or to this girl if they were alone together in some neutral space, an impersonal and unnamed space, a very private place, high-ceilinged luxury hotel room without windows or even a door; a floating kind of place, an off-shore kind of place, soundproof." p14 This story uses some interesting formatting choices and other elements to get inside the head of a philandering grown man who sexualizes and preys upon teenagers. Notice how the parentheses make you stop and measure.
2. "The Fear" - A clever, frightening inversion of a sibling rivalry story that excavates a beautiful example of childhood disability (facial differences).
3. "The Bicycle Accident" - I often find Oates's character treatment to subtlety unearth unexpected insights about human nature. I love how this story, written in third person, so smoothly transmits the experience of both a child and her mother in the story moment. (I find the story troubling in the way it sees disability.)
4. "The Call" - A moving piece that experiments with story timelines to increase the surreal feeling time takes on in grief.
5. "The Return" - "So, I’d been avoiding Audra . Even the thought of Audra. Some subjects are just too sad." p108 A piece about time and care and empathy and how challenging it can be to line up those two instincts toward a similar goal at the same moment.
6. "The Redwood" - One of my favorite things from Oates's skill box is the way she uses setting as character. "Like stepping into another world contiguous with the human world yet totally different from it. For nothing in the great forest except the (spare) trail markers, and the minimal trail itself, suggested a human presence, still less a human designation—“ state park.”" p127
7. "Small Veins" - "See that woman? She is not afraid, she has not fainted from having her blood drained from her, smiling to herself for all is well." p157 A story about the relational invisibility sick and disabled people experience, especially in medical settings during the pandemic.
8. "Refuge" - "Can you love, if love is not returned? Not returned equally? The most profound of questions because it is a question about how to live one’s life. For it is rare that love is fully reciprocal. Lorene can love Marcus more than Marcus can love her, she will impress Marcus with the depth of her love. Sunflower lover, rawly open, vulnerable. Take me, I am yours." p171 This one has such a dark ending! TW: ableism, uncharitable depictions of mental illness.
9. "Night Fishing at Antibes" - The stories in this section (stories 7, 8, & 9) seem to center codependent relationships, which can be fascinating if not written in a stigmatizing way. But I'm not sure Oates achieves that here.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the arc!📚
"Content Warnings:"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Large age gap in sexual relationships, violence against women, coercion, physical abuse, gr*pe (suggested), cancer (childhood), ableism, grievous injury, bicycle accident, blood, animal cruelty, spousal SA, missing person, DV, woods at night, codependency, emotional instability,
"Janette understood that adults do not like you so much when you behave in a way they don’t expect even if it is a way truthful to you." p40
In Short: The form of this book, three clusters of three related short stories, really appeals to me. as I expect of Oates, she experiments with punctuation and formatting to convey tone, meaning, even character detail. Her stories tend to have interesting timelines; I often feel timelines converging, story past and story moment all connecting in one sentence with an addicting shape. She writes evil so beautifully-- you can touch it, taste it, see its shape reflected under the curtains of your own interior world. Sometimes, descriptions become poetic: "On the kitchen wall calendar June 23 was circled in red marker pen like an exploding nebula." p58. Sometimes, effects become experimental; for example, the fascinating treatment of first person perspective in "The Redwoods".
Preread: I love Joyce Carol Oates and I though her recent novel, FOX, was one of her best. Couldn't pass up the chance to read these short stories!
The Stories:
1. "The Frenzy" - "At the time she’d called he had (in fact) been lying in bed. Beside his (sleeping, oblivious) wife . Lying in bed and thinking of her, the girl, the teenaged mistress, what he would do with this girl or to this girl if they were alone together in some neutral space, an impersonal and unnamed space, a very private place, high-ceilinged luxury hotel room without windows or even a door; a floating kind of place, an off-shore kind of place, soundproof." p14 This story uses some interesting formatting choices and other elements to get inside the head of a philandering grown man who sexualizes and preys upon teenagers. Notice how the parentheses make you stop and measure.
2. "The Fear" - A clever, frightening inversion of a sibling rivalry story that excavates a beautiful example of childhood disability (facial differences).
3. "The Bicycle Accident" - I often find Oates's character treatment to subtlety unearth unexpected insights about human nature. I love how this story, written in third person, so smoothly transmits the experience of both a child and her mother in the story moment. (I find the story troubling in the way it sees disability.)
4. "The Call" - A moving piece that experiments with story timelines to increase the surreal feeling time takes on in grief.
5. "The Return" - "So, I’d been avoiding Audra . Even the thought of Audra. Some subjects are just too sad." p108 A piece about time and care and empathy and how challenging it can be to line up those two instincts toward a similar goal at the same moment.
6. "The Redwood" - One of my favorite things from Oates's skill box is the way she uses setting as character. "Like stepping into another world contiguous with the human world yet totally different from it. For nothing in the great forest except the (spare) trail markers, and the minimal trail itself, suggested a human presence, still less a human designation—“ state park.”" p127
7. "Small Veins" - "See that woman? She is not afraid, she has not fainted from having her blood drained from her, smiling to herself for all is well." p157 A story about the relational invisibility sick and disabled people experience, especially in medical settings during the pandemic.
8. "Refuge" - "Can you love, if love is not returned? Not returned equally? The most profound of questions because it is a question about how to live one’s life. For it is rare that love is fully reciprocal. Lorene can love Marcus more than Marcus can love her, she will impress Marcus with the depth of her love. Sunflower lover, rawly open, vulnerable. Take me, I am yours." p171 This one has such a dark ending! TW: ableism, uncharitable depictions of mental illness.
9. "Night Fishing at Antibes" - The stories in this section (stories 7, 8, & 9) seem to center codependent relationships, which can be fascinating if not written in a stigmatizing way. But I'm not sure Oates achieves that here.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the arc!📚
"Content Warnings:"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Large age gap in sexual relationships, violence against women, coercion, physical abuse, gr*pe (suggested), cancer (childhood), ableism, grievous injury, bicycle accident, blood, animal cruelty, spousal SA, missing person, DV, woods at night, codependency, emotional instability,
June 22, 2026
4⭐️ A great collection of short stories! Joyce Carol Oats’ writing is so rich and characters so real these stories pull you in over just a few pages! She takes the ordinary, a weekend getaway, a glimpsed argument in a redwood forest, jealousy, and grief, and journeys into life altering scenarios.
Two of these were 5⭐️ for me. The first story, The Frenzy, and the last one, Night Fishing at Antibes, my favorites of the collection. Both of these had great characters and stories that left me wanting more! I need a book about Meagan and Zahira, the widows in Night Fishing!
4⭐️ The Fear, The Bicycle Accident, The Redwoods and the creepy The Call.
3⭐️ The Return, Small Veins, and Refuge
Really enjoyed them all!
Thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth Publishers for the eARC in exchange for my honest review
Two of these were 5⭐️ for me. The first story, The Frenzy, and the last one, Night Fishing at Antibes, my favorites of the collection. Both of these had great characters and stories that left me wanting more! I need a book about Meagan and Zahira, the widows in Night Fishing!
4⭐️ The Fear, The Bicycle Accident, The Redwoods and the creepy The Call.
3⭐️ The Return, Small Veins, and Refuge
Really enjoyed them all!
Thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth Publishers for the eARC in exchange for my honest review
July 2, 2026
Spread out before him was a region of unfathomable appetite: foaming, churning, flashing, quicksilver with the eel-like bodies of fish, a thrashing as of sheer boundless energy itself, to infinity. Life devouring Life.
This extract from the title story 'The Frenzy' highlights what a good writer JCO is... and how the energy in the majority of the stories here just doesn't match up to this. In fact, it's only the first two stories (out of nine) which worked for me.
'The Frenzy' returns to the theme of predatory men and gender dynamics that has sustained JCO throughout her writing life. The second story, 'The Fear', is a brilliant vignette of cousinly and female rivalry set around a scenario where a child is being treated for sarcoma. Both of these tales are magnetic, a bit scary (albeit for different reasons), full of insight and emotional intelligence.
After that, however, none of the stories really engaged me: they all feel a bit bland for JCO, centred as they are on illness, widowhood, approaching death. 'Small Veins' makes visible the invisibility of an old woman in a medical facility but this is hardly new: and JCO's own Butcher from 2024 took a far more expansive - and terrifying - look at medical misogyny.
If you're interested in JCO's short stories, I'd highly recommend her High Lonesome: Selected Stories, 1966-2006 which is peak Oates and succeeds in showcasing her range and diversity of material.
March 5, 2026
Oates is a pretty new-to-me author but Fox was one of my favorite books last year so i knew i wanted to dive into more of her stuff. This was a really solid story collection manly focused on dark, psychological character studies - as with any, i liked some more than others. The Bicycle Accident, Night Fishing at Antibes, & the title story were the standouts for me.
June 23, 2026
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy of the latest collection of short stories from my favorite author, Joyce Carol Oates. It’s always an honor to be offered a JCO arc.
Comprised of 9 stories, The Frenzy sees Oates doing what she does best: probing at the darkest edges of the human psyche, exploring the worst case scenario, realizing what happens when the very worst goes wrong. As well: JCO’s trademark writing style is on full display, and that style doesn’t work for every reader. But it works for this one.
This is another very good collection of stories from a legend. What more can be said? A couple of the stories didn’t quite hit for me, but hey. That’s the nature of story collections. And I love ‘em.
Comprised of 9 stories, The Frenzy sees Oates doing what she does best: probing at the darkest edges of the human psyche, exploring the worst case scenario, realizing what happens when the very worst goes wrong. As well: JCO’s trademark writing style is on full display, and that style doesn’t work for every reader. But it works for this one.
This is another very good collection of stories from a legend. What more can be said? A couple of the stories didn’t quite hit for me, but hey. That’s the nature of story collections. And I love ‘em.
June 15, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth for an advanced reader copy of The Frenzy by Joyce Carol Oats in exchange for my honest review. The collection of short stories are the first I’ve read by this author who has been honored as a “master of the thriller and noir literary genre”. The stories, blurbed as “propulsive, psychologically suspenseful”, really start off with a bang. The writing style overall is vivid and also deeply unsettling at times.
Every time I pick up a collection of short stories I’m reminded why I enjoy them so well. Reading these unique short stories, broken into three parts, gave me a much better grasp of the author's style. The first part, which resonated with me the most, features a reoccurring theme of men behaving badly and women getting the last word. The plot twists and violence frequently surprised me, but the resolutions were almost always satisfying. Not every story in the collection grabbed me, but I still found it to be a well written, thought provoking, and engaging read 3.75/5⭐️
Every time I pick up a collection of short stories I’m reminded why I enjoy them so well. Reading these unique short stories, broken into three parts, gave me a much better grasp of the author's style. The first part, which resonated with me the most, features a reoccurring theme of men behaving badly and women getting the last word. The plot twists and violence frequently surprised me, but the resolutions were almost always satisfying. Not every story in the collection grabbed me, but I still found it to be a well written, thought provoking, and engaging read 3.75/5⭐️
March 15, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5
JCO just keeps pumping out the hits. In The Frenzy, the legend once again proves why she remains one of the most enduring voices in contemporary literature. This short story collection feels remarkably cohesive, with each piece building on a shared sense of unease, obsession, and psychological intensity that runs throughout the book.
Oates has a way of finding the unsettling edges of ordinary life, and every story here carries that signature tension she is known for. Even across different characters and situations, the collection feels intentional and unified rather than scattered, a true testament to her skill as both a storyteller and a craftsman of the short form.
A fantastic, haunting collection from a true literary legend.
JCO just keeps pumping out the hits. In The Frenzy, the legend once again proves why she remains one of the most enduring voices in contemporary literature. This short story collection feels remarkably cohesive, with each piece building on a shared sense of unease, obsession, and psychological intensity that runs throughout the book.
Oates has a way of finding the unsettling edges of ordinary life, and every story here carries that signature tension she is known for. Even across different characters and situations, the collection feels intentional and unified rather than scattered, a true testament to her skill as both a storyteller and a craftsman of the short form.
A fantastic, haunting collection from a true literary legend.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Several shorter stories, definitely different than anything I've read. They were intriguing and interesting and weird but good. Not something I would usually read but glad I did.
Thanks to the author the publisher and Netgalley for a early release of this book
Thanks to the author the publisher and Netgalley for a early release of this book
July 3, 2026
3.5/5 —
Not my favorite of Oates’ work, but I really enjoyed a few of the stories. Reading JCO takes work. And I appreciate that kind of work.
Not my favorite of Oates’ work, but I really enjoyed a few of the stories. Reading JCO takes work. And I appreciate that kind of work.
June 23, 2026
4.5 stars! I had a really great time listening to all of the different narrators tell Joyce's short stories! I loved listening to how dark and crazy her mind can get. She leaves the endings on a satisfying note, while not descriptively explaining them through, but you can gather the sense of how each story ends, so I appreciated that! The story about the Buddhist husband and the wife who was trying to escape, was very unsettling and I'm happy with how it ended! Also, I'm a huge fan of Joyce's writing and the stories felt like I was being spoken to directly so that was a pleasant reading experience! Oh and the young girl basically dying and then recovering after falling off her bicycle after who knows what happened with the sicko uncle/neighbor and then the family not being put in his will, and the girl saying it was all for nothing, that was a wild ride. I felt bad for the mother suffering the loss of her daughter, both who she was before the accident and then after she physically ran away and then losing her husband, and her daughter not coming back to care for her. Then in true JCO fashion, like in The Fox, she had to include a creepy dad and undaged neighbor's daughter- relationship which ended very well with the young woman (19/20) leaving him in the hotel to sulk in being left behind. Also the short story collection having the theme of frenzy was very fun to read as they all touched on families and loved ones at the brink of insanity! Like the woman who lost her husband and had a shot gun at the ready to "protect herself" when she really could turn at any moment and take out any visitors or friends that stop by. I would love to explore more short story collections in the future!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2026
I don't typically like short stories but I will ready anything by Joyce Carol Oates, one of my favorite authors and, in my opinion, one of the best writers of literary fiction of our time. These stories, done in the author's usual descriptive writing style, all involve characters navigating a moment of crisis and giving the reader a short look inside each character's troubled psyche. The stories are unsettling, suspenseful and, in some cases, rather dark. JCO writes dark and atmospheric so well! This collection is sure to win JCO some new fans and satisfy her old ones. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy of this book!
June 17, 2026
A frenzy is a state of heightened, wild, and uncontrollable emotion, often marked by a loss of reason. It’s a feeling of emotional angst and instability that often manifests in violent, chaotic behavior that usually leaves some kind of destruction, whether it is emotional wreckage, reputational harm, or even physical injuries. Joyce Carol Oates’ latest collection of stories not only uses The Frenzy as a title, but many of the characters experience a kind of frenzied state as a result of their relationships and interactions. I am grateful to Random House and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of this harrowing and haunting collection of stories. I’ve only read a few of the well-known, anthologized stories from Oates, so I wasn’t completely prepared for how unsettling some of these stories were; however, while this is a dark collection of stories, it is rewarding for those readers who enjoy being knocked or rocked off of our sense of security by both sudden events or the slow and gradual release of more information that eventually leads to a kind of peripeteia where characters experience a reverse of fortune due their prior acts, whether these are acts of omission, ignorance, or relational violence. Although these stories have that tragic structure in place, there’s almost no catharsis in these stories since many of the characters are unlikeable. Rather they sometimes experience a sense of cosmic irony, where the character seems to get what they deserve (“The Frenzy” and “The Bicycle Accident”). Other stories feature characters who struggle with changes and accepting their fates (“The Redwoods”, “Refuge”, and “Night Fishing at Antibes”). Yet, all of these characters either experience their own sense of frenzy or are forced to navigate a kind of frenzy from a loved one that eventually brings about a revelation to their relationships. The Frenzy is a collection of domestic horror stories—stories that are not supernatural, but feature horrific and monstrous people who engage in troubling and destructive behavior. I wasn’t expecting this kind of reaction to this book, but Joyce Carol Oates clearly struck a nerve in me with these stories.
The stories are generally longer short stories, which allows for some development of characters and in some cases considerable time to pass. I loved this aspect of the book, as the extended character development allows for a deeper sense of irony when these characters experience their peripeteia, or reversal of fortune. “The Frenzy”, which is the first story in the collection, starts the collection off strong and features a husband and father who absconds to Cape May, NJ with his much younger “mistress”, who was a few years older than his daughter. Although the shore town is somewhat deserted during the winter, Cassidy keeps thinking about an experience he had on a boat in Rhode Island, watching a feeding frenzy, where plankton attract smaller fish, which attract larger fish, and eventually apex predators. It’s a scene that’s revisited later in the story and serves as an effective metaphor and foreshadowing event for Cassidy’s relationship with the younger Brianna. I was shocked by the ending, and this story engaged me for the rest of the book.
“The Fear” is another interesting story that spends time charting the relationship between two cousins, Juliet and Janette, who are close in age and grow up together and celebrate birthdays and holidays together until Juliet is mysteriously absent from Janette’s sixth birthday. Oates effectively captures the uncertainty and ignorance of childhood as the adults shield Janette from Juliet’s cancer diagnosis, which wreaks havoc on Juliet’s social life in school and her appearance, due to reconstructive surgeries. This was one of the more harrowing stories, not only because it deals with childhood illness, but also because of how Janette struggles with her own feelings and needs for attention and emotional assurance. As Juliet’s illness, surgeries, and recovery demands more caregiving from her family, Janette experiences a kind of withdrawal of emotions and struggles with her own feelings. As someone who has served as a loved one’s caregiver during cancer, I can appreciate the conflicted feelings Janette experienced as she navigates the dissonance between her concern and care for Juliet and her own feelings of resentment and the desire for attention that all kids experience.
“The Bicycle Accident” was another harrowing read focusing on how a bicycle accident during a family reception completely changes the trajectory a family’s life. However, the bicycle accident is more of a response to Evie’s parents’ (Arlette and Kevin’s) hamartia, their fatal flaws in judgement and awareness of a family friend, that leads Evie to gradually disconnect from their family. While most of the events take place before and after Evie’s accident, tracing her recovery and her pushing the boundaries of adolescent independence, the story skips ahead into Evie’s adulthood and Arlette’s eventual move into an assisted living home. This story also has a reversal of fortunes and roles where caregiving and receiving are ironically transposed.
The second group of stories, “The Call”, “The Return”, and “The Redwoods” all have to do with death and relationships. “The Call” is one of the shorter stories in this collection, and S., the main character who is a daughter, wife and mother, is informed that her father has died in a hospital, yet she is sure that her father has been dead for years. S. tries to make sense of this call and the events of her life, including caring for her elderly parents. “The Return” is about a writer who visits her friend, a recent widow for the second time, after the pandemic restrictions have eased. As she visits the house, she realizes how the house has fallen into disrepair since the death of her friend’s husband, Thad, a well-known professor and writer. This issue of disrepair and an inability to keep up physical property is another theme throughout the book, as characters seem to lack the ability to maintain their surroundings and in some cases themselves after experiencing loss or tragedy. Like the character of Janette in “The Fear”, this narrator is also struggling to come to terms with her friend’s loss; however, while Janette is young, the narrator and her friend are both older, facing the same kind of existential questions that Thad experienced before he died, and this leads the narrator to some revelations as she notices some unsettling evidence around the home. “The Redwoods” stands out as a kind of ghost story, but it’s also about a man (Jake) who is haunted by a chance encounter during a hike in his early 20s. Jake seems to be unable to let go of the regret in not talking more to a woman he encountered with a partner on a hike, and this chance encounter has seemingly haunted him until his early death in his 50s. He is able to return to his family, but is unable to communicate with them, just as he was largely unable to communicate with them while he was alive, always regretting his inaction on the trail. Again, we see a character whose hamartia both haunts and punishes him not only for his lifetime, but his afterlife as well. We also see how this fatal flaw of Jake’s punishes his family as well.
The third and final section of stories all see to deal with marriages, but these themes of illness, regret, and frenzied reactions to stress and traumatic events carry across all of the stories. “Small Veins” is another brief story that details a woman receiving a blood test after her husband has died. She seems to anticipate a disease or illness, but it might just be her own mental malaise that causes her distress and angst. “Refuge” was another disturbing story about a woman whose husband has disappeared for nearly two months, until she receives a frantic call from him that leaves some clues to his whereabouts. Prior to the call, we learn more about their marriage and the kinds of accommodations she makes to feel love for her husband, while he fails to reciprocate. Her quest to find him, mirrored by her questions surrounding the puppy that they adopted who also has gone missing, also allow us to learn more about the tensions and inequities in their relationship. While Marcus, the husband, has sought refuge in a Buddhist monastery, he doesn’t seem to have found the kind of zen enlightenment we most associate with Buddhism. The book ends with “Night Fishing at Antibes”, which deals with a widow’s adaptation to life without her husband. Zahira struggles to find a sense of rhythm and purpose without her husband, Herman, who was a scientist at an institute for advanced study. Another recent widow, Meghan, attempts to pull Zahira out of her drudgery, but Zahira misses her marriage and struggles to adapt to this new kind of relationship. Zahira is surrounded by either widows who struggle to maintain their homes or seemingly happy families and marriages, where spouses care for one another. Zahira thinks back to a fleeting encounter she had with one of her husband’s colleagues, Illya, who showed interest in her despite Zahira not reciprocating. While Illya is a renowned scientist, he is much older than Zahira. Eventually Zahira and her new friend, Meghan, visit Illya and his wife, Hester, for lunch as Illya is recovering from several surgeries. Zahira attends the luncheon after years prior rejecting Illya’s lunch date, with the hope that Illya may still show some affection for Zahira. However, the lunch devolves into a manic and frantic episode for both Hester and Illya, possibly showing Zahira that maybe she’s better off without a husband, or at least a husband like Illya.
These stories are disturbing and unsettling, but the are also incredible and instructive. I could see using some of these stories in an intro to lit class, although many of the stories are dark and unsettling. Maybe there’s another kind of modern gothic or domestic horror lit class that these stories would fit. As I was reading them, I can see how Oates’ work resonates with writers like Stephen King, who has moved from supernatural horrors to the kinds of horrors that represent the banality of evil, that we may experience in our everyday lives. Furthermore, Oates’ stories all touch on topics that we can never escape: health, relationships, aging and time. In fact, the last story uses Picasso’s painting “Night Fishing at Antibes” as a kind of metaphor for staving off the ravages of time and maintaining a sense of integrity while aging. Illya, the aging scientist near death, reminds his visitors of Einstein’s contradictions when he says “Einstein certainly knew that in fact there is only time: the hourglass that runs in one direction only.” It’s a reminder to recognize that change and adaptation are natural parts of life. I also loved that many of the stories in this book take place in Central Jersey, Bucks County, PA and other areas around the Delaware River, areas I am familiar with. I highly recommend this collection, but it is a collection of stories that will challenge readers’ thinking and comfort, confronting us with some of the monstrous and horrid eventualities of life, rather than running towards the warm embrace of delusions and ignorance. Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for sharing this advanced copy.
The stories are generally longer short stories, which allows for some development of characters and in some cases considerable time to pass. I loved this aspect of the book, as the extended character development allows for a deeper sense of irony when these characters experience their peripeteia, or reversal of fortune. “The Frenzy”, which is the first story in the collection, starts the collection off strong and features a husband and father who absconds to Cape May, NJ with his much younger “mistress”, who was a few years older than his daughter. Although the shore town is somewhat deserted during the winter, Cassidy keeps thinking about an experience he had on a boat in Rhode Island, watching a feeding frenzy, where plankton attract smaller fish, which attract larger fish, and eventually apex predators. It’s a scene that’s revisited later in the story and serves as an effective metaphor and foreshadowing event for Cassidy’s relationship with the younger Brianna. I was shocked by the ending, and this story engaged me for the rest of the book.
“The Fear” is another interesting story that spends time charting the relationship between two cousins, Juliet and Janette, who are close in age and grow up together and celebrate birthdays and holidays together until Juliet is mysteriously absent from Janette’s sixth birthday. Oates effectively captures the uncertainty and ignorance of childhood as the adults shield Janette from Juliet’s cancer diagnosis, which wreaks havoc on Juliet’s social life in school and her appearance, due to reconstructive surgeries. This was one of the more harrowing stories, not only because it deals with childhood illness, but also because of how Janette struggles with her own feelings and needs for attention and emotional assurance. As Juliet’s illness, surgeries, and recovery demands more caregiving from her family, Janette experiences a kind of withdrawal of emotions and struggles with her own feelings. As someone who has served as a loved one’s caregiver during cancer, I can appreciate the conflicted feelings Janette experienced as she navigates the dissonance between her concern and care for Juliet and her own feelings of resentment and the desire for attention that all kids experience.
“The Bicycle Accident” was another harrowing read focusing on how a bicycle accident during a family reception completely changes the trajectory a family’s life. However, the bicycle accident is more of a response to Evie’s parents’ (Arlette and Kevin’s) hamartia, their fatal flaws in judgement and awareness of a family friend, that leads Evie to gradually disconnect from their family. While most of the events take place before and after Evie’s accident, tracing her recovery and her pushing the boundaries of adolescent independence, the story skips ahead into Evie’s adulthood and Arlette’s eventual move into an assisted living home. This story also has a reversal of fortunes and roles where caregiving and receiving are ironically transposed.
The second group of stories, “The Call”, “The Return”, and “The Redwoods” all have to do with death and relationships. “The Call” is one of the shorter stories in this collection, and S., the main character who is a daughter, wife and mother, is informed that her father has died in a hospital, yet she is sure that her father has been dead for years. S. tries to make sense of this call and the events of her life, including caring for her elderly parents. “The Return” is about a writer who visits her friend, a recent widow for the second time, after the pandemic restrictions have eased. As she visits the house, she realizes how the house has fallen into disrepair since the death of her friend’s husband, Thad, a well-known professor and writer. This issue of disrepair and an inability to keep up physical property is another theme throughout the book, as characters seem to lack the ability to maintain their surroundings and in some cases themselves after experiencing loss or tragedy. Like the character of Janette in “The Fear”, this narrator is also struggling to come to terms with her friend’s loss; however, while Janette is young, the narrator and her friend are both older, facing the same kind of existential questions that Thad experienced before he died, and this leads the narrator to some revelations as she notices some unsettling evidence around the home. “The Redwoods” stands out as a kind of ghost story, but it’s also about a man (Jake) who is haunted by a chance encounter during a hike in his early 20s. Jake seems to be unable to let go of the regret in not talking more to a woman he encountered with a partner on a hike, and this chance encounter has seemingly haunted him until his early death in his 50s. He is able to return to his family, but is unable to communicate with them, just as he was largely unable to communicate with them while he was alive, always regretting his inaction on the trail. Again, we see a character whose hamartia both haunts and punishes him not only for his lifetime, but his afterlife as well. We also see how this fatal flaw of Jake’s punishes his family as well.
The third and final section of stories all see to deal with marriages, but these themes of illness, regret, and frenzied reactions to stress and traumatic events carry across all of the stories. “Small Veins” is another brief story that details a woman receiving a blood test after her husband has died. She seems to anticipate a disease or illness, but it might just be her own mental malaise that causes her distress and angst. “Refuge” was another disturbing story about a woman whose husband has disappeared for nearly two months, until she receives a frantic call from him that leaves some clues to his whereabouts. Prior to the call, we learn more about their marriage and the kinds of accommodations she makes to feel love for her husband, while he fails to reciprocate. Her quest to find him, mirrored by her questions surrounding the puppy that they adopted who also has gone missing, also allow us to learn more about the tensions and inequities in their relationship. While Marcus, the husband, has sought refuge in a Buddhist monastery, he doesn’t seem to have found the kind of zen enlightenment we most associate with Buddhism. The book ends with “Night Fishing at Antibes”, which deals with a widow’s adaptation to life without her husband. Zahira struggles to find a sense of rhythm and purpose without her husband, Herman, who was a scientist at an institute for advanced study. Another recent widow, Meghan, attempts to pull Zahira out of her drudgery, but Zahira misses her marriage and struggles to adapt to this new kind of relationship. Zahira is surrounded by either widows who struggle to maintain their homes or seemingly happy families and marriages, where spouses care for one another. Zahira thinks back to a fleeting encounter she had with one of her husband’s colleagues, Illya, who showed interest in her despite Zahira not reciprocating. While Illya is a renowned scientist, he is much older than Zahira. Eventually Zahira and her new friend, Meghan, visit Illya and his wife, Hester, for lunch as Illya is recovering from several surgeries. Zahira attends the luncheon after years prior rejecting Illya’s lunch date, with the hope that Illya may still show some affection for Zahira. However, the lunch devolves into a manic and frantic episode for both Hester and Illya, possibly showing Zahira that maybe she’s better off without a husband, or at least a husband like Illya.
These stories are disturbing and unsettling, but the are also incredible and instructive. I could see using some of these stories in an intro to lit class, although many of the stories are dark and unsettling. Maybe there’s another kind of modern gothic or domestic horror lit class that these stories would fit. As I was reading them, I can see how Oates’ work resonates with writers like Stephen King, who has moved from supernatural horrors to the kinds of horrors that represent the banality of evil, that we may experience in our everyday lives. Furthermore, Oates’ stories all touch on topics that we can never escape: health, relationships, aging and time. In fact, the last story uses Picasso’s painting “Night Fishing at Antibes” as a kind of metaphor for staving off the ravages of time and maintaining a sense of integrity while aging. Illya, the aging scientist near death, reminds his visitors of Einstein’s contradictions when he says “Einstein certainly knew that in fact there is only time: the hourglass that runs in one direction only.” It’s a reminder to recognize that change and adaptation are natural parts of life. I also loved that many of the stories in this book take place in Central Jersey, Bucks County, PA and other areas around the Delaware River, areas I am familiar with. I highly recommend this collection, but it is a collection of stories that will challenge readers’ thinking and comfort, confronting us with some of the monstrous and horrid eventualities of life, rather than running towards the warm embrace of delusions and ignorance. Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for sharing this advanced copy.
June 29, 2026
A fantastic haunting collection.
Oates has a way of finding the unsettling edges of ordinary life and every story here carries that signature tension she is known for!
Oates has a way of finding the unsettling edges of ordinary life and every story here carries that signature tension she is known for!
June 22, 2026
Cuentos atmosféricos y trágicos sobre la viudedad, las relaciones abusivas, las enfermedades, los fantasmas (en primera persona en 'The redwoods', en tercera en 'The return') y, como siempre en JCO, la vida suburbial americana. Por orden de mi preferencia:
9- 'The call': uno de sus cuentos estilísticos y confusos, sobre una mujer a la que llaman en mitad de la noche para informar de que su padre (muerto hace unos años), acaba de morir.
8- 'The return': cuento gótico sobre una visita a una amiga que acaba de quedarse viuda y que está siendo acosada por el fantasma de su marido.
7- 'Small Veins': cuento médico sobre una mujer sometida a quimioterapia.
6- 'Night fishing at Antibes': amistad entre dos viudas de un barrio residencial con un obstáculo pendiente por resolver para disfrutar de su soledad.
5- 'The frenzy': cuento simple sobre una infidelidad abusiva y una venganza.
4- 'The fear': historia que abarca un par de décadas sobre dos primas unidas en la infancia y separadas por la enfermedad grave de una de ellas.
3- 'Refuge': una mujer busca a su marido abusivo (y especialmente terrorífico) que la ha abandonado supuestamente para ingresar en un retiro budista.
2- 'The redwoods': historia en dos partes, la primera sobre un hombre solitario que se enamora de una mujer de la que solo sabe que está siendo abusada por su pareja. La segunda parte sobre ese hombre muerto reflexionando sobre su vida y sobre si debió actuar o no en el pasado.
1- 'The bicycle Accident': cuento largo que se siente novela de JCO, sobre un gran trauma que afecta a la hija de un matrimonio y cómo impacta en sus vidas a lo largo de varias décadas.
9- 'The call': uno de sus cuentos estilísticos y confusos, sobre una mujer a la que llaman en mitad de la noche para informar de que su padre (muerto hace unos años), acaba de morir.
8- 'The return': cuento gótico sobre una visita a una amiga que acaba de quedarse viuda y que está siendo acosada por el fantasma de su marido.
7- 'Small Veins': cuento médico sobre una mujer sometida a quimioterapia.
6- 'Night fishing at Antibes': amistad entre dos viudas de un barrio residencial con un obstáculo pendiente por resolver para disfrutar de su soledad.
5- 'The frenzy': cuento simple sobre una infidelidad abusiva y una venganza.
4- 'The fear': historia que abarca un par de décadas sobre dos primas unidas en la infancia y separadas por la enfermedad grave de una de ellas.
3- 'Refuge': una mujer busca a su marido abusivo (y especialmente terrorífico) que la ha abandonado supuestamente para ingresar en un retiro budista.
2- 'The redwoods': historia en dos partes, la primera sobre un hombre solitario que se enamora de una mujer de la que solo sabe que está siendo abusada por su pareja. La segunda parte sobre ese hombre muerto reflexionando sobre su vida y sobre si debió actuar o no en el pasado.
1- 'The bicycle Accident': cuento largo que se siente novela de JCO, sobre un gran trauma que afecta a la hija de un matrimonio y cómo impacta en sus vidas a lo largo de varias décadas.
June 17, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.
A collection of short stories that explore all the ways your entire life can be changed in an instant. And how your perception of your life can be proved to be all wrong, in retrospect. A middle aged man off for a clandestine weekend with his teenage lover is cruelly tricked. A moment's lack of awareness can result in lifetime trauma for an entire family. Is someone you love ever truly gone, or do they come back? A chance encounter on a hiking trail can disrupt a young man's life - should he have gotten involved? Does a perfect childhood, or an imperfect one, really make a difference?
Each of these give you pause and make you look at your life in a slightly different way.
A slow read, because it takes time to digest, and sometimes uncomfortable, as you put yourself into the story, but a good read.
A collection of short stories that explore all the ways your entire life can be changed in an instant. And how your perception of your life can be proved to be all wrong, in retrospect. A middle aged man off for a clandestine weekend with his teenage lover is cruelly tricked. A moment's lack of awareness can result in lifetime trauma for an entire family. Is someone you love ever truly gone, or do they come back? A chance encounter on a hiking trail can disrupt a young man's life - should he have gotten involved? Does a perfect childhood, or an imperfect one, really make a difference?
Each of these give you pause and make you look at your life in a slightly different way.
A slow read, because it takes time to digest, and sometimes uncomfortable, as you put yourself into the story, but a good read.
July 3, 2026
Misery! Utter misery. These stories felt like 9 attempts to work through the same muddled themes, motifs, and imagery. None of the attempts were successful.
Husbands are cruel, they leave, they die, they return as ghosts. Children are cruel, they hate, they sneer, they die. Wives are stuck, unloved, abused, abandoned, and drinking fruit smoothies. Things happen and then, no, they didn’t actually happen (or did they?). More than one story ends with “and it wasn’t until later that [character] realized [something apparently significant].”
It took me many hours to get through the final 100 pages because I wanted to do literally anything else.
Husbands are cruel, they leave, they die, they return as ghosts. Children are cruel, they hate, they sneer, they die. Wives are stuck, unloved, abused, abandoned, and drinking fruit smoothies. Things happen and then, no, they didn’t actually happen (or did they?). More than one story ends with “and it wasn’t until later that [character] realized [something apparently significant].”
It took me many hours to get through the final 100 pages because I wanted to do literally anything else.
July 3, 2026
While I normally avoid short stories, this collection by JCO is outstanding. My two favorites are The Bicycle Accident (young girl accompanies her parent's friend on an errand before a party and, despite lots of evidence of him being abusive, her mom continues to admire this man while something very bad obviously happened; the ending, where the daughter symbolically silences her mother is stunning) and The Frenzy (young woman turns the tables on her much-older lover who appears to be merely using her). JOC writes about people driven to a frenzy by different emotions. Well done!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2026
Really two and a half stars. These stories are psychological character studies that are mostly skimpy on plot, not psychological suspense like the book flap says. Although well written, many of the stories just didn't pull me in. My favorite story was The Return, but the others did not seem all that special.
July 2, 2026
It's really hard to rate a collection of Oates stories, because the woman is a living legend who has been writing some of the most taut, psychologically disturbing short stories since 1963. This collection is true to her usual vibe - dark, introspective, and impossible to put down. While I enjoyed some stories more than others, and some will stick with me more than others, the entire collection is worth a read, not least because of how haunting the stories are.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
July 5, 2026
Torn between a 3.25/3.5
A mixed bag! I didn't like some of the stories at all, but I loved the first three and Redwood. Made me feel super comfortable. I haven't read anything by this author. I know she's loved by many, and her writing has certainly intrigued me to pick up more of her work.
A mixed bag! I didn't like some of the stories at all, but I loved the first three and Redwood. Made me feel super comfortable. I haven't read anything by this author. I know she's loved by many, and her writing has certainly intrigued me to pick up more of her work.
Did Not Finish
June 22, 2026This author loves a comma. 🙄 not for me
July 10, 2026
I have never really been a fan of Oates. But I thought I would give her one more chance with these short stories but she is not for me. I tried really hard but just cannot get into her writing.
July 14, 2026
JCO’s short story collection “The Frenzy” succeeds in capturing the frenetic energy and repercussions of her characters bad decisions, unfulfilled longings and unresolved grief. JCO has a special talent for inducing sympathy and understanding for characters whose foibles often bring about their own (and others) suffering.
The first set of stories feature young women coming of age in context of somewhat benign maternal neglect; mothers miss the mark on their daughters’ emotional states and needs for independence or miss cues that everyday men around them might in fact be predatory. The middle set illustrate grief; characters grieve lives they could have lived, loves that could have been had, and relationships that were not all they seemed. The last third felt darker and less cohesive to me - 2 of the stories continued themes of spousal grief and the loss of normalcy in context of widowhood, while “Refuge” featured a harrowing story of intimate partner violence.
Underlying all stories is JCO’s characteristic attention to power and gender dynamics, and unnerving observations about the ways we unknowingly fail each other. These stories are often unnerving because the reader does not have a clear sense of how it actually ends up for the characters who are frequently left hanging with a general menace in the air.
The first set of stories feature young women coming of age in context of somewhat benign maternal neglect; mothers miss the mark on their daughters’ emotional states and needs for independence or miss cues that everyday men around them might in fact be predatory. The middle set illustrate grief; characters grieve lives they could have lived, loves that could have been had, and relationships that were not all they seemed. The last third felt darker and less cohesive to me - 2 of the stories continued themes of spousal grief and the loss of normalcy in context of widowhood, while “Refuge” featured a harrowing story of intimate partner violence.
Underlying all stories is JCO’s characteristic attention to power and gender dynamics, and unnerving observations about the ways we unknowingly fail each other. These stories are often unnerving because the reader does not have a clear sense of how it actually ends up for the characters who are frequently left hanging with a general menace in the air.
June 17, 2026
Whenever I read stories by Joyce Carol Oates, I always feel like I’m learning something about the lives of girls in upper state New York, the manner in which their emotions erupt and age with their bodies and experiences peculiar to environment.
In this collection there is the teenaged girl dating an older man, a girl who enters puberty and beyond with cancer, the change of personality of a girl after the suspicion of inappropriate touching by an adult friend of the family followed by her devastating bicycle accident.
In the second selection of stories, the women are older, most of them elderly, the men in their lives less free with their hands, having outlived desire, their minds lost in their aching bodies. The women are caretakers or alone in big houses with fading memories and loneliness.
A chronicle of the emotional life of women from budding to blooming to fading.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Hogarth and Random House for an ARC.
In this collection there is the teenaged girl dating an older man, a girl who enters puberty and beyond with cancer, the change of personality of a girl after the suspicion of inappropriate touching by an adult friend of the family followed by her devastating bicycle accident.
In the second selection of stories, the women are older, most of them elderly, the men in their lives less free with their hands, having outlived desire, their minds lost in their aching bodies. The women are caretakers or alone in big houses with fading memories and loneliness.
A chronicle of the emotional life of women from budding to blooming to fading.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Hogarth and Random House for an ARC.
June 21, 2026
Joyce Carol Oates is a prolific, popular and well known author, but one that was new to me when I first started her new short story collection, The Frenzy: Stories. Unintentionally ignorant towards her writing and her works, I expected something scary, but instead received a good collection of well written tales about various topics, from infidelity and abuse, to grief, loss, envy, illness and suffering. The topics, themselves, create horror within the average person, and even more so those who experience them, but the stories themselves are not scary in a normal sense.
This collection is separated into three parts, which group its nine short stories into similar topics, meaning that each part contains three tales. It works well, but I must admit that the final trio is the weakest, and isn’t as strong as what comes before it.
I’ll try to provide short reviews of each story, without spoiling anything.
The Frenzy: A married, middle-aged man, is driving along the coast of New Jersey. His intention is to take his teenaged mistress, who happens to be the daughter of not so close family friends, to an out of season holiday town in order to be intimate. However, things don’t go as planned. As the title story, it starts the collection off strong, but I expected the ending to be more than it was. Still, I enjoyed this one and found it good.
The Fear: Told from the perspective of a young girl named Janette, it chronicles her early years as the younger of two similar looking cousins who are confused as being twins by those who don’t know. They’re always together, but the older cousin is the more beautiful one, making the younger one jealous. Then something happens to the older one, and they begin to lose touch. This is a story about jealousy and envy, and it touches into other subjects too. Overall, it’s quite good.
The Bicycle Accident: As a thirty-something mom works overtime and stresses about putting on a party for her deceased sister’s recently engaged daughter, her own inattentive ways lead to disaster. Her thirteen year-old daughter, Evie, goes out for pop and ice with a rich male friend of the family, then runs away on her bike when she gets home and is asked to shower. Her fearless bicycling leads her to have a serious accident on the local bridge, throwing her family into turmoil and changing their lives forever. This is a really good story, but it ends in a strange way that I didn’t really like. Still, it’s one of the best in this collection, and hints at hidden trauma that can tear people apart.
The Call: A lady named S is awakened in the middle of the night, to a call saying that her previously deceased father has just passed away. She’s told that she needs to get home, because her mother needs her. This good story explores grief, caregiving and lost time.
The Return: A novelist starts to feel bad about not calling or visiting her widowed friend just before, during or after the pandemic. They were once close, but she worries that it’ll now seem like she’s been avoiding said friend. As such, she calls her and they make plans to meet at the friend’s rural property. However, things take a turn when said friend talks about visions of her deceased loved one, and how he was behind closed doors. This is another strong story.
The Redwoods: One of the better stories in this collection, The Redwoods begins as a young man goes for a long hike in a California forest filled with massive trees, the likes of which you cannot see the tops of. While there, he hopes to clear his head and make his mind up about his future. However, he ends up coming across a young woman with braided hair who’s being mistreated by the man she’s with, and becomes obsessed with her. The story chronicles his life, his continued obsession and what he may or may not have done. It deals with what ifs, grief, loss, despair, attachment, obsession, love, marriage and the like.
Small Veins: A lady goes to the local cancer centre where, like me, she is told that she has small veins. The phlebotomists are unsure if they’ll be able to access them in order to take her blood, which is also familiar to me. She needs it done, though, and is worried that she’ll faint before, during or after. The same is true of when she goes to see her doctor afterwards, regarding a slow moving form of leukaemia. Alone, scared and widowed, she questions her life and what’s next over the course of what is a solid story.
Refuse: By far the weakest of all of the shorts found within this book, Refuse, is about a young woman who’s married a strange older man who has a very high opinion of himself. That husband has gone missing for thirty-seven days, though, and —unused to living alone, and unsure of where he is — she sets off to rural Pennsylvania from her home in New Jersey. Why? A strange, muffled and unclear phone call she’s received, which makes her think that her husband is staying at the Buddhist temple he used to spend a lot of time meditating at. She’s not used to driving, though, and is afraid of bridges, not to mention scared. I didn’t like this one much, and was happy when it was over after an hour or so.
Night Fishing at Antibes: Two recently widowed women, who weren’t close before but had husbands who worked at the same nearby intellectual institution, form an unlikely bond after their passing. Together, the two start to blend into each other, and share personalities. Furthermore, they’re almost inseparable, and will rush to see one another if a call or text isn’t answered. It’s a decent story of love, loss, connection and more.
Each of the above stories ranges from about twenty minutes in length to just over an hour, but that’s with my slower reading speed. Still, it only took me several days to finish this one. I read a lot of it one night, but then slowed down some.
All of them feature important, difficult and very human themes and issues, and all are very well written. In fact, the writing is some of the best I’ve experienced in a long time. However, the quality does vary some, in terms of story strength, and The Frenzy: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates doesn’t end as strongly as it starts. That’s ok, though.
Almost all of this release is set in the New Jersey area, it seems, which must be where the author lives. I wish there had been a bit more variety, but that’s ok.
Going in, I wasn’t sure of what to expect from this one, but it had caught my attention and was something that I’d wanted to read. I’m glad that it did, too, because — overall — The Frenzy: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates is a really strong and well crafted collection of tales.
This review is based on a copy of the book which we were provided with.
This collection is separated into three parts, which group its nine short stories into similar topics, meaning that each part contains three tales. It works well, but I must admit that the final trio is the weakest, and isn’t as strong as what comes before it.
I’ll try to provide short reviews of each story, without spoiling anything.
The Frenzy: A married, middle-aged man, is driving along the coast of New Jersey. His intention is to take his teenaged mistress, who happens to be the daughter of not so close family friends, to an out of season holiday town in order to be intimate. However, things don’t go as planned. As the title story, it starts the collection off strong, but I expected the ending to be more than it was. Still, I enjoyed this one and found it good.
The Fear: Told from the perspective of a young girl named Janette, it chronicles her early years as the younger of two similar looking cousins who are confused as being twins by those who don’t know. They’re always together, but the older cousin is the more beautiful one, making the younger one jealous. Then something happens to the older one, and they begin to lose touch. This is a story about jealousy and envy, and it touches into other subjects too. Overall, it’s quite good.
The Bicycle Accident: As a thirty-something mom works overtime and stresses about putting on a party for her deceased sister’s recently engaged daughter, her own inattentive ways lead to disaster. Her thirteen year-old daughter, Evie, goes out for pop and ice with a rich male friend of the family, then runs away on her bike when she gets home and is asked to shower. Her fearless bicycling leads her to have a serious accident on the local bridge, throwing her family into turmoil and changing their lives forever. This is a really good story, but it ends in a strange way that I didn’t really like. Still, it’s one of the best in this collection, and hints at hidden trauma that can tear people apart.
The Call: A lady named S is awakened in the middle of the night, to a call saying that her previously deceased father has just passed away. She’s told that she needs to get home, because her mother needs her. This good story explores grief, caregiving and lost time.
The Return: A novelist starts to feel bad about not calling or visiting her widowed friend just before, during or after the pandemic. They were once close, but she worries that it’ll now seem like she’s been avoiding said friend. As such, she calls her and they make plans to meet at the friend’s rural property. However, things take a turn when said friend talks about visions of her deceased loved one, and how he was behind closed doors. This is another strong story.
The Redwoods: One of the better stories in this collection, The Redwoods begins as a young man goes for a long hike in a California forest filled with massive trees, the likes of which you cannot see the tops of. While there, he hopes to clear his head and make his mind up about his future. However, he ends up coming across a young woman with braided hair who’s being mistreated by the man she’s with, and becomes obsessed with her. The story chronicles his life, his continued obsession and what he may or may not have done. It deals with what ifs, grief, loss, despair, attachment, obsession, love, marriage and the like.
Small Veins: A lady goes to the local cancer centre where, like me, she is told that she has small veins. The phlebotomists are unsure if they’ll be able to access them in order to take her blood, which is also familiar to me. She needs it done, though, and is worried that she’ll faint before, during or after. The same is true of when she goes to see her doctor afterwards, regarding a slow moving form of leukaemia. Alone, scared and widowed, she questions her life and what’s next over the course of what is a solid story.
Refuse: By far the weakest of all of the shorts found within this book, Refuse, is about a young woman who’s married a strange older man who has a very high opinion of himself. That husband has gone missing for thirty-seven days, though, and —unused to living alone, and unsure of where he is — she sets off to rural Pennsylvania from her home in New Jersey. Why? A strange, muffled and unclear phone call she’s received, which makes her think that her husband is staying at the Buddhist temple he used to spend a lot of time meditating at. She’s not used to driving, though, and is afraid of bridges, not to mention scared. I didn’t like this one much, and was happy when it was over after an hour or so.
Night Fishing at Antibes: Two recently widowed women, who weren’t close before but had husbands who worked at the same nearby intellectual institution, form an unlikely bond after their passing. Together, the two start to blend into each other, and share personalities. Furthermore, they’re almost inseparable, and will rush to see one another if a call or text isn’t answered. It’s a decent story of love, loss, connection and more.
Each of the above stories ranges from about twenty minutes in length to just over an hour, but that’s with my slower reading speed. Still, it only took me several days to finish this one. I read a lot of it one night, but then slowed down some.
All of them feature important, difficult and very human themes and issues, and all are very well written. In fact, the writing is some of the best I’ve experienced in a long time. However, the quality does vary some, in terms of story strength, and The Frenzy: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates doesn’t end as strongly as it starts. That’s ok, though.
Almost all of this release is set in the New Jersey area, it seems, which must be where the author lives. I wish there had been a bit more variety, but that’s ok.
Going in, I wasn’t sure of what to expect from this one, but it had caught my attention and was something that I’d wanted to read. I’m glad that it did, too, because — overall — The Frenzy: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates is a really strong and well crafted collection of tales.
This review is based on a copy of the book which we were provided with.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
JOYCE CAROL OATES DELIVERS A FLAWLESS, FIVE-STAR FICTION MASTERPIECE. "A deeply atmospheric, wildly unsettling short story collection that introduces humanity at its most unsavory, calculating, and addictive."
In THE FRENZY: STORIES, legendary and prolific author Joyce Carol Oates delivers a deeply atmospheric collection of interconnected domestic and psychological thrillers. In Oates' signature style, the stories hinge on ordinary people pushed to their breaking points when fate, free will, and hazardous choices intersect. Fractured psyches vs. the point of no return.
"A masterful collection of propulsive short fiction where ordinary lives fracture under the weight of crisis and dangerous compulsions."
Elevator Pitch
A gripping anthology of suspenseful short fiction that plunges readers into the exact moments a collection of ordinary lives unravel—ranging from an erotic contest of wills during a tense weekend getaway to a generational trauma sparked by a freak bridge accident.
A young woman on a romantic getaway in Cape May takes control of her relationship with her older, married partner. A bicycle accident on a bridge haunts a family for years. A girl jealous of her popular cousin realizes she is the fortunate one. A widow waits by the river for her deceased husband’s return. A young man hiking encounters a couple in a heated dispute—should he intervene?
Nine moving short stories
Section One
~The Frenzy
~The Fear
~The Bicycle Accident
Section Two
~The Call
~The Return
~The Redwoods
Section Three
~Small Veins
~Refuse
~Night Fishing at Antibes
Setting
The stories are primarily set across atmospheric, tension-choked landscapes of the American Northeast, transitioning from a windy drive along the Garden State Parkway to the deceptively peaceful coastal retreats of Cape May, New Jersey.
Vibe
Tense, unsettling, sinister, and blazingly vivid. It pairs the propulsive, stream-of-consciousness dread of high-stakes domestic psychological thrillers with the profound literary depth of a master storyteller.
Genre
Psychological Suspense / Short Story Anthology / Literary Noir / Literary Fiction
Themes
~Generational Conflict & Trauma:
~Erotic Contests of Will
~The Illusion of Ordinary Security
~Revenge & Turning Tables
Standout Characters
~Cassidy: The title story’s older, married antagonist whose internal rationalizations and manipulative tendencies blind him to his own undoing.
~Brianna: The young, deceptively vulnerable companion who expertly turns the tables on her abuser during a tense weekend trip.
Author Writing Standout
Joyce Carol Oates’s extraordinary talent for capturing the essence of life in its most raw and psychologically intricate forms radiates throughout her fluid and richly textured prose. She skillfully navigates the complexities of human existence, crafting her narratives with a depth that transcends mere plot. Instead of allowing her characters to become mere instruments of suspense, Oates intricately layers their profound fears, inner thoughts, and the subtle intricacies of daily life, imbuing them with a striking sense of realism that engages the senses and evokes vivid imagery. Each moment feels palpable, drawing readers into the characters’ experiences as if they were living them firsthand.
Takeaway
Human stability is a fragile illusion; one ominous encounter or impulsive action is often the only difference between an ordinary life and a total psychological freefall.
Title Significance
The Frenzy serves as both a literal clinical definition and a recurring behavioral pattern throughout the anthology. It represents a temporary madness or violent mental agitation, highlighting the intense, disorderly compulsions that take over ordinary people when their regular world comes completely undone.
Metaphor
The freak bicycle accident on a bridge in the anchor story serves as the central metaphor of the collection. It represents the unpredictable trajectory of trauma—a sudden structural break that permanently alters the course of multiple lives while leaving a community haunted for generations.
Why You Should Read
Read this if you are a fan of the dark and of dark, astute psychological thrillers like those by Gillian Flynn or Rebecca Makkai, or if you want a propulsive collection of bite-sized, high-stakes narratives that blazingly explore the perilous intersection of human desire and fate.
Audiobook
I am looking forward to listening to the audiobook come alive, narrated by an all-star cast: Cassandra Campbell, Linda Jones, January LaVoy, Ann Marie Lee, Kelli Tager, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, Matt Godfrey, Amy Jensen, Max Meyers.
My Thoughts
A huge fan of the author, the collection is a gripping, razor-sharp psychological noir masterclass.
The FRENZY succeeds beautifully in building immediate psychological tension with a fitting title encompassing the tone, mood, and vibe. The shifting perspectives are perfectly captured—not just through dark aesthetics, but through an immersive stream-of-consciousness style that makes the characters' inner panic feel incredibly grounded. The title story is an unforgettable standout; its sharp pacing and shocking climax deliver an immense, satisfying blow. A masterfully executed, high-stakes narrative experience.
Verdict: 5 / 5 Stars
"A gripping, masterfully executed collection of short fiction that pairs razor-sharp psychological suspense with an unforgettable look at human crisis."
Recs
~Fox by Joyce Carol Oates (for more of the author's signature, five-star mystery-psychological suspense roots). My top books & audio of 2025.
~Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (for a similarly rich, atmospheric exploration of generational trauma and deep psychological decay)
Special thanks to Random House/Hogarth Press and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: June 16, 2026
June Newsletter
June 2026 Must-Read Books
In THE FRENZY: STORIES, legendary and prolific author Joyce Carol Oates delivers a deeply atmospheric collection of interconnected domestic and psychological thrillers. In Oates' signature style, the stories hinge on ordinary people pushed to their breaking points when fate, free will, and hazardous choices intersect. Fractured psyches vs. the point of no return.
"A masterful collection of propulsive short fiction where ordinary lives fracture under the weight of crisis and dangerous compulsions."
Elevator Pitch
A gripping anthology of suspenseful short fiction that plunges readers into the exact moments a collection of ordinary lives unravel—ranging from an erotic contest of wills during a tense weekend getaway to a generational trauma sparked by a freak bridge accident.
A young woman on a romantic getaway in Cape May takes control of her relationship with her older, married partner. A bicycle accident on a bridge haunts a family for years. A girl jealous of her popular cousin realizes she is the fortunate one. A widow waits by the river for her deceased husband’s return. A young man hiking encounters a couple in a heated dispute—should he intervene?
Nine moving short stories
Section One
~The Frenzy
~The Fear
~The Bicycle Accident
Section Two
~The Call
~The Return
~The Redwoods
Section Three
~Small Veins
~Refuse
~Night Fishing at Antibes
Setting
The stories are primarily set across atmospheric, tension-choked landscapes of the American Northeast, transitioning from a windy drive along the Garden State Parkway to the deceptively peaceful coastal retreats of Cape May, New Jersey.
Vibe
Tense, unsettling, sinister, and blazingly vivid. It pairs the propulsive, stream-of-consciousness dread of high-stakes domestic psychological thrillers with the profound literary depth of a master storyteller.
Genre
Psychological Suspense / Short Story Anthology / Literary Noir / Literary Fiction
Themes
~Generational Conflict & Trauma:
~Erotic Contests of Will
~The Illusion of Ordinary Security
~Revenge & Turning Tables
Standout Characters
~Cassidy: The title story’s older, married antagonist whose internal rationalizations and manipulative tendencies blind him to his own undoing.
~Brianna: The young, deceptively vulnerable companion who expertly turns the tables on her abuser during a tense weekend trip.
Author Writing Standout
Joyce Carol Oates’s extraordinary talent for capturing the essence of life in its most raw and psychologically intricate forms radiates throughout her fluid and richly textured prose. She skillfully navigates the complexities of human existence, crafting her narratives with a depth that transcends mere plot. Instead of allowing her characters to become mere instruments of suspense, Oates intricately layers their profound fears, inner thoughts, and the subtle intricacies of daily life, imbuing them with a striking sense of realism that engages the senses and evokes vivid imagery. Each moment feels palpable, drawing readers into the characters’ experiences as if they were living them firsthand.
Takeaway
Human stability is a fragile illusion; one ominous encounter or impulsive action is often the only difference between an ordinary life and a total psychological freefall.
Title Significance
The Frenzy serves as both a literal clinical definition and a recurring behavioral pattern throughout the anthology. It represents a temporary madness or violent mental agitation, highlighting the intense, disorderly compulsions that take over ordinary people when their regular world comes completely undone.
Metaphor
The freak bicycle accident on a bridge in the anchor story serves as the central metaphor of the collection. It represents the unpredictable trajectory of trauma—a sudden structural break that permanently alters the course of multiple lives while leaving a community haunted for generations.
Why You Should Read
Read this if you are a fan of the dark and of dark, astute psychological thrillers like those by Gillian Flynn or Rebecca Makkai, or if you want a propulsive collection of bite-sized, high-stakes narratives that blazingly explore the perilous intersection of human desire and fate.
Audiobook
I am looking forward to listening to the audiobook come alive, narrated by an all-star cast: Cassandra Campbell, Linda Jones, January LaVoy, Ann Marie Lee, Kelli Tager, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, Matt Godfrey, Amy Jensen, Max Meyers.
My Thoughts
A huge fan of the author, the collection is a gripping, razor-sharp psychological noir masterclass.
The FRENZY succeeds beautifully in building immediate psychological tension with a fitting title encompassing the tone, mood, and vibe. The shifting perspectives are perfectly captured—not just through dark aesthetics, but through an immersive stream-of-consciousness style that makes the characters' inner panic feel incredibly grounded. The title story is an unforgettable standout; its sharp pacing and shocking climax deliver an immense, satisfying blow. A masterfully executed, high-stakes narrative experience.
Verdict: 5 / 5 Stars
"A gripping, masterfully executed collection of short fiction that pairs razor-sharp psychological suspense with an unforgettable look at human crisis."
Recs
~Fox by Joyce Carol Oates (for more of the author's signature, five-star mystery-psychological suspense roots). My top books & audio of 2025.
~Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (for a similarly rich, atmospheric exploration of generational trauma and deep psychological decay)
Special thanks to Random House/Hogarth Press and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: June 16, 2026
June Newsletter
June 2026 Must-Read Books
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was my first book by JCO, and I'm mad at myself for not diving into her works earlier. This collection of short stories is really great. Themes throughout of loss, grief, and various interpersonal relationships, with rich character development. Each story surprised me in some way, and most were darker than I expected, but feel very real and true to life. I particularly liked the first three stories, and the last story, and loved how it ended.
July 13, 2026
THE FRENZY: STORIES
BY: JOYCE CAROL OATES
I read and loved, "RAT," by Joyce Carol Oates and it was a lifetime favorite that was powerful, and it had been a while but I loved how she writes which in that I was surprised how understated what happened to him was which I appreciated since it wasn't graphic. Just like these short stories called, "The Frenzy," was my favorite because of how Cassidy was somewhat over the line when he kept thinking about how his wife wanted to work things out he mused in his mind, and he was going to move in with Brianna. I never got the sense that she was as positive about taking their relationship to the next level like he imagined during their drive to Cape May. He was forty six and she was twenty so I could see the age gap in stark contrast when they arrived. She wanted to take pictures and spend time on the beach during cold weather. He had rented a top tier luxurious and opulence, atmospheric hotel. His wanting to go inside which a man his age would want to relax and enjoy the finest amenities made him lose his patience since Brianna wanted to keep taking photos of the scenery. By grabbing her iPhone and throwing it in the surf was the catalyst for her quietly leaving him with how she did was JCO Brilliance. Five Stars I loved her resourcefulness, but a part of me felt a twinge of sorry for him wondering how he was going to do. That's because I'm an older reader than both of them and his actions were impulsive and just like the definition states he was agitated like the definition of the title, but she did get even but in the same vein as the perfect title suggests they both had actions that fit that definition in how they both went overboard. I was left wondering how he was ever going to explain his way out of that retaliation.
I am stunned at how the stories were able to convey so much with the title I was prepared for a darker theme throughout this fantastic collection. We all know that short stories are more challenging for encapsulating a whole fiction story.in dramatically fewer words. This collection is another reason why Joyce Carol Oates was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize twice already. I think that it's been long overdue, and so do most people I talk with agree that she is a prolific, Great American Writer that deserves it, who even other talented writers have great admiration for her work. The reason why I brought up how Stunning "Rat," was. I never thought Joyce Carol Oates was ever too wordy. She did use repetition but it was something that she uses to her advantage. I could see that at about fifty one percent into her novel,"Rat." I thought it seemed to me she knew exactly what she was doing and meant it since I remember thinking that she knew exactly why she did it, and it affected me when I thought about the young girl and how it was going to cause her to have problems even if treated with therapy. It hit me hard when I thought how his as tasteful as possible would haunt that favorite girl. I saw repetition in these stories but I would never doubt that she didn't know that she didn't purposefully use it, but it added depth and it was a few points about the character stated using different sentences but making her point. Again, it was less frequent than the above novel with maybe making the same point at least twice. A Haunting Collection that was such a treat that I loved the entire humanity that sparkles with realism with flaws that I have too much feedback about each story similar to the Title Story. "The Frenzy," but for the sake of my review not being too long it would be helpful to know that I rated them all five stars except The Bicycle accident with Evie which I rated four stars. The cousins one was Exquisite, but I think the one who shunned her cousin in school is going to have to work through tremendous guilt if she matures and is self reflective like most of us, and the ending was flawless. A Mirror effect. I can't praise this collection highly enough. I'll be thinking about each story for quite some time, and it was perfection.
Publication Date: June 16, 2026
Thank you to Net Galley, Joyce Carol Oates, and Random House/Hogarth for generously providing me with My ARC, in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own, as always
#TheFrenzy #JoyceCarolOates #RandomHouse #Hogarth #NetGalley
BY: JOYCE CAROL OATES
I read and loved, "RAT," by Joyce Carol Oates and it was a lifetime favorite that was powerful, and it had been a while but I loved how she writes which in that I was surprised how understated what happened to him was which I appreciated since it wasn't graphic. Just like these short stories called, "The Frenzy," was my favorite because of how Cassidy was somewhat over the line when he kept thinking about how his wife wanted to work things out he mused in his mind, and he was going to move in with Brianna. I never got the sense that she was as positive about taking their relationship to the next level like he imagined during their drive to Cape May. He was forty six and she was twenty so I could see the age gap in stark contrast when they arrived. She wanted to take pictures and spend time on the beach during cold weather. He had rented a top tier luxurious and opulence, atmospheric hotel. His wanting to go inside which a man his age would want to relax and enjoy the finest amenities made him lose his patience since Brianna wanted to keep taking photos of the scenery. By grabbing her iPhone and throwing it in the surf was the catalyst for her quietly leaving him with how she did was JCO Brilliance. Five Stars I loved her resourcefulness, but a part of me felt a twinge of sorry for him wondering how he was going to do. That's because I'm an older reader than both of them and his actions were impulsive and just like the definition states he was agitated like the definition of the title, but she did get even but in the same vein as the perfect title suggests they both had actions that fit that definition in how they both went overboard. I was left wondering how he was ever going to explain his way out of that retaliation.
I am stunned at how the stories were able to convey so much with the title I was prepared for a darker theme throughout this fantastic collection. We all know that short stories are more challenging for encapsulating a whole fiction story.in dramatically fewer words. This collection is another reason why Joyce Carol Oates was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize twice already. I think that it's been long overdue, and so do most people I talk with agree that she is a prolific, Great American Writer that deserves it, who even other talented writers have great admiration for her work. The reason why I brought up how Stunning "Rat," was. I never thought Joyce Carol Oates was ever too wordy. She did use repetition but it was something that she uses to her advantage. I could see that at about fifty one percent into her novel,"Rat." I thought it seemed to me she knew exactly what she was doing and meant it since I remember thinking that she knew exactly why she did it, and it affected me when I thought about the young girl and how it was going to cause her to have problems even if treated with therapy. It hit me hard when I thought how his as tasteful as possible would haunt that favorite girl. I saw repetition in these stories but I would never doubt that she didn't know that she didn't purposefully use it, but it added depth and it was a few points about the character stated using different sentences but making her point. Again, it was less frequent than the above novel with maybe making the same point at least twice. A Haunting Collection that was such a treat that I loved the entire humanity that sparkles with realism with flaws that I have too much feedback about each story similar to the Title Story. "The Frenzy," but for the sake of my review not being too long it would be helpful to know that I rated them all five stars except The Bicycle accident with Evie which I rated four stars. The cousins one was Exquisite, but I think the one who shunned her cousin in school is going to have to work through tremendous guilt if she matures and is self reflective like most of us, and the ending was flawless. A Mirror effect. I can't praise this collection highly enough. I'll be thinking about each story for quite some time, and it was perfection.
Publication Date: June 16, 2026
Thank you to Net Galley, Joyce Carol Oates, and Random House/Hogarth for generously providing me with My ARC, in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own, as always
#TheFrenzy #JoyceCarolOates #RandomHouse #Hogarth #NetGalley
June 25, 2026
via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒕 (𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆’𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆) 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆 (𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆’𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆) 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐, 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆.
I say it often, no one writes like Oates. Why do people do the things they do? What pushes them to make choices, be it submission, violence, kindness, love, cruelty, willful ignorance- she has the gift of peeling back the mind and exposing what is lurking beneath. People do make a lot of excuses though, for their behavior. As in the title story The Frenzy (a perfect description for what is going on within him), a middle-aged married man is high on his affair with his nineteen-year-old mistress. As we get to know him, we see the imposter he feels he has been in his own life. He expects something permanent from this fresh, young love, one that makes him feel alive because she is all that matters now. He knows how to control a girl like her, he knows not to push for too much too soon. How does she feel? My favorite story is The Fear, cousins Juliet and Janette once looked like twins but poor Janette, months younger, always falls behind. Janette is made to feel like the flawed reflection, less pretty, less accomplished, a little dumber and dimmer. Envy is a monster growing within her, it is all so unfair until something bad happens and then fear, resentment, shame. The emotional struggle within Janette is written with such clarity in the way children think that sometimes it reminded me of how confusing the adult world once was. In youth she doesn’t measure up, then she has it too good and should feel ashamed for all her cousin has lost. The Bicycle Accident proves mother doesn’t always know best. When Arlette’s daughter Evie wrecks on her bicycle, her plain daughter’s behavior darkens until she is a stranger. It is a story of betrayal, of failing to see what is right beneath your nose. It is disturbing and sad. People see what the want to, and are charmed by darkness. The Call is a bit of a bad dream, a life forced upon young S. No life at all. The Return, Maude decides to finally visit her good friend who is twice widowed, shamed that she waited so long, and unnerved by the state of things. It is a quiet madness.
The Redwoods is about missed moments, cowardice, and phantom longings. Jacob “Van” Vanbrugh, Jr. has always been somewhere else. Even when he marries, has a child, he is not fully present. As his widow speaks to herself, to him, he is captive of the truth in their marriage, the longing for something outside his grasp, and his inability to have taken initiative in life long after an incident hiking in the redwoods when he was twenty-three. Small Veins: A lonely widow is getting her blood drawn and then having a consultation with her doctor, he tells her sad news that may return her will to live. Refuge is Lorene’s story, her estranged husband is missing, maybe intentionally. As she looks for him, we see this isn’t quite a solid loving marriage. Marcus often loses patience with Lorene, and she wants so badly, tries hard to be the sort of wife he wants. She shrinks, is submissive, believes she is as silly as her husband sees her. A woman swallowed up by her husband. How will this end? Night Fishing at Antibes Meghan and Zahira become tight friends after the death of their husbands, though they were barely acquaintances before. This sisterhood offers surprising support and humor when Zahira visits an older, former colleague of her husband; a man who paid much more attention to Zahira than her own beloved Herman ever did. You get a bit lost in their minds as the walls close in, and feel relief when things turn. You don’t ever have to love the characters, you can outright feel disgusted by them but the life she gives them, the turn of their minds, makes them come alive. Hell of a read!
Published June 16, 2026
Random House
Hogarth
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒕 (𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆’𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆) 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆 (𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆’𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆) 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐, 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆.
I say it often, no one writes like Oates. Why do people do the things they do? What pushes them to make choices, be it submission, violence, kindness, love, cruelty, willful ignorance- she has the gift of peeling back the mind and exposing what is lurking beneath. People do make a lot of excuses though, for their behavior. As in the title story The Frenzy (a perfect description for what is going on within him), a middle-aged married man is high on his affair with his nineteen-year-old mistress. As we get to know him, we see the imposter he feels he has been in his own life. He expects something permanent from this fresh, young love, one that makes him feel alive because she is all that matters now. He knows how to control a girl like her, he knows not to push for too much too soon. How does she feel? My favorite story is The Fear, cousins Juliet and Janette once looked like twins but poor Janette, months younger, always falls behind. Janette is made to feel like the flawed reflection, less pretty, less accomplished, a little dumber and dimmer. Envy is a monster growing within her, it is all so unfair until something bad happens and then fear, resentment, shame. The emotional struggle within Janette is written with such clarity in the way children think that sometimes it reminded me of how confusing the adult world once was. In youth she doesn’t measure up, then she has it too good and should feel ashamed for all her cousin has lost. The Bicycle Accident proves mother doesn’t always know best. When Arlette’s daughter Evie wrecks on her bicycle, her plain daughter’s behavior darkens until she is a stranger. It is a story of betrayal, of failing to see what is right beneath your nose. It is disturbing and sad. People see what the want to, and are charmed by darkness. The Call is a bit of a bad dream, a life forced upon young S. No life at all. The Return, Maude decides to finally visit her good friend who is twice widowed, shamed that she waited so long, and unnerved by the state of things. It is a quiet madness.
The Redwoods is about missed moments, cowardice, and phantom longings. Jacob “Van” Vanbrugh, Jr. has always been somewhere else. Even when he marries, has a child, he is not fully present. As his widow speaks to herself, to him, he is captive of the truth in their marriage, the longing for something outside his grasp, and his inability to have taken initiative in life long after an incident hiking in the redwoods when he was twenty-three. Small Veins: A lonely widow is getting her blood drawn and then having a consultation with her doctor, he tells her sad news that may return her will to live. Refuge is Lorene’s story, her estranged husband is missing, maybe intentionally. As she looks for him, we see this isn’t quite a solid loving marriage. Marcus often loses patience with Lorene, and she wants so badly, tries hard to be the sort of wife he wants. She shrinks, is submissive, believes she is as silly as her husband sees her. A woman swallowed up by her husband. How will this end? Night Fishing at Antibes Meghan and Zahira become tight friends after the death of their husbands, though they were barely acquaintances before. This sisterhood offers surprising support and humor when Zahira visits an older, former colleague of her husband; a man who paid much more attention to Zahira than her own beloved Herman ever did. You get a bit lost in their minds as the walls close in, and feel relief when things turn. You don’t ever have to love the characters, you can outright feel disgusted by them but the life she gives them, the turn of their minds, makes them come alive. Hell of a read!
Published June 16, 2026
Random House
Hogarth
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