Jack of Spades

Starred review from March 23, 2015
A writer’s secret pseudonymous identity becomes a conduit for his murderous dark side in Oates’s sleek and suspenseful excursion into the literary macabre. For years refined crime novelist Andrew J. Rush—known to his audience as “the gentleman’s Stephen King”—has moonlighted as Jack of Spades, an author of violent pulp potboilers. When an unhinged reader brings a ludicrous lawsuit against him for literary theft, Andrew snaps. Motivated by what Poe called “the imp of the perverse”—a quotation from the Poe story of that name serves as the book’s epigraph—he begins acting increasingly like a character in one of his alter ego’s nasty novels. Oates (High Crime Area) has endowed her first-person narrator with the slightly affected speaking style and overconfidence of one of Poe’s monomaniacal protagonists. Although she nods to a number of Poe’s classic tales—especially “The Black Cat” and “William Wilson”—the story’s modern spin is entirely of her own clever invention. Readers are sure to be gripped and unsettled by her depiction of a seemingly mild-mannered character whose psychopathology simmers frighteningly close to the surface. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins & Associates.

June 29, 2015
Joe Barrett has a great time bringing to life this twisted tale of a man’s fall into madness and murder. Andrew J. Rush is a celebrated literary novelist, with enough critical accolades and money to satisfy any author. It would appear that Rush reigns happily atop the elusive mountain of publishing success, but he has a secret. Under the pseudonym Jack of Spades, he writes a series of ultraviolent pulp novels that are unrivaled in their depictions of visceral depravity. But family drama, professional jealousy, and accusations of plagiarism lead Rush to hear the strident, demanding voice of Jack, and that voice is pushing him down a dark, deadly path in his own life. Reader Barrett sets just the right tone with this first-person page-turner. He gives Rush a perfectly calm sense of reasonableness, but at the same time his reading nicely conveys the fragility of the character’s sanity as it begins to slowly crack and break. It is a well-textured performance that pulls the listener in and never lets go. A Grove/Atlantic/Mysterious hardcover.

Author Joyce Carol Oates and narrator Joe Barrett create something irresistible to any mystery bibliophile. This audiobook has psychological delusions and literary allusions in spades. Even when you think Barrett has revealed all that's "Hyde"ing behind the persona of the protagonist--a mystery writer who quotes with pride the reviewer who called him "the gentlemen's Stephen King"--it turns out you still don't know Jack. Barrett clearly revels in this character, whose thought processes careen between those of a caring, cardigan-wearing Mr. Rogers and THE SHINING's Jack Torrence (complete with ax). You might hear Barrett make a few slips when transitioning between character voices, but you just won't care. K.W. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

September 1, 2015

Andrew J. Rush has a loving family, and his 28 mystery novels have achieved both critical and commercial success. But he also secretly writes the kind of books he wouldn't even admit to reading: the crude, violent Jack of Spades novels. When Rush receives a court summons that accuses him not only of breaking and entering but also of plagiarism, his finely balanced life begins to teeter. There is a bit of an Edgar Allan Poe influence in Oates's story as she explores the fine line between madness and genius. VERDICT Read with the proper edge and disbelief in turn by Joe Barrett, this audiobook is recommended for horror and mystery fans. ["This tale of suspense makes for another high-caliber Oatesian outing, displaying flair, noir sophistication, and King-like flourishes": LJ 4/1/15 starred review of the Mysterious: Grove Atlantic hc.]--Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo

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