This is another wondeful novel from one of my favourite authors, Joyce Carol Oates. The story takes place in a small city in upstate New York. A young woman is brutally murdered and suspicion falls on two men, her husband and her longtime lover, a married man. Two families are torn apart as the mystery remains unresolved until the shocking conclusion. Achingly sad and a very good story. ( )

SO BORING! ( )

This book was a selection for my book club. It provoked fascinating commentary, primarily about the characters, their motivations, and how their parents influenced their destiny. The crux of the novel is a murder, and there is a surprise ending.
This book. although described by many book-club members as depressing with no likable characters, made everybody think and, thus, was described by everyone as excellent literature.

A woman is murdered in a small town in central New York. Her former lover is accused, then released. Her former husband is accused, then released. Her murderer was never found.

The ex-lover's teenager daughter tells the story from her point of view. How her father lost his job, then her parents broke up. How her father became a drifter who would occassionally wander into her life, then back out. How her brother rejected their father, and how she eventually rejected her brother. And how her world collides with the son of the murdered woman.

The the story is told again, from the perspective of the victim's teenage son. How his parents came to break up. How his mother left him with his alcoholic father. How he found his mother's dead body. How his life deteriorated, and how he came to save the life of his mother's ex-lover's teenage daughter.

Then, years later, these now-adult children are brought together and told the real truth of how the murder happened, the murder that changed the paths of their lives.

Original approach, well-crafted, yet another beautiful read from the master, Joyce Carol Oates. ( )

A dark book about what happens to "people of interest" in a murder investigation that are never charged with a crime or exhonorated. Two men fit this description and the book details the ways that their lives are forever changed. ( )