A collection of twenty-two disturbing tales of crime and suspense from literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde and 'America's preeminent fiction writer' (New Yorker). Two hitmen in a depressed rust belt town struggle with a job gone wrong.

A girl witnesses a horrifying accident and carries it with her for the rest of her life.

Medical students bring a severed foot to a college party.

Five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates has made a career of exploring the forbidden corners of human experience, and the stories collected here, spanning her first three decades as a writer, are among her most unsettling and unforgettable works to date. Originally published in long out-of-print volumes, these tales have not appeared in any form this century - until now.

They show a writer boldly engaging with disturbing truths and terrifying possibilities, and deconstructing the tropes and expectations of traditional prose writing as she does so.