I'm a fan of Joyce Carol Oates and have read and enjoyed several of her novels and short story collections. However this one left me a little perplexed. It was originally published in 1974 and tells the story of a psychopathic killer from his point of view in a stream-of-consciousness style. The killer seems to be modeled somewhat after Charles Manson with no empathy for his victims. The narrative goes back and forth in time and covers his life story from when he was discovered as a baby stuffed inside a duffel bag in a bus terminal locker to his harsh treatment growing up in foster homes and on to time in prison and eventually to his life in L.A. where he strives to be a singer and actor. And then he hacks nine women to death with a machete, becomes somewhat of a cult leader and is then on trial for his crimes. Oates prose is sometimes dense and hard to follow while the plot tends to get lost in the telling. The writing is filled with rambling fantasies and rambling poetry and at the end it kind of leaves you wondering... what was that all about??

Also included in this volume was an equally disjointed novella called Love, Careless Love. This was written in the same style and is also a hard one to follow. Overall, I would only recommend this volume to die hard JCO fans. I'll be looking forward to reading something more conventional from her.

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