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Jack of Spades: A Tale of Suspense Kindle Edition

by Joyce Oates (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 581 ratings
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An exquisite, psychologically complex thriller about opposing forces within the mind of one ambitious writer and the delicate line between genius and madness.
 
Andrew J. Rush has achieved the kind of critical and commercial success most authors only dream about: He has a top agent and publisher in New York, and his twenty-eight mystery novels have sold millions of copies. Only Stephen King, one of the few mystery writers whose fame exceeds his own, is capable of inspiring a twinge of envy in Rush. But Rush is hiding a dark secret. Under the pseudonym “Jack of Spades,” he pens another string of novels—noir thrillers that are violent, lurid, and masochistic. These are novels that the upstanding Rush wouldn’t be caught reading, let alone writing. When his daughter comes across a Jack of Spades novel he has carelessly left out, she picks it up and begins to ask questions. Meanwhile, Rush receives a court summons in the mail explaining that a local woman has accused him of plagiarizing her own self-published fiction. Before long, Rush’s reputation, career, and family life all come under threat—and in his mind he begins to hear the taunting voice of the Jack of Spades.
 
“Sleek and suspenseful . . . Readers are sure to be gripped and unsettled by [Oates’s] depiction of a seemingly mild-mannered character whose psychopathology simmers frighteningly close to the surface.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
“Just when you think you’ve got her all figured out, Joyce Carol Oates sneaks up behind and confounds you yet again. She does it with a wicked flourish in Jack of Spades.” —The New York Times Book Review
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  1. Print length
    193 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Mysterious Press
  5. Publication date
    May 5, 2015
  6. File size
    8380 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

From Joyce Carol Oates, an exquisite, psychologically complex thriller about opposing forces within the mind of one ambitious writer and the delicate line between genius and madness.

Andrew J. Rush has achieved the kind of critical and commercial success most authors only dream about: He has a top agent and publisher in New York, and his twenty-eight mystery novels have sold millions of copies. Only Stephen King, one of the few mystery writers whose fame exceeds his own, is capable of inspiring a twinge of envy in Rush. But Rush is hiding a dark secret. Under the pseudonym "Jack of Spades," he pens another string of novels—noir thrillers that are violent, lurid, masochistic. These are novels that the upstanding Rush wouldn't be caught reading, let alone writing. When his daughter comes across a Jack of Spades novel he has carelessly left out, she picks it up and begins to ask questions. Meanwhile, Rush receives a court summons in the mail explaining that a local woman has accused him of plagiarizing her own self-published fiction. Before long, Rush's reputation, career, and family life all come under threat—and in his mind he begins to hear the taunting voice of the Jack of Spades.

About the Author

Joyce Carol Oates is the author of such national bestsellers as The Falls, Blonde, and We Were the Mulvaneys. Her other titles for The Mysterious Press include High Crime Area and The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares, which won the 2011 Bram Stoker Award for Short Horror Fiction. She is also the recipient of the National Book Award, for them, and the 2010 President’s Medal for the Humanities.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00PSSGPVW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mysterious Press; Reprint edition (May 5, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 5, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 8380 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 193 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 581 ratings

About the author

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Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates

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Joyce Carol Oates is the author of more than 70 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry volumes, plays, essays, and criticism, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde. Among her many honors are the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and the National Book Award. Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
581 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Elizabeth du Fresne
4.0 out of 5 stars Oates at her most compellingly horrible
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2020
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There is no one quite the literary peer of Joyce Carol Oates. Surely there are horror writers (Shirley Jackson, Stephen King) who rival or surpass her in creating a building sense of wrongness, of evil creshendowing to an inevitable point. And there are those who can write Roman a' clef like Blonde (Gore Vidal). As good as her short stories are so too are Ann Beattie's and William Trevor's. There are those who have done a memoir on widowhood that reaches hers at her level (JoAn Didion). Her nonfiction is superb as are her forays into the weird (Zombie). The point is : she simply can do it all. And that continues to amaze me. And in such masterful manner that a book like Jack can be read in a single sitting
Andrew J Rust , a middle aged mystery author, begins the narrative and we cannot take our eyes off him as he evolves before our eyes into a creature consumed by evil. Many of the other people in the book are near ciphers because Oates does not let Andrew out of our sight for a moment. We glimpse other characters as they relate to Andrew. The focus on Andrew is absolute. And intense. And horrible. You will not forget him.
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D. Chaudoir
5.0 out of 5 stars A suspenseful and quick read with unexpected twists
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2015
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Oates surprises again -- a masterly tale of one writer's descent into madness... or, is it madness? Andrew Rush enjoys a successful career as a mystery novelist but leads a double writerly life as "Jack of Spades," the pseudonymous author who writes much darker, more violent and perhaps misogynistic novels than would Andrew Rush. When a seemingly crazed would-be writer, C.R. Haider, sues Rush for alleged plagiarism and theft, it sends Rush into a catatonic spiral where his identities begin to blur and you’re not quite sure who is who, what is truth, and what motivates our protagonist. Oates has some unexpected twists in the last third of the book! It's a quick, brilliant read that will linger in your mind long after the last page is turned.
6 people found this helpful
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Shultzy
3.0 out of 5 stars Suspense is… Writing about writing?
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2015
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This was a smart quick book. Excellently written. However, the praise I had read beforehand set it up. As suspense goes, it was twice exciting. The narrative component is what makes the writing so unique and good, but is also what takes away the fast paced suspense.
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Dave Schwinghammer
4.0 out of 5 stars Was C.W. Haider For Real?
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2015
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JACK OF SPADES is an unusual mystery, even for Joyce Carol Oates. It's about an author of best-selling, traditional mysteries, a rung below Stephen King, whom he envies.

But then he begins writing noirish type mysteries that push the envelope. Andrew J. Rush uses a pseudonym to write them, Jack of Spades. He writes them after he's finished working on his Andrew J. Rush novels, well past midnight. He tells no one, not even his wife. They're much easier to write. It's almost as if they write themselves. Worse yet, Jack of Spades begins to talk to Andrew.

Then he gets a summons to appear in court. He's being sued by a woman who claims he's broken into her house and stolen her work, publishing it as his own. His publisher furnishes him with a lawyer, who makes good on his promise “to bury her.” But before the court date, the lawyer tells him not to call C.W. Haider. At this time, Andrew doesn't know why she's suing him. He calls her anyway, and she has a conniption fit.

What makes things easier for Andrew is that C.W. Haider has sued other famous authors: Stephen King, Peter Straub, even John Updike. John Updike? Come on lady! Andrew's lawyer tells him this sort of thing is par for the course; it's surprising he hasn't been sued before. Andrew gets unsolicited manuscripts all the time; he even reads them sometimes, and offers advice. He's asking for it, in other words.

Oates has a reputation for not answering all the questions a reader might have about what's going on in her stories, and that's the case here, too. Is this guy nuts? Does he have a split personality? It seems so. After the case is thrown out of court, he can't help but drive by C.W. Haider's house. Is this the sensible Andrew J. Rush who labors over almost every word, or is it Jack of Spades whose books Andrew barely remembers writing?

To further complicate matters, we learn that Andrew once had a brother who died under suspicious circumstances in a diving accident. Some people thought Andrew was responsible. Jack of Spades even writes about it.

Okay, here's the part that really bugs me. Andrew talks his way into C.W. Haider's house. He has a present for her, MISERY, one of Stephen King's books, with a snarky dedication to C.W. Haider, forged by Andrew or Jack or whomever. He finds all kinds of first editions in her library. Bram Stoker's DRACULA. THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE by Edgar Allen Poe. FRANKENSTEIN. Andrew collects rare books, but he doesn't have anything close to this. He takes some of them. He also finds Haider's old manuscripts and journals. Some of them sound an awful lot like the books she claimed other authors stole from her, and they predate the best sellers. Stephen King's THE SHINING; Peter Straub's GHOSTS; even John Updike's THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, all under different titles but definitely the same ideas. There's even one of Andrew J. Haider's novels there, with a slightly different title.

What are we supposed to believe here, that John Updike stole THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK from an obscure old woman whose only publication was released by a vanity press? Andrew's answer is that she had the ideas but not the talent to make them publishable. That might happen with one book, but not with several different famous authors. Oates leaves this thread hanging.

I do like the theme that we are all plagued by childhood events, if not quite as traumatic as Andrew's, and that we all have a perverse nature like Jack of Spades. Think about it. Do we behave because we're afraid we'll get caught if we don't? Freud had a theory that the personality is made up of the id, the superego, and the ego. Most of us are rotten little kids at heart, but our conscience, the Superego, keeps us under control. But sometimes the Id needs to get what it wants, or we'd be miserable. We fall off our diet. We start smoking again after quitting for a year.

I think it's Andrew's Superego that wins out; he doesn't think he deserves what he has, and that's why Jack of Spades gets stronger and stronger.
7 people found this helpful
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toni
5.0 out of 5 stars Oates creates an explosive climax that clearly, shockingly change.
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2017
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Joyce Carol Oates is an excellent writer. The story is a psychologically complex thriller about the opposing forces within the mind of Andrew J. Rush. To others, Andrew Rush is a normal family man and successful author. He has a dark side and writes under Jack of Spades, which he pens another string of novels— dark potboilers that are violent, lurid, even masochistic. Jack of Spades is really about a person’s internal demon that spends a lifetime as a (mostly) harmless, toothless, nascent being that suddenly blossoms into full adulthood.
2 people found this helpful
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499Lake
2.0 out of 5 stars Is Joyce Carol Oates doing a "Jack Spade" type trick on readers of this book?
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2015
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When I was reading this book, I asked myself these questions: Did JCO really write this book herself?; Did she take a speed-writing course? Does she have a yearly quota from her publisher? Do she and her publisher believe that long-time readers have forgotten her earlier books, i.e. how engrossing and how many pages they had? Why doesn't she write under another name if she wants to write books, like Jack Spade?
This the first novel of her that I did not finish-because it was not worth it. You could tell what was going to happen by reading the book jacket. Only one of the major plots was developed to any extent. All of the characters lacked depth, including Jack Spade.
This book goes into my donation box, rather than on my five shelves of JCO books. Don't waste your time by buying this book. This is the last book of hers that I will buy.
3 people found this helpful
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Anna Katrina
3.0 out of 5 stars With a read but not her best.
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2015
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I love Oates and this was a good read but not her best. Engaging and dark but needs a better story line..
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Top reviews from other countries

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patricia
5.0 out of 5 stars Muy recomendable
Reviewed in Mexico on July 17, 2019
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Me encanto
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WZS
2.0 out of 5 stars Große Enttäuschung
Reviewed in Germany on September 22, 2018
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Gut geschrieben ist das Buch, dennoch hat es mir gar nicht gefallen. Die Geschichte erinnert etwas an Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde , an Edgar Allen Poe und, ja, auch Stephen King, der eine nicht unwichtige Rolle in diesem Roman spielt. Im Untertitel nennt sich das Buch „A Tale Of Suspense”, allerdings hält sich die Spannung in Grenzen, da ziemlich bald klar wird, wie sich die Handlung weiter entwickeln wird. Das Einzige, was ich wirklich spannend fand, war die geheimnisvolle Sache, dass die Werke bekannter Autoren Plagiate einer völlig unbekannten Schriftstellerin sind. Dies jedoch wird nicht aufgelöst.

Ärgerlich, dass keine einzige der Figuren, die nicht nur Nebenrollen spielen, sympathisch ist. Die Hauptfigur ist tatsächlich recht widerlich, die um ihn herum bleiben sehr blass, ihre Persönlichkeit wird nicht herausgearbeitet.

Mein erstes Buch von Joyce Carol Oates lässt mich sehr enttäuscht zurück und etwas verärgert.
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Pamela Scott
5.0 out of 5 stars Twisted and brilliant
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2017
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The book is quite dark, especially towards the end. This is an example of how great JCO can be when she pulls all the stops out. This short novel is very intense at time especially when Andrew’s mind starts to unravel. My favourite scene is when he sneaks into the house of the women who tried to sue him. This triggers an obsession with her which is quite creepy. This short novel is packed with atmosphere and suspense. I really like the way Jack of Spades is paced. The pace is quite slow at first, lulling you into false sense of security until things start to get quite gruesome and the race fairly rattles along. I thought Jack of Spades was great.
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Savonnerie
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 17, 2015
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Very exciting and page turny!
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henry hirschberg
1.0 out of 5 stars predictable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2015
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Did not like this book. Very predictable from the outset. Nothing original . Too many ghost writers out there.most are better than this.m
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