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Pursuit: A Novel of Suspense Kindle Edition

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 438 ratings
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From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author, “a compelling domestic horror story” of a new bride haunted by childhood nightmares (Kirkus Reviews).
 
Less than twenty-four hours after exchanging vows with her new husband, Willem, Abby steps out into traffic. As his wife lies in her hospital bed, sleeping in fits and starts, Willem tries to determine whether this was an absentminded accident or a premeditated plunge, and he quickly discovers a mysterious set of clues about what his wife might be hiding. Why, for example is there a rash-like red mark circling her wrist? What does she dream about that causes her to wake from the sound of her own screams?
 
Slowly, Abby begins to open up to her husband, revealing to him what she has never shared with anyone before—a story of a terrified mother; a jealous, drug-addled father; a daughter’s terrifying captivity; and the demons behind her terrible recurring dreams of wandering through a field ridden with human skulls and bones…

From a recipient of a National Book Award and three Bram Stoker Awards, this suspenseful, twisting tale, named one of the scariest books of the year by
Kirkus Reviews, is a “fast-paced examination of the destructive and restorative nature of obsessive love” (Booklist).
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Pursuit:

A Kirkus Reviews “13 Scariest Books Written This Year”

“[Oates] consistently reveals to us what we don’t want to believe—that the calls are always coming from inside the house, and the dangers lurking inside the walls of home are more dangerous than the 'other' we are trying to demonize and keep out.” —Criminal Element

“Oates reinforces her place as the grand mistress of ghoulishness.” —Publishers Weekly

“[A]n intriguing novel that is definitely worth reading, especially if you are a fan of this legendary, award-winning author.” —Bookreporter

“Oates is in full domestic gothic mode…A compelling domestic horror story reaches into a young woman's nightmares of her childhood in search of what's real.” —Kirkus

“Staccato pacing and Oates’ deftly malevolent yet nuanced characterizations contribute to this fast-paced examination of the destructive and restorative nature of obsessive love.” —Booklist

“Oates in white-knuckling mode.” —Library Journal

“Turn on the lights and crack open this suspenseful book that's coming out just in time for Halloween.” —Good Housekeeping


Praise for Joyce Carol Oates:

"[A] cutting edge collection...full of rare, believable scenarios that can make the heart race or cause us to ponder our own mortality...Night Gaunts is like a paranoid daydream, yet one where it is satisfying to know that you can awaken with a sounder mind than before it began." Bookreporter, on Night-Gaunts

"Consummately well-written, stylistically dashing...forthrightly nightmarish." —Kirkus Reviews, on Night-Gaunts

"Oates’ spookiness is visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute." —Booklist, on Night-Gaunts

“Few writers better illuminate the mind’s most disturbing corners.”—Seattle Times, “The 10 best mysteries of 2015,” on Jack of Spades

“Oates’s brand of horror has never required the invocation of other worlds: This world is terrible enough for her. Everything she writes, in whatever genre, has an air of dread, because she deals in vulnerabilities and inevitabilities, in the desperate needs that drive people . . . to their fates. A sense of helplessness is the essence of horror, and Oates conveys that feeling as well as any writer around.” New York Times Book Review, on The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror

“Does any writer around do literary creepy like Joyce Carol Oates? . . . The stories always have an undercurrent of menace poised to break through at any moment.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror

“A dazzling, disturbing tour de force of Gothic suspense.” Boston Globe, on Evil Eye

“This writer is extraordinary not because she produces such huge amount, but because what she produces is so consistently good. And short stories show her invention, economy and control at its best . . . Oates perfectly captures the atmosphere of fear and well-meaning misunderstanding.” —Times (UK), on High Crime Area

“Oates creates worlds and minds as overwrought and paranoid as anything a female Poe could imagine, then sprinkles her trademark exclamation points licentiously through the interior monologues to heighten the intimacy between ecstasy and madness.” Kirkus Reviews, on DIS MEM BER and Other Stories of Mystery and Suspense

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 Night-Gaunts and Other Tales of Suspense, which features “The Woman in the Window,” selected for The Best American Mystery Stories 2017; The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror, which won the 2016 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection; The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares, which won the 2011 Bram Stoker Award for Short Horror Fiction; and Jack of Spades. She is the recipient of the National Book Award for them and the 2010 President’s National Humanities Medal.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07QP9TFM5
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mysterious Press (September 27, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 27, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 9586 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:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 438 ratings

About the author

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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

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
438 global ratings
The mystery of the past is skullfully revealed.
4 Stars
The mystery of the past is skullfully revealed.
The copy I read is labeled as an “Uncorrected Proof”, but I would assume any changes are only improvements. The story grabbed me quickly and when I had the time available, the reading went quickly. The copy I have is only 216 pages, so between the wanting to know what happened in the past and how the present would continue, it was a quick read. Since anyone who starts reading this book is likely to feel the same way, I won’t give away any spoilers. The story is told from many points of view. The husband, the new wife, the mother and the father and the mystery of what happened is revealed. The suspense holds the reader and keeps the pages turning.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2019
Another winner of a novel from one of the greats of American letters. Like ZOMBIE, A FAIR MAIDEN, and BEASTS, PURSUIT is an intoxicating read in large part due to the pacing of the tale; the horror is revealed gradually and what transpires is never predictable. Oates's ability to enter into the twisted mind of a pathologically-scarred individual is beyond comparison. Although her prose gives nods to Poe and Hawthorne in particular, it is unmistakable in its autonomy and is immediately recognizable as Oates's special brand, as it were. Be warned, however: PURSUIT is not for the squeamish!
10 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2024
“Pursuit: A Novel of Suspense” is another amazing book by prolific writer Joyce Carol Oates (it was fifty years ago I read “Them” in a college lit course). In her lifetime, she has written many novels, novellas, short stories, plays, poetry, essays, and non-fiction (have I forgotten anything?). This present novel focuses on many issues we are confronted with on a daily basis: domestic violence, PTSD from returning war veterans, and more. The chapters are divided into four acts, primarily dealing with two characters -a young woman and her father- who have dealt with great trauma in their lives, and how those traumas affected them and those around them. At less than 200 pages, it is a relatively quick, absorbing read.
5 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2020
Thank you Mysterious Press for the free arc via Netgalley. This was more like a short story. It was very interesting but I have to admit I did not quite get the ending.
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2023
We always wonder what children hear and see and remember. If the memory is happy and reinforced and talked about, then the child sees that memory through various ages and understanding. If the memory is traumatic and there is no one to substantiate or review the event, then the memory is seen through the eyes and understanding of a child. Unfortunately that child grows up with a distorted understanding of the trauma and usually has no way to find out the truth.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2019
While I could summarize the plot in maybe 3 or 4 sentences, I won't (in order to avoid a spoiler alert). Well written, but maybe not quite her best.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2022
I loved this the first time I read it and I enjoyed it just as much the second time. Learning what the main character has lived through, suppressed, and come to terms with page by page makes it difficult to put down.
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2019
A Sad and Dark Mystery!

A young woman of twenty suffers from horrible nightmares but she is looking forward to her future with Willem, her husband of one day. On this morning (the day after her wedding) Abby is hit by the bus that she had just stepped off from. While Abby is convalescing from her traumatic injuries in the hospital, a background story is told of all the events that had caused her to have the nightmares that have plagued her throughout her life and then Willem discovers that he did not have a clue to the person who has become his bride.

I am sorry to say this story was not for me. Of course, "Pursuit" was well-written but I found it depressing and dark without any real suspense or tension. It was a fast read and the storyline was interesting but for me it was just a sad and dark drama. if you are a fan of Joyce Carol Oates, I recommend reading this book but (IMO) it just did not rise to a suspenseful thriller.

I want to thank the publisher "Grove Atlantic Mysterious Press" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book!

I have given a rating of 3 Wavering Stars!!
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2020
A slow start but once the book warmer up I couldn’t put it down. Immediately sent it to a friend. Does not disappoint..
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
sophie
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Roma
Reviewed in France on November 9, 2023
Attiré un peu corné
Bristol Book Blogger 📚📖📓
4.0 out of 5 stars A good story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2021
A crime and a tragedy melded as one. A heartbreaking story told well.
CarlosCC
4.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro
Reviewed in Spain on September 12, 2020
En línea con todos los que he leído de esta gran escritora. Entretenido y se lee enseguida.
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