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“An absolute page-turner . . . I read it in a single sitting.”—Miranda Cowley Heller, bestselling author of The Paper Palace
The cleverest psychopaths hide in plain sight.
Gil is living a quiet life as a creative writing professor in a bucolic Vermont town, when he receives some shocking news: His sister and her husband have been killed in a car accident, and their only son is coming to live with him and his family.
Gil and his wife are apprehensive about taking in seventeen-year-old Matthew. Yes, he has just lost both his parents, but they haven’t seen him in seven years—and the last time the families were together, Matthew lured their young daughter into a terrifying, life-threatening situation. Since that incident, Gil has been estranged from his sister and her flashy, wealthy banker husband.
Now Matthew is their charge, living under their roof.
The boy seems charming, smart, and urbane, if strangely unaffected by his parents’ deaths. Gil hopes they can put the past behind them, though he’s surprised when Matthew signs up for his creative writing class. Then Matthew begins turning in chilling stories about the imagined deaths of Gil’s family and his own parents. Bewildered and panicked, Gil ultimately decides he must take matters into his own hands—before life imitates art.
Told in limber, mesmerizing prose, A Flaw in the Design is a twisting novel of suspense that brilliantly explores the tensions surrounding class, family, and the drive to control one’s own story.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 21, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593677339
- File size: 293589 KB
- Duration: 10:11:38
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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December 12, 2022
In this gripping psychological thriller from Oates (The Empty House), 17-year-old Matthew’s wealthy Manhattanite parents have died in a suspicious car accident, and the newly orphaned high school senior goes to live with his uncle Gil and Gil’s family in Vermont. Gil is uneasy about this arrangement: as a boy, Matthew stood by as Gil’s daughter nearly drowned in a pool; Matthew cursed viciously at his French nanny; and even his mother admitted Matthew had difficulties. However, Gil, a creative writing professor, has stalled in his career, is badly in debt, and has reasons to be jealous of this handsome, often charming young man with a multimillion-dollar trust fund. So the question that drives the narrative is whether Gil projects his own hostility onto Matthew, or whether Matthew is a sociopath who has killed his parents for the inheritance. Meanwhile, Matthew writes disturbing stories about his family for Gil’s class, setting Matthew and Gil on a collision course. This immersive page-turner cleverly juxtaposes the writing of short fiction with the production of stories in people’s minds. Oates is definitely a writer to watch. Agent: Anna Stein, ICM Partners. -
June 10, 2024
Following his Spokane Prize-winning short story collection The Empty House, Oates's debut novel follows Gil, a creative-writing professor at a small college in Vermont. He and his wife are getting by, but he is jealous of his sister and her investment-banker husband, who have plenty. When his sister and brother-in-law die in a suspicious accident, Gil takes their only son, Matthew, into his home. Gil is deeply distrustful of Matthew, who almost allowed Gil's daughter to drown when they were children. Now he wonders if Matthew may have been involved in his parents' deaths. Gil's misgivings about Matthew are complicated by self-doubt, as he questions whether he is jealous of Matthew because of his inherited wealth and charisma. Narrator David Pittu smoothly ramps up the suspense and doubt in this twisty story, providing well-rounded characters that listeners will love to hate. VERDICT Oates's psychological thriller entertains right up to the satisfying surprise ending. Recommended for fans of Riley Sager's Survive the Night or Mary Kubica's When the Lights Go Out.--Joanna M. Burkhardt
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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