High Crime Area: Tales of Darkness and Dread by Joyce Carol Oates
My Rating:  2 of 5 Butterflies

Title:  High Crime Area: Tales of Darkness and Dread
Author:  Joyce Carol Oates
Series:  Stand Alone
Narrator:  Julia Whelan; Ray Chase; Donna Postel; Luci Christian; Tamara Marston; Chris Patton
Length:  Unabridged; 7 hours and 06 minutes
Publisher:  Highbridge Audio
Published:  May 14, 2014
Source:  Publisher via Audiobook Jukebox
Format:  Audio CD
Genres:  Fiction; Short Stories; Mystery; Crime; Horror; Suspense
Subjects:  Short Stories

In the title story, a white aspiring professor is convinced she is being followed. No need to panic - she has a handgun stowed away in her purse, just in case. But when she turns to confront her black male shadow, the situation isn't what she expects. In "The Rescuer" a promising graduate student detours to inner-city Trenton, New Jersey, to save her brother from a downward spiral. But she soon finds out there may be more to his world than to hers. And in "The Last Man of Letters" the world-renowned author X embarks on a final grand tour of Europe. He has money, fame, but not a whole lot of manners. A little thing like etiquette couldn't bring a man like X down, could it? In these and five other biting and beautiful pieces, Oates confronts, one by one, the demons within us, demonstrating that sometimes, it's not the human side that wins out.                                                                                                                                                                               Contents:    "The Home at Craigmillnar", read by Ray Chase; "High", read by Donna Postel; "Toad-Baby", read by Luci Christian; "Demon", read by Chris Patton; "Lorelei", read by Tamara Marston; "The Rescuer", read by Julia Whelan; "The Last Man of Letters", read by Ray Chase; "High Crime Area", read by Julia Whelan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ©2014 Original material, The Ontario Review, Inc. Recorded by arrangement with John Hawkins and Associates, Inc. (P)2014 HighBridge Company

My Review:
The first book I ever read/listened to of Joyce Carol Oates was Daddy Love, and I absolutely loved all of the sick and twisted parts of that book.  So, when it came time to listen to High Crime Area, I was pretty excited!

The first short story started out in true Joyce Carol Oates fashion!  I was just listening along, and BAM...the unthinkable happened!  So I thought that this was going to be a great set of short stories! However, it seems that as each story progressed, the worse they got and harder they were to follow.  I can't say that there were any stories after the first one, that even began to peak my interest, let alone make a memorable impression!  I didn't find any of the stories to really be dark and dreary, as the titles depicted.  All of the titles were different lengths, with the feature title feeling long and drawn out, for no reason at all.  But it was also the farther thing from scary or dreadful!  So, needless to say, I was pretty disappointed with these short stories!

Each story was narrated by a different narrator, and I thought that was great, so you could easily distinguish between the stories!  I can't say that one narrator was better than the other, however, had they had a better collection to work with, I may have gotten a better impression!

Overall, High Crime Area seemed lengthy and unmemorable; a major miss for me!  I think when you have a collection of several short stories, you are going to have stories that you like and stories that you don't, but the stories that I didn't like far outweighed the one story that peaked my interest! However, this flop absolutely will  not stop me from giving another Joyce Carol Oates book a try, because Daddy Love was an absolute hit for me, so I can't wait to experience that all over again!


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Disclaimer:  I was provided a copy of this book by Highbridge Audio (Publisher), via Audiobook Jukebox, in return for an honest, unbiased review.

Daddy Love by Joyce Carol Oates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Title: Daddy Love
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Narrator: Christine Williams
Unabridged Length: 6 h, 45 m
Published by: Highbridge Audio, 2013
Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Horror

Rating: ✮✮✮✮

Summary:
From one of the most acclaimed writers of our time comes a horrifying tale about a young boy kidnapped by a sadistic killer and sexual predator known only as Daddy Love, a part-time reverend whose twisted desires know no bounds.

Review:
This was my first Joyce Carol Oates book and definitely won't be my last. I found the writing to be concise and well-developed with what seemed to be great detail to each of the characters. I enjoyed that the main characters were more taboo than your regular main character!

The story seemed like an actual story straight out of the headlines which is exactly what caught and kept my attention! I also really liked how the ending worked out!

The narrator did a wonderful job of reading this story! She was able to really capture my attention and maintain it throughout the entire story.

Overall, I really enjoyed listening to this book and will not hesitate to seek out more Joyce Carol Oates books in the near future!

Disclaimer:
This Audio CD was provided to me by HighBridge Audio courtesy of Audiobook Jukebox in return for an honest, unbiased review.

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