The Tattooed Girl

A gritty, dark psychological novel only the likes of Joyce Carol Oates could write: opening us to the inner depths of her characters, she uses a unique narrative style to allow us piece together a story that takes a hard, perhaps unexpected turn towards thriller (given how literary it is, with some of the most exquisite similes). The way Oates can write the vast expanses of inner lives - from mania, to psychopathy, to addiction - is unparalleled and worth reading (though perhaps not alone in your big, dusty house late at night).