This is a really difficult book to rate. I've never read any of Oates works before, but I know she has a reputation for heavy emotional prose, and boy does she deliver that here. The content is undeniably disturbing, so a reader needs to be in the right headspace to digest it all. The shifting perspectives added a lot of interesting layers to the narrative, though there were some characters I wish we spent more time with (Demetrius, Genevieve) while some other characters I could have used a bit less of (Francis, Zwender). The writing itself is captivating and the mystery was compelling enough to keep the page turning, though some of the descriptions of pedophilia and child sexual abuse was a bit too vivid for me. There were other aspects of the plot that I wish were fleshed out a bit more, like the class imbalance between members of the community. Overall, this book was a decent introduction to Oates writing, and whether I like it or not, the story of Mr. Fox will stick with me for awhile.

This book is awesome. Joyce Carol Oates never fails to write amazing books. Francis Fox is a popular English teacher at a private academy for girls. He has a very enigmatic background, and impresses some and frightens others with the unknowns of his personality. Then a body is found in the wreckage of his car, and stories and implications abound. Classic Oates, and a pleasure to read.

I wanted to like this book but to me I couldn’t get past the child abuse and SA. It also took me awhile cause the book is written in a weird perspective. The way he called his girls he SA kittens. Yuck. I just couldn’t finish.

Francis Fox is a wily, charming middle school teacher who has had to move away from Pennsylvania after one of his students committed suicide. Fox has changed his name from Frank Farrell, and had his lawyer coerce his former school's administration give Francis a glowing recommendation.
Francis continues his pedophilia in another middle schools setting at Langhorne Academy in New Jersey, while charming the parents, administration and especially the pretty young girls there. Suddenly, Fox is missing and later found dead in a woody, swampy area, and the whole town is wondering if it was an accident or a murder for revenge.
Great but disturbing read.

Trigger Warnings: **This novel contains themes of sexual assault of minors, grooming, pedophilia, and the disposal of a corpse. Readers sensitive to these subjects should approach with caution.**

Joyce Carol Oates’s "Fox" is a masterful, disturbing, and deeply thought-provoking psychological thriller that refuses to shy away from the darkest corners of the human psyche. This is not a novel for the faint of heart, but for those willing to confront its harrowing subject matter, it offers a compelling exploration of power, complicity, and moral reckoning.

The story centers on Francis Fox, a new and enigmatic English teacher at Langhorne Academy, a prestigious boarding school in New Jersey. Fox quickly becomes a polarizing figure, adored by many but raising suspicions in others due to his preppy charm and mysterious past. His life and misdeeds come into focus after his sudden disappearance, which coincides with the discovery of his crashed car and human remains in a nearby nature preserve.

At its core, "Fox" grapples with difficult questions: How do predators evade detection for so long? What enables communities to turn a blind eye? And when justice is finally pursued, what forms can it take?

Oates’s signature style is on full display here—intimate, layered, and atmospheric. She weaves the narrative through multiple perspectives, allowing readers to see Fox’s impact on his students, colleagues, and others in his orbit. The character of Francis Fox is reminiscent of literary villains like Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert—a charismatic and vile figure whose charm masks the horror of his actions. The parallels to "Lolita" are intentional, as the novel explicitly references Nabokov’s work, inviting readers to consider the ways in which society glamorizes certain narratives while ignoring their grim realities.

Oates does not shy away from graphic descriptions, especially in the first half of the book. These moments are deeply unsettling but underscore the severity of Fox’s crimes. As the investigation into Fox’s life unfolds, the narrative takes on elements of a mystery, maintaining a tense and engrossing pace. I predict that the epilogue will have a divided reception among readers, with not all loose ends being tied up, but that is sometimes the nature of reality...

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC of Fox by Joyce Carol Oates. Expected release 06/17/2025.

I will start by noting this is the first Oates novel I have read and you can tell she is a very experienced and talented author with a distinct and strong writing technique. I have many mixed feelings about this novel but ultimately between the subject matter and the disjointed character storylines it landed in a flat 3 stars for me. I came in expecting a murder thriller and was quite quickly taken aback by the unsettling topic of pedophilia. The vivid way this was presented honestly made me so uncomfortable I put down the novel for some time before trying again to get through it. I think the reveal of “Mr. Fox” comes too quickly and is off putting to what I’d imagine a large cohort of readers from continuing the novel when the psychological character development ultimately does lead you to want to know more and where the story leads.

Since the story has so many points of view overlapping there are some key areas where the character plots just disappear and you’re left wondering what happened to some characters having grown to know them so well over 600 pages which was a draw back for me. There are at times nauseating detailed language which makes for slow reading and some repetitiveness. It took over half the book before I actually was vested enough in the other characters to want to read the rest of the novel and I’m not convinced many readers will get that far when the graphically unsettling pedophilia topics are some of the first chapters of the book. Great depiction of a truly horrific villain.

Joyce Carol Oates has written a psychological tour de force. Six hundred and forty pages long, this novel explores the mind of a pedophile and the impact he has on the people residing in the periphery of his narcissistic sphere. He has good picking grounds, for he is teaching 7th and 8th grade English at a prestigious private school in New Jersey. It is from the classroom that he chooses, grooms and violates his female victims. This teacher, Mr. Fox, is clever, and he offers his 'little kittens' goodies laced with Ambien as they sit on his lap and he violates them. I know - this is a horrible and sickening image. However, the author plays with Mr. Fox's life in various ways to both lighten up the imagery and make it so dark that one can't peer into it.

Mr. Fox has changed his name and identity at least twice prior to his current teaching position. Ironically, it is a letter of reference from the niece of the headmistress that clinches him the job. Mr. Fox has great social cues and can be very charming, especially to adult women who, unknowingly, give him plenty of cover as he provides them with false flattery and idolatry. His promises to them never come to fruition and he is as prone to lie as he is to breathe.

Very shortly into the novel, Mr. Fox disappears. Concurrently, a car is found in a ravine near the school. The carrion have been at a carcass in the car so there is no telling at present if the corpse is Mr. Fox and, if so, what transpired before his death. Was it homicide, suicide, or a simple accident. Only a police investigation will, hopefully, find the answer.

The whole school is in mourning, even as information is presented about Mr. Fox's pedophilia. The school and its population are in denial, even when a full-scale investigation of Mr. Fox is initiated.

The book, even with its ugly protagonist, is riveting. However, I found the novel way too repetitive. I know that Ms. Oates has a style and utilizes repetition in many of her novels. By the time I was 3/4 done, I was too burnt out for repetition. I wish the novel could be shortened with some further editing.

You know picking up a Joyce Carol Oates book, it’s going to be good, but also dark and disturbing, and this one fits the bill for sure! The story draws the reader right in, and then becomes very difficult to read up until the midway point when I think the drama slows and the mystery picks up. I almost put it down several times, but the psychological aspects compelled me to push through, and I did start to really enjoy it about halfway through, This is a long book, so be sure to expect a time commitment. It’s definitely worth it!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so gripping from start to finish! I do love Oates’ writing, but I hadn’t read a longer work of hers in several years, and I was pleased that I could still become immersed in her dark world. The characters were very interesting and the story was compelling. I did think it got very repetitive - sometimes this was clearly for effect, but other times it just felt exhaustingly redundant, which did get annoying. There were a couple of characters whom I expected more from based on their prominence at the beginning, so that was also a bit frustrating. However, overall this was a satisfying and captivating read.

In Joyce Carol Oates’s novel, Fox, we go inside the mind of a pedophile. Oates’s ability to do this, to somehow know the thoughts of “bad” characters as well as good, is rare. Few authors can tap into the psychology of a character as well as she does. We get a sort of Humbert Humbert vibe with Mr. Fox and fans of Nabakov’s Lolita will surely enjoy this foray into the mind of a like-minded character, although the two authors have very different writing styles.

In this story, we have dual timelines: before the pedophile’s death and after. It’s clear early on that Mr. Fox was murdered, likely for being a pedophile, but we don’t know who killed him. We have multiple points of view, from his victims, his peers, and others, and the story of what happened to him unfolds slowly as we try to figure out who killed him. It became obvious about halfway through the novel that one particular character was involved, but this is far from a predictable story as we learn his involvement is not what we expected. The big reveal at the end was definitely a surprise.

At times, I briefly forgot what timeline I was in, but this is largely due to reading on the Kindle. If I’d had a hard copy, I could have flipped back easily to the start of the chapter to see what timeline it was. Not a huge deal as it did, of course, become evident eventually.

Through the back and forth between the points of view of the various young girls and that of Mr. Fox we get a study in what makes a young girl fall victim to such predators, which is perhaps an eye-opener to parents of a more naive nature. We also learn the danger in making assumptions about people deemed "slow" or less capable than ourselves, and are reminded that everyone is capable of murder under the "right" circumstances.

A must-read for JCO fans, readers interested in the criminal mind, and those who like a good mystery.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy of this upcoming novel.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. Oates has been on my list of authors to read for a while, but just now diving in and WOW. The writing is superb, the subject matter is hard to take though. Plow through!

I seem to be on some kind of kick right now of seriously disturbing novels. Seriously, don't even think about touching this one if you have trouble reading about child sexual abuse - this gives some serious Lolita vibes in murder mystery form. Oates has been one of my favorite authors since I read the short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been in high school, and this novel doesn't disappoint. It's well written, suspenseful, and well paced - but it tells the story of a middle-school teacher who is also a pedophile, and the lasting impact his actions have on the school and community where he lived and worked.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Fox is a captivating exploration of human vulnerability and the untamed power of nature, woven together with Oates' signature lyrical prose. This haunting novella is a masterful blend of psychological depth and suspense. I walked away in awe and uneasy.

As she frequently does Oates touches the“ third rail”-in this case with pedophilia, and a charming, suave, sophisticated and absolutely repulsive serial offender. ( she references Nabokov’s LOLITA multiple times in the book and the references are appropriate). As always every one of her characters are well drawn and well depicted- from the major players to the most minor ones. The writing as always is exquisite though at times too repetitive and with too many metaphors. The pedophilia scenes and the “ grooming” of his targets-prepubescent girls in seventh-eighth grade-makes for tough reading. It’s long, but an excellent read.

This is only the second Joyce Carol Oates book I've read but like her short story collection (Zero Sum), this one has managed to leave me so anxious and tense and like someone punched me in the stomach. And I loved it! This story is hard to read at moments, but you get a really fascinating character study of the title character and the people around him - these characters felt SO real to me and as difficult as the subject matter was I'm so glad that I spent the time with this book. It'll stay with me for a while.

Thanks for the advanced copy NetGalley!

An Unsettling Masterpiece of Psychological Suspense

Joyce Carol Oates’s Fox is a spellbinding, deeply disturbing exploration of power and relationships. The novel follows the disappearance of Francis Fox, a charismatic and greatly popular teacher at Langhorne Academy, an elite boarding school in Weiland, New Jersey. His absence ripples through the school and town, unraveling a web of secrets and complicity that implicates students, parents, faculty, and law enforcement.

The mystery begins when two brothers, sons of a part-time janitor at the school, discover Fox’s crashed car and the remains of an unidentifiable body in the woods near a local nature preserve. Detective Horace Zwender, a relentless investigator, is tasked with piecing together the enigma of Francis Fox-- who was he? What has happened?

At the heart of Fox is a provocative examination of relationships—both overt and insidious—between males and females. Oates boldly mirrors themes from Nabokov’s Lolita and it is referenced multiple times in the novel. The female students, the head of school, the parents, and faculty and friends each grapple with their own vulnerabilities, their relationships with Fox, and the aftermath of his disappearance.

As is Oates’s hallmark, the prose is hypnotic and haunting. Her ability to weave together multiple perspectives with intimacy and precision makes each character feel vividly real, even as the story ventures into profoundly uncomfortable territory. The novel provokes and unsettles in equal measure, and will stay with you long after you complete it. Fox illuminates the darkest corners of the human psyche, capturing the complexity of complicity and the insidious nature of predation.

This is not an easy read—it is engrossing and upsetting, the kind of book that demands breaks to process. But for fans of Oates and literary psychological thrillers, it is a rewarding, albeit harrowing, experience.

#RandomHouse #Fox #JoyceCarolOates

Thank you, NetGalley, for this uncorrected ebook ARC of 'Fox' by Joyce Carol Oates - expected release date 06/17/2025

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Given the severity of disgusting things happening in this book, it was hard to get through. I had to step away quite a few times, the content was so heavy. Oates is extremely talented, the writing was clean and her characters were fully developed. I didn't see the twist coming from Eunice in the epilogue, that totally caught me off guard. And, unless I somehow missed it, I wish she would've explained what happened to Mary Ann. Other than that, another good book from Oates, just be prepared for extremely intense storylines and topics.

Francis Fox is a favorite teacher at a boarding school. His car is found in a pond and a body nearby. Then everyone starts to wonder about him and who he really was.

This book is hard to read as it's very hard to follow. It wasn't my favorite.

I was not familiar with Joyce Carol Oates' work—or literary ways—before picking up Fox, which promised to be worthy of multitudinous pearl-clutching. But soon, despite the length of this rather harrowing novel, I found myself completely enraptured. The story itself is deeply sinister, with an ending that feels only fitting after the horrors enacted by Mr. Fox. I absolutely loved this, and look forward to exploring Carol Oates' backlist as a result.

Four strong stars.

It’s 500+ pages long. But I love JCO and this sounds fascinating, so I’m in.

The disappearance of “charismatic, mercurial” teacher Francis Fox from Langhorne Academy, an elite boarding school in Weiland, NJ is big news throughout the town. Just before people realized he was gone his crashed car and an unidentifiable body were found below a drop off in a nature preserve near the town dump by Marius and Demetrius Healy, the two sons of a part-time janitor at the school

Detective Horace Zwender, a stoic, single-minded individual is investigating the case and he is charged with confirming the identity of the body and, then, determining who Francis Fox really was amidst his carefully constructed layers.

A number of female students (including a Healy relative), the head of school, the father of one of the students and others from the faculty and town are among those affected by Fox’s disappearance, and their devastation fans out further.

The book is clearly Oates’s LOLITA (a text discussed at length in the narrative) and, further, explores many different types of relationships between females and males. It is overlong; there are definitely sections that could be jettisoned with no effect on the story, and Francis is a bit one note; one wishes he were a bit less of a totally stereotyped villain, but if you enjoy Oates and her signature style, you are likely to like this. It took me a while to get through it but I enjoyed it.