<P>Readers know that few authors are able to create an atmosphere of unease and terror as well as Oates a fact confirmed by the four novellas presented here. <BR /><BR />In the title story “Evil Eye” a young woman has recently become the fourth wife of a highly demanding man. When his first wife comes to stay with them she warns the new bride that her husband is insane and that she must find a way to protect herself. In “So Near Anytime Always” a fateful meeting in a library leads to a boy's obsessive interest in a teenage girl. In “The Execution” spoiled college student Bart Hansen has forgotten to factor in one person in his plan to commit the perfect brutal crime: his mother. And in “The Flatbed” a beautiful young woman struggles with frigidity until a shocking act releases her.<BR /><BR />All the novellas in this collection revolve around the theme of love gone wrong—horribly shockingly wrong.</P>