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Babysitter
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Kirby Heyborne, Max Meyers
- Length: 17 hrs and 21 mins
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Publisher's summary
From one of America’s most renowned storytellers—the bestselling author of Blonde—comes a novel about love and deceit, and lust and redemption, against a backdrop of shocking murders in the affluent suburbs of Detroit.
"Hannah’s unreliable, elliptical narrative is seductive and compelling, like following someone into a fever dream ... [Oates] is in no hurry to trigger the action, dropping tiny morsels of foreshadowing to keep us on our toes."—The New York Times Book Review
“Unsettling, mysterious, deft, sinister, eerily plausible.”—Margaret Atwood, best-selling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments, via Twitter
In the waning days of the turbulent 1970s, in the wake of unsolved child-killings that have shocked Detroit, the lives of several residents are drawn together with tragic consequences.
There is Hannah, wife of a prominent local businessman, who has begun an affair with a darkly charismatic stranger whose identity remains elusive; Mikey, a canny street hustler who finds himself on a chilling mission to rectify injustice; and the serial killer known as Babysitter, an enigmatic and terrifying figure at the periphery of elite Detroit. As Babysitter continues his rampage of abductions and killings, these individuals intersect with one another in startling and unexpected ways.
Suspenseful, brilliantly orchestrated, and engrossing, Babysitter is a starkly narrated exploration of the riskiness of pursuing alternate lives, calling into question how far we are willing to go to protect those whom we cherish most. In its scathing indictment of corrupt politics, unexamined racism, and the enabling of sexual predation in America, Babysitter is a thrilling work of contemporary fiction.
Critic reviews
“[Oates] writes beautifully. Hannah’s unreliable, elliptical narrative is seductive and compelling, like following someone into a fever dream . . . Oates masterfully manipulates the narrative timeline, without losing the reader in the process. She is in no hurry to trigger the action, dropping tiny morsels of foreshadowing to keep us on our toes . . . Babysitter is a ghost story without the ghosts, but with tension thick enough to inspire several heart attacks. Read with care.”—Oyinkan Braithwaite, The New York Times Book Review
“Violent and vile, timely and terrifying . . . [Babysitter’s] pages are lit up by Oates’s searing rage about patriarchy’s toxic stain, the church’s enabling of and eager participation in the sexual predation of children, racism’s pernicious taint . . . Oates’s ability to create a sickening sense of horror is as keen as ever . . . Oates’s righteous anger, her ability to invest her story with mythological resonance, and her talent at creating eerie scenes all make Babysitter a worthwhile read.”—Priscilla Gilman, The Boston Globe
“[Babysitter] is a wild and panoramic piece of work, the serial killer’s activities a mere backdrop to a pinpoint vision of a society with rottenness at its core . . . To be able to write with such tearing astuteness about such fiercely contemporary issues would be a feat for any author of any age . . . As ever, Oates’s prose—almost insolently alive—would seem to break all the rules. The result is nothing less than magical . . . Definitely one of Oates’s finest achievements to date, Babysitter is an unforgettable portrait.”—Julie Myerson, The Guardian
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- Unabridged
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In the title story, a young boy becomes obsessed with his cousin's doll after she tragically passes away from leukemia. As he grows older, he begins to collect "found dolls" from the surrounding neighborhoods and stores his treasures in the abandoned carriage house on his family's estate. But just what kind of dolls are they?In The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror, Joyce Carol Oates evokes the “fascination of the abomination” that is at the core of the most profound, the most unsettling, and the most memorable of dark mystery fiction.
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Boring
- By Kelly on 10-17-19
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Cardiff, by the Sea
- Four Novellas of Suspense
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In these psychologically daring, chillingly suspenseful pieces, the author of We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde writes about women facing threats past and present, once again cementing her reputation for "great intelligence and dead-on imaginative powers" (Los Angeles Times Book Review).
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All stories in collection
- By Betsy Ross on 12-10-22
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48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Sarah Welborn
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Marguerite, a beautiful woman, has disappeared from her small town in Upstate New York. But is foul play involved? Or did she merely take an opportunity to get away for fun, or finally make the decision to leave behind her claustrophobic life of limited opportunities? Her younger sister Gigi wonders if the flimsy silk Dior dress, so casually abandoned on the floor, is a clue to Marguerite's having seemingly vanished. The police examine the footprints made by her Ferragamo boots leaving the house, ending abruptly, and puzzle over how that can help lead to her.
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Clever and horrifying
- By Joan Sutton on 03-19-23
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Lovely, Dark, Deep
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Jason Culp, Maggi-Meg Reed
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
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From the legendary literary master, winner of the National Book Award and New York Times best-selling author Joyce Carol Oates, a collection of ten spellbinding stories that maps the eerie darkness within us all. Insightful, disturbing, and mesmerizing in their lyrical precision, the stories in Lovely, Dark, Deep display Joyce Carol Oates's astonishing ability to make visceral the fear, hurt, and uncertainty that lurks at the edges of ordinary lives.
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Definitely Dark and Deep
- By Monica on 01-10-17
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Zero-Sum
- Stories
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Olivia Rose Barresi, Amy Jensen, Max Meyers, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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A brilliant young philosophy student bent on seducing her famous philosopher-mentor finds herself outmaneuvered; diabolically clever high school girls wreak a particularly apt sort of vengeance on sexual predators in their community; a woman stalked by a would-be killer may be confiding in the wrong former lover; a young woman is morbidly obsessed by her unfamiliar new role as “mother.” In the collection’s longest story, a much-praised cutting-edge writer cruelly experiments with “drafts” of his own suicide.
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Dark irony
- By Lyn Relph on 08-08-23
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My Life as a Rat
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Sadie Alexandru
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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My Life as a Rat follows Violet Rue Kerrigan, a young woman who looks back upon her life in exile from her family following her testimony, at age 12, concerning what she knew to be the racist murder of an African American boy by her older brothers. In a succession of vividly recalled episodes, Violet contemplates the circumstances of her life as the initially beloved youngest child of seven Kerrigan children who inadvertently “informs” on her brothers, setting into motion their arrests and convictions and her own long estrangement.
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Heavy Topics & Satisfying Story
- By Oscar on 06-30-19
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A Book of American Martyrs
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers, Tavia Gilbert, Kirsten Potter
- Length: 24 hrs and 44 mins
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In this striking, enormously affecting novel, Joyce Carol Oates tells the story of two very different yet intimately linked American families. Luther Dunphy is an ardent Evangelical who envisions himself as acting out God's will when he assassinates an abortion provider in his small Ohio town while Augustus Voorhees, the idealistic doctor who is killed, leaves behind a wife and children scarred and embittered by grief.
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NO! Just NO! INSULTING!
- By Jill Reynolds on 06-01-17
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High Crime Area
- Tales of Darkness and Dread
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Ray Chase, Donna Postel, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Dark, Disturbing, Thought provoking.
- By Matthew S. Hill on 03-18-17
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American Appetites
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Ian and Glynnis McCullough, intelligent, professional, and successful, are the envy of their affluent friends. But suddenly, an unexpected plea for help and a cancelled check send their tranquility spinning out of control.
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Another Great Book By Joyce Carol Oates
- By Jason on 12-06-12
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The Babysitter
- My Summers with a Serial Killer
- By: Liza Rodman, Jennifer Jordan
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Aida Reluzco
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
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Growing up on Cape Cod in the 1960s, Liza Rodman was a lonely little girl. During the summers, while her mother worked days in a local motel and danced most nights in the Provincetown bars, her babysitter - the kind, handsome handyman at the motel where her mother worked - took her and her sister on adventures in his truck. He bought them popsicles and together, they visited his “secret garden” in the Truro woods. To Liza, he was one of the few kind, understanding, and safe adults in her life.
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Very little Serial Killer; Child Sexual Situations
- By Hollee Olson on 05-13-21
By: Liza Rodman, and others
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Carthage
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen, David Colacci
- Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins
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Zeno Mayfield's daughter has disappeared into the night, gone missing in the wilds of the Adirondacks. But when the community of Carthage joins a father's frantic search for the girl, they discover the unlikeliest of suspects…a decorated Iraq War veteran with close ties to the Mayfield family. As grisly evidence mounts against the troubled war hero, the family must wrestle with the possibility of having lost a daughter forever. Carthage plunges us deep into the psyche of a wounded young corporal haunted by unspeakable acts of wartime aggression.
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A Major Disappointment!!
- By Anne on 01-23-14
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Bellefleur
- Gothic Saga Series, Book 1
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
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A wealthy and notorious clan, the Bellefleurs live in a region not unlike the Adirondacks, in an enormous mansion on the shores of mythic Lake Noir. They own vast lands and profitable businesses, they employ their neighbors, and they influence the government. A prolific and eccentric group, they include several millionaires, a mass murderer, a spiritual seeker who climbs into the mountains looking for God, a wealthy noctambulist who dies of a chicken scratch.
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Old School Gothic Literature (Not a beach read)
- By Keijon ford on 05-01-20
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Pursuit
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 4 hrs and 47 mins
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As a child, Abby had the same recurring nightmare night after night, in which she wandered through a field ridden with human skulls and bones. Now an adult, Abby thinks she's outgrown her demons, until, the evening before her wedding, the terrible dream returns and forces her to confront the dark secrets from her past she has kept from her new husband, Willem. The following day - less than 24 hours after exchanging vows - Abby steps out into traffic.
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not what I thought
- By Amber on 10-23-20
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The Joyce Carol Oates Collection
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Edward Asner, Hector Elizondo, Anna Gunn, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Original Recording
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Eight highly diverse works from one of America’s most prolific and versatile authors. This collection includes an exclusive dramatization of Oates’ best-selling novel American Appetites; two comedic plays, The Perfectionist and The Truth Teller; four short plays (Gulf War, Black, The Key, and Tone Clusters); as well as her libretto for Black Water: An American Opera, composed by John Duffy.
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Classic Oates
- By Dian on 04-16-18
What listeners say about Babysitter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Edward Martinez
- 09-09-22
Insidious Evil
It seems all the best elements of a JCO novel come together in this dark, chilling novel. You almost feel grabbed by the scruff of the neck as you are pushed into a world of depravity and violence yet come to understand this world is always all around everyone, just obscured by "social norms". There are monsters of every stripe but the harshest condemnation goes to the institutionalization of such evil.
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- Mark J. Royse
- 01-28-24
Cassandra Campbell delivers!
Huge props to Cassandra Campbell for her narration of Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates. Campbell deftly wound her way through 17+ hours of Oates dreamy, disorienting, narcotic storytelling, and kept me engaged with a character whom I frankly found exasperating. A buzzing WASP-y white woman in the wealthy suburbs of 70s Detroit, dallying with the dark side to stir some drama in her life. A perpetual victim, yet not self-pitying (nor self-aware), just constantly confused. Oates plays with themes of memory, perception, passion, and violence. The book is masterfully constructed if you can make it through, but it's a slow, slow burn. Campbell's subtle, elegant voicework portrays a range of characters articulately without losing the amnesiac atmosphere of the main character's point of view. The producers chose two male narrators to voice the last moments of victims of the titular serial killer. The serial killer, however, is more a story device than anything, and these separate narrations felt needlessly ornamental to me. Campbell could have easily handled the job. Not Oates' most accessible work, but if you're a fan (as I am) it's worth the journey for the literary architecture, if nothing else.
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- Maracapozzi
- 02-12-23
Chilling
I couldn’t stop listening.
The story is Suspenseful, even when you can see where it is headed.
The only thing keeping me from five stars was the contempt I often felt for the main character, and the simpering way she was narrated (intentionally I imagine) while behaving so foolishly, although this is probably intentional.
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- cristina
- 09-01-22
Chilling story, beautifully told
I LOVED this book and this performance. The only reason I gave the story 4 stars because I thought the ending could have been better. The pace, the internal dialogues, the commentary on society, the characters...It is haunting. The kind of book you can't wait to get back to. And the reader perfectly captured the cadence. Excellent.
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- Colette
- 04-01-23
Tour de force
For me, this is JCO at her best, dark, mysterious, and complex. I could not stop listening. It's a long book, yet the perfect length and I couldn't wait to get back to it. I'd have preferred the ending to be clearer, but it didn't detract from the story, imagining that what followed was what we were led to believe with no surprise twist. The talented Cassandra Campbell's narration was perfect with her differing accents and vocal inflections. I will reread this book to capture any of the details I may have missed as I was propelled forward in the strong current of the story. JCO's style of writing is not for everyone, but if it is, I can't recommend this book enough.
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- Tearose
- 08-18-24
Spellbinding, addicting
This story grabbed my attention from the first few moments and held me captivated through to the end. Highly recommend.
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- Tuesday Wolf
- 08-19-24
Fantastic reader!
Reader Cassandra Campbell truly brought the characters to life. Good story, properly disturbing. JCO rarely disappoints.
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- Benjie
- 01-17-23
JCO does it again!
JCO you are deliciously dark! I was not so sure that I was going to like this one because it got off to a tediously slow start… I felt like I was hearing the same 10 sentences over and over and over again fo quite a while… it was however worth the wait… this book is not for everyone appealing to those who find romcoms and Lifetime Christmas movies ridiculous… it was great for me though… I also am a huge fan of Cassandra Campbell and she is perfect in every aspect (except whining children… I never have liked her whining children voice or possibly I don’t like whining children?) how she can pull off all the vastly different accents without sounding corney is an amazing talent… So there you go… a great read for curl up and get cozy winter nights…
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- JJCougar
- 11-22-22
Reminiscent of Kafka
A women's need for love creates a mess that keeps getting messier. JC Oates' talent for weird plots, interesting characters, and imagery is at its best. The main reader is fantastic with unique voices for each character and a dramatic flair.
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- Lisa Schiro
- 02-10-23
Raw. Beautiful. Emotional reading.
One of the best books I have ever read on a subject that is often very uncomfortable. This book will take you on a roller coaster of emotions.
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2 people found this helpful