<p> Meet Quentin P. </p> <p> He is a problem for his professor father and his loving mother, though of course they do not believe the charge (sexual molestation of a minor) that got him in that bit of trouble. </p> <p> He is a challenge for his court-appointed psychiatrist, who nonetheless is encouraged by the increasingly affirmative quality of his dreams and his openness in discussing them. </p> <p> He is a thoroughly sweet young man for his wealthy grandmother, who gives him more and more, and can deny him less and less. </p> <p> He is the most believable and thoroughly terrifying sexual psychopath and killer ever to be brought to life in fiction, as Joyce Carol Oates achieves her boldest and most brilliant triumph yet&#8212;a dazzling work of art that extends the borders of the novel into the darkest heart of truth. </p>