Onyx reviews: The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror by Joyce Carol Oates

Reviewed by Bev Vincent, 2/22/2016

Max belongs to that rare breed of character known as the gentleman thief, the kind popularized by Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief. These men have style. They know how to dress for any occasion. Women are fascinated by and attracted to them. They have skills that make them popular in polite society: they can dance and they can make polite conversation on any subject. Despite their power over women, men don't resent them. They want to be like them.

Max Costa comes frut. Nine years after the incident in Buenos Aires, they crossed paths in Nice, France, shortly before World War II.