Fox

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Max Meyers, Gail Shalan, Rebecca Lowman, Rachel L. Jacobs, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Ina Barron, Kirsten Potter, Matt Godfrey, Fred Berman, Eunice Wong

‘Chilling’ FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Tom Ripley, eat your heart out’ NPR

‘Eerie, shocking, provoking’ GILLIAN FLYNN

A chilling, captivating novel about the dark secrets that surface after the shocking disappearance of a charming, mercurial teacher at an elite boarding school.

Who is Francis Fox?

A charismatic, young English teacher joins an elite New Jersey boarding school. Francis Fox quickly beguiles many of his students, their parents and his colleagues, while leaving others in the small town wondering where he came from and why his biography is so enigmatic.

When Fox disappears and parts of an unidentified body are discovered in nearby woods, the community begins to ask disturbing questions about the charming, mercurial teacher, and who he might really be.

A hypnotic tale of crime, complicity and revenge, Fox is an unsettling portrait of a cunning predator, which illuminates the darkest corners of the human psyche.

‘Breathless and febrile … an utterly mesmeric account of how one man’s crimes can affect an entire community’ GUARDIAN

‘Impressive and unsettling’ NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

‘Rich in suspense, diabolical secrets and psychological insight’ ECONOMIST

‘Mesmerising … another masterclass from one of America's greatest writers’ MICHAEL CONNELLY, author of The Lincoln Lawyer

©2025 Joyce Carol Oates (P)2025 Penguin Random House LLC

Critic reviews

Praise for Fox:

‘Breathless and febrile, this is an utterly mesmeric account of how one man’s crimes can affect an entire community’ Guardian

‘Impressive and unsettling … remarkably engrossing’ New York Times Book Review

‘This sprawling yet immersive novel is rich in suspense, diabolical secrets and psychological insight’ Economist

‘A chilling portrait of manipulation and menace within the cloistered world of an elite boarding school’ Financial Times

‘A prolonged dive into the murkiest of waters' TLS

'The master of domestic thrillers … Oates actively invites comparison with Nabokov’s Lolita … Fox is a tome that does more than just fill in Lolita’s gaps, it is engrossing even as it horrifies and reminds us that we cannot nor should not look away’ Big Issue

‘Gripping, disgusting and darkly comic … Oates flips the genre on its head’ The Standard

‘A classic psychological suspense … feels ripped from the headlines’ People

‘Fox's story is inescapably abhorrent yet enthralling…Oates understands, as always, how to keep us on the hook’ Los Angeles Times

‘Absolutely chilling … this is Oates at her most disturbing and masterful’ Seattle Times

‘Reading Fox is like being spellbound by a hypnotist who may not wish you well, who leads you, with a deceptively gentle hand, toward that dark forest you fear … Eerie, shocking, provoking, and beautifully written, Fox is yet further proof that Oates is one of the greatest writers among us today' Gillian Flynn, author of Sharp Objects

‘I can’t remember the last time I read something so (darkly, disconcertingly) addictive that yet bears so much realism and nuance and depth. Oates is a genius' Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers

‘What a gift this book is! … mesmerizing front to back – another masterclass from one of America’s greatest writers’ Michael Connelly, author of The Lincoln Lawyer

Amazing storytelling

I usually can’t cope with an audio book longer than 15 hours, but not this one. Keep me engaged the whole time!