This is a short story that popped up last Halloween (or the Halloween before?) on Amazon's home page as one of several offerings to prime members and kindle owners. It sounded good so I downloaded it and then promptly forgot all about it until I went to borrow a book from what used to be the lending library and was told I had to return this book first to "prime reading" before I can download another. It's short enough to read in one sitting, 40 pages or so.

I settled in to read it today, and was not particularly impressed. It's not especially scary or thought provoking and I could not relate to any of the characters. I'm not sure where one would find a church that allows Sunday school teachers to dress in low cut and too tight garb more suited to trawling for men before last call than teaching bible lessons other than this story. Surely the church ladies would have objected to her attire even without knowing she had a thing for young boys. The birthmark on Howard's face seemed unnecessary since without it Mrs. S would have found another reason to fixate on him or other boys but then I suppose it was required for the title of the story. I can't say I cared much what happened to Mrs. S or Howard for that matter. ( )

Frustrating Whodunnit
Review of the Amazon Kindle single (2017) advance excerpt from Night-Gaunts and Other Tales of Suspense (2018)

A young teenager with a disfiguring facial birth mark is teased by his Sunday school teacher Mrs. S__ who may have some abuse notions in mind - or - those fantasies may be coming from the unreliable teenage narrator. Mrs. S__ dies under mysterious circumstances and the teenager rushes to confess to the crime. But did he really do it or is that just part of his continuing fantasy? The ending is loose and disappointing, although the setup was well done. ( )

Howard is 12 years old. He's a stocky, large boy and in that clumsy stage just as puberty hits. He's nervous around girls and easily embarrassed. This gets even worse when Mrs. S____ takes over teaching Sunday school at his church. She says his name strangely, says the birthmark on his cheek is the mark of the beast, teases him, touches him..... She makes him nervous and strangely excited at the same time. She wont stop.....seeming to revel in his embarrassment. But then he starts to follow her, turning the tables. What will Mrs. S_______ think when she notices Howard is always lurking about everywhere she goes? But did things really happen the way Howard remembers?

This story was incredibly disturbing. As the mother of two sons, I have a hard time reading about abuse of boys by authority figures. Teachers, especially ones who teach at a church, should be above reproach. But Mrs. S_____ is disgusting. She sneakily gets inappropriate with an innocent young boy, and doesn't realize there will be consequences for her actions at some point. Joyce Carol Oates builds the creepy, sinister atmosphere quickly in this chilling little tale.....and never quite gives the entire answer at the end. Did he? Or didn't he? Did she? Someone did ...... did she deserve it? Did the punishment fit the crime? Hmmmm....... this is the sort of story that I finish and then wonder a couple days about before coming to a decision about what exactly I just read, what it meant and how I feel about it. Right now, as the mother of a 13 year old, I want to jump into the story and throttle Mrs. S____ myself (maybe I did.....maybe that's the answer!) Or maybe I want to jump in there and give Howard some help......get him some therapy, yell at his mother, yell at Mrs. S______ ..... I'm not sure. I do know the story definitely pushed my Mom-buttons. But......is that the way things really happened? Am I sure? No......I'm not sure. How creepy!! :)

This story was released in 2017, but Joyce Carol Oates has a cnew ollection of suspense tales, Night Gaunts, coming out in 2018. Although this story made me uncomfortable, I'd like to read her new book when it comes out. The writing was superb.....and the story is supposed to make readers uncomfortable. ( )

A quick read. Interesting short tale. ( )

Claustrophobic and creepy; vintage JCO. ( )