Evil Genius

Oshetsky’s potent latest (after Poor Deer) dives into the volatile inner world of a young woman who fantasizes about a life beyond her abusive marriage. Celia Dent, 19, works as a billing operator for the phone company in 1970s San Francisco. Each night, she takes the train home to Redwood City and her controlling husband, Drew, a surgical technician 11 years her senior. Their marriage was brokered by Celia’s mother, who’s since died. When a grisly workplace scandal—an adulterous affair that ends in a murder—ripples through the phone company, Celia becomes enthralled by the mix of danger and desire. She begins to crave “revolutionary changes” in her life, “violent changes, even,” and she imagines attacking Drew with her mother’s old nail file, burying it “deep inside [his] ear.” She takes increasingly bold steps toward fulfilling her homicidal and sexual fantasies, from buying a knife in a pawn shop and accepting a ride home from an attractive train passenger to arranging an assignation with a frequent caller at the phone company. Celia’s mounting frenzy is rendered in razor-sharp prose, and Oshetsky blends noir sensibilities with their signature surrealism, effortlessly slipping between dark humor and unnerving sensuality. The result is thrilling. Agent: Alexa Stark, Writers House. (Feb.)

Correction: A previous version of this review used the wrong pronoun to refer to the author.