FOX is about a pedophile. It is also about the 12- and 13-year-old girls, their parents, and, in one case, extended family whose lives are affected by the pedophile. It is not a spoiler to tell you that he dies in an apparent car accident.

Francis Fox has changed his name and come to another school to teach junior-high English. Descriptions of his secret life are accurate descriptions of a pedophile. He's such a nice, handsome fellow. Everyone loves him, especially his students, especially 12-year-old girls. His death devastates everyone, especially those 12-year-olds.

Then comes Part 2 and the police investigation.

Joyce Carol Oates gets five stars for her concentration on characters, their thoughts, especially as they are affected by Fox. Of course, one of her characters is Fox, himself. His secret thoughts, those that are so often the opposite of what he portrays, are not only hateful; they are also what he WANTS to think rather than what is real (which is also an accurate description of how a pedophile thinks).

But Oates is too wordy. This is her writing style. It was the same in another book of hers I read. This is a tiresome writing style, and for this I downgrade those five stars.

I was also unhappy with the inaccurate maturity levels of 12- and 13-year-old girls. They seemed more like 7-year-olds. I remember being 12 very well, and I remember my friends at that age. I know that, if a man I had trusted tried anything like Fox did, I would have known it was wrong, and I would have told my parents. And those girls' parents: most treat their 12- and 13-year-old daughters as if they are 7.

Another thing maybe someone can explain: Oates interjects her name into the Epilogue. Why?

This book is saved from a three-star rating by its exceptionally good mystery: so many people had reason to want to murder Fox; but who did it?