Joyce Carol Oates has (sort of) done it again.

It seems like every few months, I see a copy of a new book by JCO—one of my absolute favorite writers—at the library. I get so giddy and check it out immediately, especially when it’s a novella that I know I’ll be able to finish in time. I recently read her new novella, A Fair Maiden, and found it to be nearly as disturbing as some of her works, but not as stick-with-you as most. It simply lacks the impact of other novellas I’ve loved, like Zombie, Rape: A Love Story, and Beasts.

A Fair Maiden is a story about a young girl named Katya, 16, who is babysitting for a rich family for the summer. She comes from a poor, bleak background and is happy to get out of her town for the summer, though she resents her charges’ parents and the way they look at her and treat her.

Early in the book, she is approached by an elderly man named Marcus Kidder who catches her admiring sexy lingerie in a store window. He asks her which piece she would wish for if she could and she lies, embarrassed. Kidder turns out to be a charming and whimsical old man, a perfect candidate for a child molester, and he takes an interest in Katya from day one. Katya for her part is both flattered and sickened, and decides to play along at first for the thrill of a summer adventure. However, she soon finds herself posing for Kidder in lingerie—as well as without—for money, as well as indebted to him for a loan she takes for her spendthrift mother who could care less about her. As she continues to visit Kidder and his intentions become clearer, Katya panics and contacts an abusive ex-lover to help her conceive an ill-planned plot against the old man.

The story ends with a bit of a twist, though mostly a predictable one; and as with Little Children’s ending, we are left feeling ambiguous toward both Kidder and Katya. Who is predator and who is prey? Well, both are, in some ways. Why does Katya keep making the decisions she does? Many girls who’ve lived in poverty might actually respond the same way she does, in fact.

A Fair Maiden isn’t as gripping as similar works Oates has produced, though the questionable nature of her characters is well played. Unlike her other works, a little deux ex machina is provided in an explanation from Kidder on why he has incorporated the young woman into his life, which felt like a cheated plot. Many questions were still left unanswered—which has been done in other JCO works, sure, but much more adroitly so than in this one. Still, it was an enjoyable novel that makes you think and question the grayness of society, and worth the check out from the library.