Come Closer

A recurrent, unidentifiable noise in her apartment. A memo to her boss that's replaced by obscene insults. Amanda—a successful architect in a happy marriage—finds her life going off kilter by degrees. She starts smoking again, and one night for no reason, without even the knowledge that she's doing it, she burns her husband with a cigarette. At night she dreams of a beautiful woman with pointed teeth on the shore of a blood-red sea.The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. A book on demon possession suggests that the figure on the shore could be the demon Naamah, known to scholars of the Kabbalah as the second wife of Adam, who stole into his dreams and tricked him into fathering her child. Whatever the case, as the violence of her erratic behavior increases, Amanda knows that she must act to put her life right, or see it destroyed.From BooklistStrange noises that come and go; objects that inexplicably appear, then vanish. Such bump-in-the-night shenanigans are horror-story standard fare, but in Gran's gifted hands, these stereotypes fade away like ghosts. In this sparsely constructed and compellingly succinct gem of a novel, Gran's heroine leads a normal life until things suddenly and mystifyingly go wrong. Amanda does hear noises and experience bizarre situations, yet as a vague but tantalizing feeling of unease settles in, Amanda's fear feeds her needs and desires. Gran's premise, that we accept the impossible, for to do otherwise is to foolishly court disaster, informs the subtle tension beneath this deliciously wicked tale. A short book, it is nonetheless long on style, thanks to Gran's talent for quickly and convincingly portraying Amanda's reluctant terror, abject denial, and, finally, resigned acceptance of the malevolent force commandeering her life. Seductively menacing, alluringly sinister, Gran's ominous study of psychological and spiritual suspense heralds a refreshingly sophisticated and literate approach to an often-predictable genre. Carol HaggasCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedReview“What begins as a sly fable about frustrated desire evolves into a genuinely scary novel about possession and insanity. Hypnotic, disturbing, and written with such unerring confidence you believe every word, Come Closer is one of the most precise and graceful pieces of fiction I've read in a long time.”—Bret Easton Ellis“Ideal for an evening’s reading, with a kick that will stay with the reader for days afterward.”—Dallas Morning News“Sara Gran has written an intelligent horror story, a literary creepshow that works its magic subtly and well.  It’s a marvel of restraint and taste, and still it worms its way under your skin and stays there.”—Darin Strauss“Sara Gran’s Come Closer ought to carry a warning to readers.  It’s impossible to begin this intense, clever, beautifully written novel without turning every page.  A wonderful accomplishment.”—Margot Livesey “I read Come Closer on the train, in a snowstorm, on a cold December night.  It was the right atmosphere for this perfectly noirish tale of madness and love.  Author Sara Gran writes with scalpel-like clarity, expertly blending tones to create a new kind of psychological thriller.  I loved this book.  Days after finishing it, it has not left my mind.”—George Pelecanos“‘What we think is impossible happens all the time.’ So claims the beguiling narrator of Come Closer, and after reading this spare and menacing tale, the reader has to agree.  Sara Gran has created a sly, satisfying (fast!) novel of one young woman possessed not only by a demon but also by her own secret desires.”—Stewart O’Nan“Come Closer is sharp and strange and, best of all, at the moment of truth it doesn’t flinch from its own mad logic.”—Sam Lipsyte“The Yellow Wallpaper meets Rosemary’s Baby in a slim, wonderfully eerie novel.”—Kirkus Reviews"Polished and unsettling." —The Cleveland Plain Dealer “It gave us the creeps.”—Arizona Republic