“What begins as a sly fable about frustrated desire evolves into a genuinely scary novel about possession and insanity. Hypnotic” (Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho). 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 … 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. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane? Described as “a new kind of psychological thriller” by George Pelecanos and “this year’s scariest novel” by Time Out New York, Come Closer has become a modern classic “with a kick that will stay with the reader for days afterward” (The Dallas Morning News).
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How can you tell if you’re possessed by a demon?
1. Do you hear strange noises that can’t be explained?
2. Does you behavior change?
3. Does your appearance change?
4. Do you go out and kill?
Amanda seems to have everything she’s ever wanted. A great marriage with a partner that loves her, a beautiful loft that they live together in with hardly any neighbors.
Then things start to change little by little by degrees. And when Amanda sees a person that she used to know on a street corner she becomes terrified. Why? Maybe because this woman she used to know was from her imagination when she was only a little girl. She is not supposed to exist or has she existed longer then Amanda’s imagination.
A very disturbing tale mixed with a different approach concerning “imaginary friends” and what they could be.
I highly recommend!!
This book genuinely unnerved me, and it’s perspective on a possession is unique. It stayed with me for awhile, and I couldn’t get it out of my head.
It’s funny because I wasn’t even looking for this book and have never heard of it before. I was perusing my library and saw the cover and snagged it.
Quick, creepy and unsettling. Reading about a women becoming possessed made for a very unique read scattered with frightening moments. There’s a part where the demon says that she couldn’t do it without Amanda and that made me think…how many of us have this kind of dark side where deep, deep down we would welcome this kind of “freedom”.
2003.
That’s when this book came out.
Is it going through a renaissance? A resurgence from new readers or has it simply always been there, chugging along and popping up every now and then to say “hey, read me” much like a certain character within the book rears her head?
I can’t say for sure. What I will say is that in 2020 I saw this book mentioned a lot. And it was the frequent suggesting by Andrew Pyper that this is one of the best examples of Demon Possession in literature released recently that finally made me take the plunge.
What I liked: All I knew going in was that this was a story about a woman who may or may not be becoming possessed. The story follows Amanda and Ed, a newish married couple who’ve moved into a new loft together that they’re planning on making into their dream space.
It doesn’t take long until Amanda hears a tapping that they can’t find the source for the sound and then subtle changes begin. They fight more. She has impulses and urges.
Gran weaves a truly fascinating story of a woman who may or may not be possessed or who may or may not be struggling with mental health issues. Either way it’s a frightening journey into her psyche and as the tale enters the final quarter, things grow increasing unsettling.
I really loved the way the pace continually increased and the sections of the book reflected that with the writing style shifting with each new development. The frequent referencing of the demon possession book was great and works to either cement that she is possessed or as a deflection to her unchecked mental breakdown.
What I didn’t like: Frankly, I hated everything about the character of Amanda. She just irked me and that was probably the point from Gran. To make us struggle to feel sympathy for her or to wonder why she makes some of the decisions.
As well, I found Ed to be a fairly superficial character. We’re supposed to feel for him and his trying to support and deal with Amanda’s changing behaviours, but I never could really get onboard with him, due to his limited development.
Why you should buy this: Gran has truly crafted a captivating story. One that will unravel based on the path the reader takes while reading it. Is she possessed or breaking down? It’s a really great plot point and the story arc that Amanda took was fascinating.
Really enjoyed this one.
FABULOUS, So creative. Loved it. I read this in one sitting.
I honestly could not put this book down. So, I read it in 3 hours.
A thirty-something, stable, married, kind, NORMAL woman (Amanda) thinks she’s slowly becoming possessed.
I’m freaked out (in a good way) after reading this book. It’s like the proverbial frog in water heated up to boiling, a slowly-warming, I-can-handle-this story. And then you realize 80 percent through that your eyes are bulging with fright as you read.
Gran writes this story in first person with a matter-of-fact tone that makes it even scarier! Amanda’s detachment is akin to the way some serial killers on TV, when interviewed in prison, recount their horrific tales.
The book is short, but it’s perfectly paced and just the right length for the style of prose. (Any longer, and the prose would start to sound artificial.)
When I first saw the red-scribble cover, I didn’t understand it. Now it do. The cover is appropriate (so is the title), and rather clever.
Five freaked-out stars.
This was a creepy good book. At first you think maybe she’s going crazy but then weird things start happening and you know something evil is growing inside her. It made me wonder if this could really happen? Is it that easy for evil to grow inside and take over and no matter how hard you try it just keeps growing? Kinda scary and really creepy. I would definitely recommend this book to any horror, supernatural book lover.
Definitely five thumbs up
Haunting and unforgettable – I read it in one sitting!
It started with untraceable tapping on the walls of Amanda’s apartment, then came the dreams of a crimson sea and a familiar-seeming woman with pointy teeth. There’s a lot to admire about this 2003 horror novel. Both the demon and main character are female. The demon is, of course, vicious and murderous but also at times empowering and protective. The reader is weirdly seduced along with Amanda, despite knowing better. One of the most interesting aspects of COME CLOSER is Amanda’s possible culpability in her own possession. She’s an architect living with her husband in a city loft, but is she also the architect of her own destruction? Or is that idea just victim-blaming orchestrated by the ancient entity taking over her mind and body? Along with the scares this book delivers, it’s an exploration into the flatness and predictability of long term relationships, a comfort to some, suffocating to others. It’s a book that you can read in a few hours but takes much longer to shake.
Scary!
Genuinely Unsettling & hard to put down. I love her prose because its precise, uninhibited and not afraid to go there. I’m a tough audience to get scared so the closest I will say is that it gets under your skin and plays come get me with your own darkness you pretend doesn’t exist. Y’know there is the darkness and beneath that is the stuff we don’t acknowledge.
She’s good, subtle by playing with raw childhood memories and the parts that kept us together and using that as a platform to reconnect with the host years later. The level of manipulation is almost eerie to the point that Amanda almost thinks what’s happening to her has to be a joke because there’s no such thing as evil spirits, right? There’s a strange comfort she doesn’t want to risk recognizing between her and the woman with the messy dark hair, small razor teeth and the crimson sea she brings her to every night. And yet, we are equally drawn into her shrinking world as it starts to spiral as she herself fades, gaining less and less time, unable to voice her need for help.
I have to say, this is one of the best dark wishes (you’ll see why as the book comes to a close) I have ever read because somehow it genuinely resonates with us all.
Book 2 finished today and we are going into hour 9 of the 24 hour readathon. I started with this one next because I meant to get to it the other day but didnt make past the first chapter and it was a short easy read at less than 200 pages I believe. It was pretty slow going at times but I found it to be an interesting reas about a woman thinking she was being possessed by a demon while the rest of the world assumed she was just losing her mind. I didn’t find it scary enough, I guess picturing something like this happening to a regular person in real life can be a bit terrifying but I jaut didn’t get many chills the way I like to get during a scary book. toward the end i was glad it was short because I was ready for it to end. it started off with small things happening to the main POV such as leaving notes she didnt remember, stealing things she didnt remember stealing and then her actions a bit more sinister the more she lost herself. It was just okay. I kept reading to see of it had some amazing ending or to see if it got more scary but it didn’t. The ending was pretty predictable if anything.
This little novel was a nice perfect length, short read, inbetween longer, hefty reads. The author Sara Gran wrote this little creeper in a style I just loved. “Come Closer” pulled me in and demanded to be a one-sit speed read, and within a couple hours….boom…done, thats what it was. This one had an awesome creep factor the whole way through with bits, and pieces and spots, of extra creep incidents. I wouldnt expect to be completely frightened or petrified, but as for: uneasy…check, chilly-type atmosphere…check, eerie…yes, and it defintely holds an uncanny mysterious air about it from open to close. This title was a hella fun ride with a goosebump type quality. Its just perfect for fall and of course, Halloween!