Demonic possession or psychic break? One of Esquire’s Top 50 horror novels of all time delves deep into the terrifying consequences of losing control.
“A perfect horror novel.”—Paul Tremblay, author of ‘The Cabin at the End of the World’
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.
This new edition of the cult classic features a brand new post-script by the author and a “Are You Haunted?” questionnaire.
THE FACTS
📙 Possession
📘 perfect horror pacing
📗 Visceral and terrifying
📕 published 20+ years ago but timeless
THE GOOD BITS
Picked this up at Munro’s books. They have an amazing horror section and I have yet to bring home a book that I didn’t like. I didn’t realize when I bought this that it was written in 2003. That is definitely not a problem as I would never have guessed this book was over 20 years old. I would very much like to thank Vito who curates the horror section at the bookstore. Every single book I have found there has been a win.
I love books/movies about possession and this one is a chef’s kiss. There is a formula for horror that makes it great and it’s a combination of many things: great pacing, an engaging MC, mysterious moments, a winding plot & more. I may not know what all of the best ingredients are but I know this novel has it all.
It opens with a tear-out page entitled “Are you possessed by a demon?”. It begins with a rude email sent to a boss. Tapping. And it just spirals out of control. I really felt the trajectory the MC was on…and it was very disturbing. Well done! Definitely a classic in this genre.
THE LINKS
🖊 Author
I purchased my copy of Come Closer by Sara Gran and this is my review.
