Ooh I just loved this short dark horrible novella.

Come Closer begins with Amanda leaving a report on her boss’ desk. When he goes to read it, he finds the entire document is made up of insults to him. And everyone says they saw Amanda print the document.

She starts to lose bits of her memory, lashes out at her husband Ed and starts to lose control. A stray dog who used to follow her every day doesn’t recognise her and she starts to have strange dreams.

Amanda does a quiz with the title “are you possessed by a demon?”. The first time she rates 3 out of 10, then 5, then 10.

This is a dark horrible little novella that I almost read in one sitting (but wanted to savour so forced myself to finish it the following day). It’s the absolute definition of up my street. I loved it.

I loved this book. Loved it. Macabre and creepy and insidious, it gets right under your skin with a slight, twisting tale of a woman's frustrated desires and the little voice inside her that urges her onward. Come Closer has a sharp intelligence, black humour and moments of sheer terror cleverly woven together.

I was given a copy of this to review on Netgalley, although I did then realize I had already purchased the book at an earlier date to read.

The review will contain some small spoilers.

I wasn't sure at first how much Sara Gran could pack into a short novella of under 200 pages, but by the end of Come Closer I was surprised at how much detail she was able to really pour onto the page.

This is a very interesting take on possession, especially considering most of what we know from movies and other stories usually gives us a third person look at what's happening. In Come Closer, we get a firsthand account through the eyes of our protagonist Amanda. While not overly exciting due to a lack of 'action', it is extremely successful in how Gran uses suspense and psychological horror.

There are moments throughout the book where the reader is unsure of whether or not Amanda is truly possessed or whether she is suffering through a mental break which affects her marriage, her work and her overall well-being. Amanda herself even remarks that there is nothing and no one she can trust due to what is happening to her, and therefore the reader feels the same sense of unease.

The moments of 'possession', when we see what the entity wants, and what it wishes Amanda to do are truly unnerving and because of this, the novella itself is one that will stay with me for a long time to come.

Sarah Gran's novella is a haunting horror thriller, interspersed with the darkest of humour, chillingly ambiguous about the central character, the suitably unreliable Amanda. She is an ambitious architect working on her biggest project to date, the Fitzgerald House, which she is hoping will lead to her moving on from her current employers, Fields and Carmine, to set up in business on her own. She is happily married to Ed, living in a loft apartment, where it all begins with the sinister tapping that never seems to stop, which we are later to learn is the first sign of demonic possession. From here, we slowly see the disintegration of Amanda, her personal and professional spiralling out of her control. As is stated by Amanda “We could devote our lives to making sense of the odd, the inexplicable, the coincidental. But most of us don’t, and I didn’t either.”

Without doubt, a series of strange and odd events do occur, the German Alsation dog close to home that was initially so friendly to Amanda, turning hostile and fearful, the all too vivid dreams, the rising number of arguments she has with Ed, the blackouts where she can remember nothing of what happens, the shoplifting, taking up smoking again after having successfully quit, and the delivery of the wrong book, Demon Possession, Past and Present. However, can Amanda's account really be trusted? Is she really possessed by the demon Naamah, her unfortunate history outlined in Christian and Jewish history or is it her mental health issues that are contributing to her breakdown? Amanda's disturbing and unsettling downwards slide into the concluding nightmare of horror is inevitable, marked by her increasing scores in the demonic possession quiz.

This is the perfect read for those time of the year where horror and supernatural fiction comes into its own, such as Halloween, or whenever you feel in the need to venture into darker reading territory. I particularly like the ambiguity of this relatively short story, with Amanda visiting the spiritual advisor, Sister Maria, and a psychotherapist, Dr Fenton, both unsettling in their different way for her. This is a wonderfully intense and eerie read, which I think will appeal to many readers of horror. Many thanks to the publisher for a copy of the book.

This novella packs quite a punch for its short page count. The tale of a young professional who moves to a new apartment with her partner. Shortly after they move in there is a strange tapping noise heard throughout the house, before long her behaviour is changing and then things get very dark, very quickly

Incredibly well written and very enjoyable, this story goes to some quite dark places, but I couldn't stop reading waiting to see what would happen to Amanda next, is she really possessed or is this some kind of breakdown

Highly recommended

What an anxiety inducing book!! Still I really liked it and because of its intensity it does make you feel in Amanda's skin. Horror in its best form.

“We could devote our lives to making sense of the odd, the inexplicable, the coincidental. But most of us don’t, and I didn’t either.”
– Sara Gran, Come Closer

🏖️I received an e-ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. Come Closer (2021) will release on 29th June!🏖️

So this is a review for the upcoming Faber & Faber reissue of this book, but I will preface this review by saying that Come Closer (2021) was actually first released a whole eighteen years ago, all the way back in 2003, and I do think that context is important to bear in mind when reading this review. I never read this book back when it was originally released, but then again, I was only nine years old in 2003, and although my love for horror blossomed around that time with the likes of R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps books, I wasn’t reading adult horror like this at that point, naturally.

It had, however, been sitting on my Amazon Wishlist for several years prior to me reading it this month. I didn’t know it was getting re-released this year, but when I saw it pop up in my NetGalley feed, I jumped at the chance to finally read it. I’d heard so many great things about this one, so many instances of it being labelled as a modern classic, and it definitely didn’t let me down even with such high expectations.

In Come Closer, we follow the story of an architect named Amanda as she experiences increasingly bizarre events, hearing unusual sounds and experiencing vivid dreams involving an imaginary friend from her childhood called Pansy. As these events both worsen and increase in frequency, it becomes apparent that the figure in Amanda’s dreams may not be a mere imaginary friend, and is in fact something so much worse. Soon enough, she finds herself locked in a battle for mental and physical control of her body against a seemingly demonic being.

In many ways, this book reminded me a lot of Rob E. Boley’s The Body Will Follow (2020), which I first read back in February this year, and it feels a little ironic saying that, considering Come Closer was released a whole seventeen years before that book. I would actually be very surprised if this didn’t serve as inspiration for Boley’s story, given the myriad similarities between the two. Both are, at least on the surface, tales of a woman’s possession, and chart the increasingly depraved and twisted acts that the possessive entity forces the protagonist to participate in. Both also have a strong comedic vein to the writing, though the tone of the comedy in Come Closer is considerably darker.

Where this book differs from Boley’s though is in the sheer ambiguity of the possession. Amanda often feels like a highly unreliable narrator, and it’s never entirely clear just how much of her story we can take as the truth. Gran expertly weaves the questionable narration of Amanda with her increasing paranoia to create a complex and empathetic lead. The whole story is very well written and incredibly readable – I myself devoured all of its 176 pages in one sitting, and in my opinion that is a mark of an excellent story. The narrative is highly engaging, moves along at a brisk pace, and is just so easy to devour in one go.

I loved the descriptions of the entity at the heart of Come Closer, and the dreamlike (or perhaps more accurately, nightmarish) sequences in which Amanda interacts with it were so vivid and easy to picture. The horror scenes were genuinely creepy too, and the way they escalate as the plot unfurls is just fantastic. I think my only slight points of contention would be that some things in the narrative happened a little too conveniently, and on the odd occasion certain things were repeated too often, such as the checklist for demonic possession. I understand it had its place in the plot and the repetition was probably done intentionally for effect, but it was just a bit too often for my liking.

I wasn’t quite sure how Come Closer’s plot was going to end, but suffice to say the finale doesn’t disappoint. In hindsight, the plot plays out like a car crash in slow motion; each page adds to the impending sense of disaster, and all the reader can do is bear witness in mute horror as the narrative hurtles towards its inevitably dark conclusion. And boy, is it a dark ending. I’ve said it time and time again, happy endings are simply not my thing, and certainly not within my horror reading, so I absolutely loved how this story wraps up.

VERDICT: Stories concerning possession are very common in horror literature, and in many ways the trope had been done to death even by Come Closer’s original release in 2003. However, this book takes this concept and twists it into a superbly original and delectably dark tale all of its own. Gran’s writing is so damn compelling, and urges you to discover Amanda’s unfortunate fate. The comedy is black as pitch, the horror genuinely bone-chilling, and the book as a whole a resounding read – by turns amusing, blood-curdling and with its haunting final paragraphs, genuinely heart-breaking.

I originally gave this book four stars immediately after finishing, but upon reflection I think that is a little unfair, as this really was a chillingly good read. I’ve since amended my score, and its now a ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from this reviewer. I also want to say a humongous thank you to both the author Sara Gran, publisher Faber & Faber, and to NetGalley, for providing the ARC and giving me the chance to read and review it early.

This came highly recommended by fellow blogger Liz, at Liz Loves Books, who tweeted that this was genuinely creepy and unsettling. If Liz was unsettled by a book then I wanted to read it. Having zipped through Come Closer in a day (it’s a horror novella) I fully understand why Liz flagged up the unsettling nature of this one, it’s a disturbing tale of demonic possession.

It is Amanda’s story. We first see her handing a piece of work to her boss except the submission contains some personal insults about her boss which most definitely were not in the draft which Amanda prepared. Amanda is horrified that someone would try to prank her in such a mean way and quickly defuses the situation by printing a fresh copy of her report which is insult free. Her boss accepts someone had been mucking about and order is restored but Amanda cannot help but concede to herself that the insults were a good reflection on how she felt about her boss.

First signs of trouble and disharmony are in place and mysterious incidents are going to quickly follow. In their appartment Amanda and her husband Ed hear a tapping noise. It’s irritating, untracable and goes on for weeks. Amanda hears it when she is home alone. Ed didn’t hear it when he was home alone. The noise comes and goes, no pattern and no routine just an irritating tapping.

Amanda begins to have strange dreams. The dreams are intense and vivid and the reader begins to see a lack of focus in Amanda’s daily life. The readers see how Amanda’s grip is starting to slip away from her. Through some fun wee plot devices the author introduces the possibility to Amanda that she may be possessed, but she rejects the notion – initially.

Come Closer is a close-up look at the main character of a story losing everything. As I mentioned, this is a novella, so I flew through the book in a single day – aided by the fact I had more time that usual that day to get some reading done. But once Amanda’s life starts to go off the rails I just wanted to keep reading. Everything happening to her (and the things she was happening to) were compulsive reading and I wanted to know how she was going to get herself out of the mess she was in. Then I began to wonder IF she would get out of the mess she was in. It is slick writing from Sara Gran which keeps you hooked and although it’s not a long book it packs a very effective punch.

Wow! That might have been a novella but boy it packed one HELL of a punch.

Extremely addictive and randomly horrific, Come Closer follows Amanda as she loses herself to demonic possession. Starting low key and then building to a crescendo of vivid and bloody violence this is so cleverly achieved.

It creeps up on you with its insidious power, Sara Gran has a way with words that is just stunning, almost literally.

I loved it. Right up my darkly creepy street. Recommended.

Wow. I read this in one sitting and it gripped me so hard. This novella is a definite recommendation from me - dark, twisted and certainly made me question the main character and her perception of things. I can’t find any fault in this novella which, when you’re talking about a topic like possession which has been used so many times in the horror genre, is a great thing. If you like horror with a psychological twist then, in my opinion, you can’t go wrong.

What a creepy little novel! This is an afternoon read, curled up in bed with a warm tea. It's a slow-burn, as our main character battles with noises in the walls only to find out something a whole lot more sinister might be going on... inside her own body. This reminded me of Shirley Jackson and Edgar Allen Poe -- a little, throwback creeper that relies on noises, movements, body parts, disturbing thoughts, and things unseen that all work to make the reader physically respond the film-like set pieces. I dug it.

Come Closer is a novella about a woman whose life is slowly falling apart, as she hears strange noises and starts acting out of character. Quite quickly you find out—through a book accidentally sent to her, with a multiple choice quiz—that she's being possessed by a demon, but in a slow burn kind of way.

In terms of the narrative, it is exactly what you'd expect: the story of a woman with a good job and a husband who starts to act differently and things spiral out of control. As a novella watching the protagonist be taken over and not be able to stop it, it works quite well, even if it's very predictable (the inevitability could be the point).

However, at multiple points the protagonist is randomly homophobic, including right at the start where it is initially the demon, but then the protagonist confirms that belief, and later she uses a homophobic slur to describe a minor character for no reason, and when she seems to have more control than the demon as she's going to try and escape it. This really threw me out of the narrative and is lazy writing if it's there for shock purposes (there's no reason or explanation for it), or just offensive if not.

Seeing as this book is being reissued, it seems like this was something that should've been considered. Without this element, it would've just been a standard horror novella that lacked tension, but it's hard to review it without thinking of how thrown from the narrative I was thanks to the random homophobia that seemed to be affirmed by both the demon and the protagonist.