Come Closer – Sara Gran

There was no reason to assume anything out of the ordinary was going on.

Strange noises in the apartment.

Impulsive behaviour.

Intense dreams.

It wasn’t like everything went wrong all at once.

Shoplifting.

Fighting.

Blackouts.

There must be a reasonable explanation for all this.

 

I received a review copy through Netgalley from the publisher

 

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.

 

Come Closer is published on 1 June 2021 by Faber and Faber.  You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/come-closer/sara-gran/9780571355556