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.
My thoughts on Come Closer
Come Closer is a re-release of a novella published in 2003. I love Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt series but this one had passed me by until late last year. I asked for it for Christmas without looking at it in too much detail, only to realise it was a horror when I took off the wrapping paper! After romance, horror is probably my least favourite genre.
Thankfully this wasn’t the type of horror I try to avoid. Yes, there was a bit of gore but the horror here was more psychological, which works for me. And even then, there is a question about whether what is happening is real or whether it is really about the societal ‘horror’ when a young woman doesn’t play by the rules.
This is especially true when you think about when it was written, before mobiles were common, and long before anyone had even thought of the phrase #metoo. In 2003, there was an expectation that we would ‘lean in’ and to not do so was somehow to fail (has a lot really changed?)
And so maybe the voice Amanda is hearing is her own – telling her that there is more to life than staying home and waiting for her husband to turn up late for the perfectly cooked meal she prepared (after a hard day at work, of course – because the chores were still her responsibility).
It would make sense, and I can completely sympathise. In fact, I did. I felt for Amanda and her need to ‘fix’ herself. But I also wanted her to find the joy her demon was bringing her. That I felt so much in such a short time is testament to Gran and her ability to squeeze everything out of every word.
Highly recommend. 5/5 stars.
Emma
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Other review of books by Sarah Gran
One Readers Thoughts 
[…] I posted three times this week, I only shared one review, Come Closer by Sara Gran, a novella that can be read as a simple horror, or as more of a social commentary on how women […]
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[…] my February roundup. That honour fell to two books – More Than A Woman by Caitlin Moran and Come Closer by Sara Gran. Both are very different books (one is full of humorous essays, one a horror novella) but we’re […]
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