Review: Come Closer by Sara Gran

Come Closer by Sara Gran

Publication date: July 1st, 2003

Pages: 196

Spice: N/A

Synopsis:

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 current, 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.

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Story:

It has been a while since I have read a good old fashion demon possession horror book. The story is centered on the main character who discounts and dismisses any of the odd things that seem to be taking over her life. She can't seem to figure out what may be happening until she is firmly in the thick of it. While I liked the overall story of the book, I think there were structural problems that may have benefitted the book more. Such as, what was the cause of the situation she found her in? Was a demon just hanging out and waiting to be allowed in? An invisible demon lurking on the corner of a sidewalk poking at anyone who walks by until they fit just as well as Cinderella's shoe? That doesn't quite make sense to me. Add to that the fact that he main character seemed to have already had encounters with the demon at a young age. So what happened between then and the current time? It just felt like there was a lot of details left out that left me puzzled. I won't go further into detail so as not to spoil it. I was not a huge fan of the book. It was far too short and it had this feeling of hopelessness all the way through. 

Character(s):

• Amanda - She took her own naivety to the extreme. There were things that were happening to her on the daily basis that a normal person would be like, "wait a damned minute". But Amanda seemed to just push them to the side. Hell, even when she started to believe that maybe something was going on her inaction was infuriating. Overall, she was a very infuriating character. There wasn't a lot about her that was redeemable or likeable. She buried her head in the sand and ruined her life without ever lifting a finger. At the end of things, I didn't feel an iota of sympathy for her

• Edward - Talk about a stick-your-head-in-the-sand type. I had a feeling that Edward was shadier than he presented himself as from the beginning. Those long hours at the office had my suspicion antenna buzzing. But, he also never cared to try to understand why Amanda had the sudden change in behavior? No quandaries as to where the easy-going wife went? No attempt to support her and seek help? Maybe if she hadn't been so alone in her marriage she may not have had such grandiose experiences. He was stogy, commanding, and neglectful.   

Writing:

I was surprised to find so many spelling and grammar errors throughout the book. With it having gone through a publishing company I would have thought it'd read a fair bit better than the indie books that I have read a lot of the time. The language that the author used was interesting and intelligent, it was just a little odd. There were words that were doubled up at least four times that I recall. I have seen so many "and and" and "but but" and "has has" that I almost quit the book right then and there. However, the book was recommended by my book club so I had to see it through. I am not sure if the book I read was an older edition and those things were changed but I would hope that the book got a few face lifts since it was published. 

Overall: 

I didn't like the characters. The story was incongruent and lacked a lot of the details that would have made it better. And the writing seemed to be more focused on inserting unknown vocabulary words to be looked up by the readers rather than being looked over better to fix any mistakes. I think the book's story has been done time and time again and that not even pushing for the characters to resolve their issues could save my interest level. If I hadn't been trying to read it to completion to give my book club my thorough thoughts on the book, I would have likely DNFed it. It was not for me. I was disappointed.