Come Closer: A Novel

She Will Never Be Lonely Again . . . Amanda is happily married to Ed, works as an architect, and likes her life. But disturbances begin to upset her. Odd noises haunt their apartment. She suffers occasional blackouts, yet there is no medical explanation. She and her husband have petty squabbles; Ed seems less than lovable. The image of a beautiful woman out of her past invades Amanda’s dreams. Instead of a book she had ordered by mail, she receives Demon Possession, Past and Present . Soon after, Amanda accidentally burns her husband with a cigarette. Something seemed to take her over. She begins to study the book on possession. Does everything that has happened have a rational explanation? Are the coincidences that have occurred just that? Or has she been possessed by a female demon known to students of the Kabbalah as Naamah?

From Booklist

Strange noises that come and go; objects that inexplicably appear, then vanish. Such bump-in-the-night shenanigans are horror-story standard fare, but in Gran's gifted hands, these stereotypes fade away like ghosts. In this sparsely constructed and compellingly succinct gem of a novel, Gran's heroine leads a normal life until things suddenly and mystifyingly go wrong. Amanda does hear noises and experience bizarre situations, yet as a vague but tantalizing feeling of unease settles in, Amanda's fear feeds her needs and desires. Gran's premise, that we accept the impossible, for to do otherwise is to foolishly court disaster, informs the subtle tension beneath this deliciously wicked tale. A short book, it is nonetheless long on style, thanks to Gran's talent for quickly and convincingly portraying Amanda's reluctant terror, abject denial, and, finally, resigned acceptance of the malevolent force commandeering her life. Seductively menacing, alluringly sinister, Gran's ominous study of psychological and spiritual suspense heralds a refreshingly sophisticated and literate approach to an often-predictable genre. Carol HaggasCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

This is Sara Gran’s second novel. Her first, Saturn’s Return to New York, was praised for its wit and intelligence. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.\Sara Gran grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where she now lives. She is a graduate of Tufts University. Her short fiction has appeared in Atlantic Unbound, the on-line home of The Atlantic Monthly, and in The Land-Grant College Review. She has worked in area bookstores and participates regularly in readings and literary events in New York City.\Sara Gran is the author of the novels Saturn's Return to New York, Dope, and Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, the first in a detective series.  Her work has been published in over a dozen countries and in nearly twice as many magazines, newspapers, and literary journals. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Sara Gran now lives in California.From the Trade Paperback edition.

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