Reprieve: A Novel

"Like Whitehead’s The Intuitionist, Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching or Zakiya Dalila Harris’ The Other Black Girl, Reprieve straddles genres in the best possible way. . . . Sure to spark conversation and debate at book clubs across the land." –LOS ANGELES TIMES“An eventual American classic that is unrelenting in its beauty and incisive cultural critique.” – KIESE LAYMONRecommended by New York Times • Los Angeles Times • NPR • Today • Esquire • O Quarterly • Boston Globe • Chicago Tribune • Harper’s Bazaar • Shondaland • Thrillist • The Millions • Crimereads • XTRA • Tor • Literary Hub • and more!A chilling and blisteringly relevant literary novel of social horror centered around a brutal killing that takes place in a full-contact haunted escape room—a provocative exploration of capitalism, hate politics, racial fetishism, and our obsession with fear as entertainment. On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, “reprieve,” they’ll win a substantial cash prize—a startling feat accomplished only by one other group in the house’s long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants.Those who were present on that fateful night lend their points of view: Kendra Brown, a teenager who’s been uprooted from her childhood home after the sudden loss of her father; Leonard Grandton, a desperate and impressionable hotel manager caught in a series of toxic entanglements; and Jaidee Charoensuk, a gay international student who came to the United States in a besotted search for his former English teacher. As each character’s journey unfurls and overlaps, deceit and misunderstandings fueled by obsession and prejudice are revealed, forcing all to reckon with the ways in which their beliefs and actions contributed to a horrifying catastrophe.An astonishingly soulful exploration of complicity and masquerade, Reprieve combines the psychological tension of classic horror with searing social criticism to present an unsettling portrait of this tangled American life.

From School Library Journal

A haunting horror story dealing with issues of race, homophobia, and sexism. Something horrible happened one night in 1997 at a "full contact" haunted house in Nebraska, but it takes the length of the book to ascertain exactly what transpired and, more important, why. Teenage horror fan Kendra is thrilled to get a job at Quigley House, the only interesting part of her new life in Nebraska. If a group of participants can make it through Quigley House without screaming "Reprieve" (the safe word that halts everything), they win a cash prize. This job leads to her beloved older cousin Bryan joining a four-person team intent on winning the haunt. Bryan is focused on winning the $15,000 prize; Jaidee wants to impress his longtime crush, Victor; and Victor wants to impress his fiancée. The backstories of the four doomed contestants intersect with those of John, the calculating owner of the house, and the easily manipulated Leonard. The team's success at each stage of the haunt is punctuated by after-the-fact depositions revealing that something awful happened in the final stage of their quest. The racism experienced by Black characters Kendra and Bryan, and the racism both experienced by and perpetuated by Jaidee, ratchets up the sense of dread. Sexual scenes, including scenes of sex tourism in Thailand, may be triggering though they are not gratuitously written. VERDICT An intense, clever, and thought-provoking horror tragedy. Narration by the younger characters is likely to appeal to older teens, who may also be drawn to the Stephen King-like haunted house setting.-Ann Foster, Saskatoon P.L., Sask.α(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Victor LaValle, New York Times Book Review"Like Whitehead’s The Intuitionist, Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching or Zakiya Dalila Harris’ The Other Black Girl, Reprieve straddles genres in the best possible way. The late 1990s murder of a man in Quigley House, a full-contact haunted house in Lincoln, Neb., during a contest gone awry, and the ensuing trial are just part of the story. It’s the compelling flashbacks from diverse contestants and others that drive Mattson’s deeper examination of America’s addiction to horror, casual racism, deteriorating political climate and a whole lot more. Sure to spark conversation and debate at book clubs across the land."

“Insightful and gripping . . . On the surface, Reprieve is a story about an attack at a haunted house, but Mattson is also investigating questions of identity and power, namely who in this story controls fears and who is subject to them . . . The haunted house at the center of the narrative is an excellent touch because the ideas of danger and harm become material, frightening and imminent. At times, the reader is trapped in Quigley House with the contestants, in scenes that are genuinely unnerving . . . In his sly way, Mattson turns his novel into a portrait of current events. And they have, indeed, been terrifying.”

and more fatal

“Mattson crafts a nail-biting horror saga while also implicating us in our sick obsession with horror. So too does the novel evoke blistering social horror, forcing us to reckon with how racism, prejudice, and complicity are more horrifying

O Quarterly,Fall Reading Spectacular"Reprieve feels haunted by the promise of a nation unable to see eye to eye. . . . characters in James Han Mattson’s absorbing book, set in the late ‘90s, are so steeped in violent horror movies, they rarely recognize what’s haunting the marginalized characters and people of color in their lives. The plot turns on a murder in an haunted attraction but legacies of hurt weigh heavier."

“Sharp as a razor’s edge . . . Mattson’s devious trick is in revealing America itself as a topsy-turvy house of horrors.”

Joshunda Sanders, Boston Globe"If someone doesn’t make an absolutely awesome movie out of James Han Mattson’s novel Reprieve in the next few years, I will have lost a whole lot of faith in the Hollywood machine. Not only just a straight-up terrifying horror novel, Reprieve is jam-packed with biting social commentary that manages to touch on everything from capitalism to race. It is hold-your-breath tense throughout and will leave your mind feeling like someone’s had their fingers in there, fumbling around just to make you feel something. It is wild and risky and audacious in the very best way possible. Reprieve is the perfect October read and one that might have you thinking about coming up with your own safe word for the journey."

“An eclectic crew enters a haunted escape room in Nebraska; things go terribly wrong. A fascinating debut thriller with ambitions that go beyond the genre’s conventions.”

Kiese Laymon, bestselling author of Heavy: An American Memoir

“Reprieve is an eventual American classic that is unrelenting in its beauty and incisive cultural critique. But it is James Han Mattson's treatment of his fully flawed characters that clutches my heart and head. Every room in this book has a secret room. Every character has a shadow trying to swallow them whole. I'm not sure there is 'fearless' American writing, but a few times a generation, there is innovative writing that appears to confront, shred, and accept the fears of its author and its readers with a wicked joy. Reprieve is that book. It really is.”

among other topics far more terrifying than the frights inside the central haunted house.”

“I’m not one who is often prone to horror, but this eerie novel about a death inside a full-contact escape room stretches the genre to eye-opening degrees. As Mattson fills out the backstories of the witnesses, he probes racial fetishism and far-right radicalization

it devastated me yet left me hopeful. It’s the perfect novel for our time, combining a nail-biting murder mystery with brilliant social commentary on fetishization, misogyny, racism, and heteronormativity. I’m blown away.”

“I’m in awe of the remarkable power of James Han Mattson’s Reprieve in doing the impossible

T. Geronimo Johnson, bestselling author of Welcome to Braggsville "Reprieve is a brilliant critique of contemporary society and culture."

“Surprising and spellbinding, Mattson’s latest offering is a page-turner that keeps you guessing right until the explosive end.  Smart and entertaining, Reprieve is the rare novel that’s both thrilling and thought-provoking. A must-read!”

Booklist(starred review)"As each character’s story unfolds and overlaps, revealing obsessions, prejudice, and secrets, Reprieve transforms from a classic horror story to a portrait

“the real world” with the in-your-face terror of the haunt, meaning there is no reprieve from the fear. This is a rare treat of a novel that will be devoured by fans of pulp horror titles like The Dark Game by Jonathan Janz and by those who like the juxtaposition of supernatural and real-world horrors found in the works of Victor LaValle."

About the Author

James Han Mattson is the acclaimed author of The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he is the recipient of awards from the Copernicus Society of America and Human-ities North Dakota. He was a featured storyteller on The Moth and has taught writing at the University of Iowa, the University of Cape Town, the George Washington University, the University of Maryland, Murray State University, and the University of California–Berkeley. He is currently the fiction editor of Hyphen magazine. He was born in Seoul, Korea, and raised in North Dakota.

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