Come Closer is a truly terrifying novella written by Sara Gran that was originally published in 2003 and it can be devoured in one sitting. It tells the story of Amanda who is a successful architect with a loving husband and a lovely home life, but things are not as they seem. Amanda begins to hear a strange noise in her home constantly, her personality begins to shift very slowly so that those around her barely notice at first, she begins sabotaging herself at work without understanding why, and she begins dreaming of a woman who promises to never, ever leave her.
The novel has two main characters: Amanda and the demon that has possessed Amanda named Naamah. Gran has written this novella in the first person with Amanda as the narrator and Gran manages to articulate what is going on in Amanda’s head through her own words with ease. Amanda is an easy to like character and when she slowly loses her grip on reality and herself, the reader feels compelled to root for her, hoping that Amanda will seek out the help that she wants. Gran definitely had to do some research on possession and the character Naamah for this novella. She puts a lot of effort into keeping the reader informed about Naamah; who she is, where she came from, what she wants, and how she takes over her host. Often at times, stories about possession and demons seem silly instead of scary, but Gran truly made Come Closer part of the horror genre. I do not recommend reading this novella at night when you’re home alone; you will want to finish it all, question every creak in your house, and then want to sleep with the lights on.
While the book’s main focus is on Amanda being possessed by a demon, this can be looked at from another perspective as well. When Gran wrote this back in 2003, mental illness was still very much stigmatised and not talked about as often as it is now. The novel can be looked at as a woman who is experiencing a psychotic episode and is unable to find the help that she desperately needs. As the story progresses the deterioration of Amanda becomes more apparent and it can be looked at in two ways: that Amanda is truly possessed by a demon, or that she is slowly losing a battle with her own mind. Even if Gran never intended her novella to come across as a woman fighting a losing battle with her own mind, in my opinion it can be interpreted this way and is a truly realistic representation of what can happen when someone is battling a mental illness.
What is so charming about this horrifying novella is that it’s an easy read so the reader can quickly make their way through it in one sitting. Gran keeps the story of Amanda to the point with no unnecessary or redundant information and leaves the reader satisfied in the end knowing where Amanda ends up. Since novellas are a lot shorter than the average novel, Gran had a challenge but she certainly knocks it out of the park. It truly manages to hook the reader in right from the beginning and keeps the reader invested the entire way through. If you enjoy the writings of Stephen King, the horror genre, or any novel about the supernatural, then you will enjoy and appreciate the work Sara Gran put into her novel. It is recommended to read this during the day so that the reader does not scare themselves, however if you enjoy being spooked then reading Come Closer at night before bed is ideal.
Come Closer is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A recurrent, 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.
