Reviews

Come Closer by Sara Gran

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znnys's review against another edition

1.0

This one was hyped up a lot in the horror sphere but for the most part I found it boring and very messy. The most chilling parts are with the doctors that seem to be subtly encouraging the demon, which felt like it'd been done better in Rosemary's Baby, and is unfortunately never quite followed up on. There's some neat little elements that imply there's a larger conspiracy at play, where Amanda starts noticing other people who are possessed, but the book largely focuses on the mundane little elements that lead up to her possession. Some people have lauded this as realistic. I found it tedious, even for a short book. We spend so much time with Amanda and I still couldn't tell you anything about her other than the fact that she's an architect who started smoking again and her husband Ed comes home late. There's a scene towards the end where she reminisces about all the good memories she had with Ed but it's too little too late. I wasn't invested in her or her relationship, and while the idea of this demon taking her over made my skin crawl over the idea of powerlessness, that was, again, explored too late.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did stereotypical accents for some of the characters. The book is from 2003 so I shouldn't be surprised by racial stereotypes and the very jarring homophobia from the main character but it still made it very difficult to empathize with her.

2kerrymehome's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

5.0

An amazing example of "something's not right" horror. Fast paced and well executed. Toes the line well of being scary for its own sake and using fear as commentary.