Book description
Finalist for the Chicago Review of Books Fiction Award, Dan Chaon's Best of 2017 pick in Publishers Weekly, one of Vol. 1 Brooklyn's Best Books of 2017, a BOMB Magazine "Looking Back on 2017: Literature" Pick, and one of Vulture's 10 Best Thriller Books of 2017.
Jac Jemc's The Grip…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Grip of It as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I love haunted house stories, and this one was genuinely creepy. It is a first-person account of the growing paranoia of a couple looking to escape their own demons, with both unable to communicate the weird things happening in their house.
I love how it subverted your usual ghost story elements. Instead of leaky pipes, weird spaces appear in the walls. Instead of creepy moans, bruises appear out of nowhere. Is it psychosis? Sickness? Or is something otherworldly in the house? I don’t know. The unsettling horror is ambiguity amplified by a failure of communication, and that’s why I find…
From Claire's list on horror gems for a perfect late-night read.
The Grip of It is among the best-haunted house novels out there. A young couple flees their city life—as well as some potentially life-ruining gambling habits. Julie and James are hopeful, as new homeowners often are, until things begin to go wrong. Odd sounds. Inexplicable spots of decay. Hidden rooms. The novel has all the best markers of a haunted house story while also piling on a sense of unique and unending claustrophobia and suspense that I don’t think I’ve read at quite this level before. It is a brilliant journey into the interior of the human mind. I loved…
From Rachel's list on showing our monstrous, horror filled hearts.
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