Come Closer

Strange things are happening to Amanda, but there must be a logical explanation. God help her-there is.

"Polished and unsettling. . . . Horror emanates from the awfulness of life itself, its grim traps and finalities. "Come Closer "is a nasty piece of work, and short-ideal for an evening's reading, with a kick that stays with you for days afterward."-"The Cleveland Plain Dealer"

"What begins as a sly fable about frustrated desire evolves into a genuinely scary novel about possession and insanity. Hypnotic, disturbing, and written with such unerring confidence you believe every word, "Come Closer" is one of the most precise and graceful pieces of fiction I've read in a long time."-Bret Easton Ellis

"Sara Gran has written an intelligent horror story, a literary creepshow that works its magic subtly and well. It's a marvel of restraint and taste, and still it worms its way under your skin and stays there."-Darin Strauss

Amanda is happily married to Ed, works as an architect and likes her life. But disturbances begin to upset her. Odd noises start to haunt their apartment. A practical joker seems determined to sabotage her at work. She has occasional blackouts, but there is no medical explanation. She and her husband start to have petty squabbles; Ed seems less lovable than he used to be.

The image of a beautiful woman out of her past begins to inhabit Amanda's dreams. But in one dream the woman identifies herself as Naamah. Instead of the book she had ordered by mail, she receives "Demon Possession, Past and Present." Soon after, Amanda-accidentally-burns her husband with her cigarette. Can she be going mad? Or has she been possessed by a female demon, Naamah, known to students of the Kabbalah?

This is Sara Gran's second novel. Her first, "Saturn's Return to New York," waspraised for its wit and intelligence. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.