"So you think you're possessed, it said. Don't we all, from time to time."
It can be easy to ignore the things that are right in front of our noses, more convenient to look the other way than face a challenge head-on. Perhaps that is just human nature. Let's be honest, we've all had a moment of procrastination where we couldn't be bothered to handle a task that needed to be done. Who among us hasn't waited an extra day to fold the laundry or take out the trash? Usually, these decisions don't radically alter the fabric of our lives. We either do it the next day or wait until that thing we were ignoring can't possibly be ignored anymore. Sara Gran's novel Come Closer sees her character facing the unassuming banality of daily life in a similar way. Unfortunately for her, by the time she realizes the enormity of the thing she is ignoring, it is far too late.
Amanda is living her dream life. She has a loving husband, a comfortable home, and a job that supports the lifestyle she's always wanted. The tapping begins quietly, a soft, barely noticeable sound. Amanda can't quite place where within her apartment it is coming from. There are no signs of a leak anywhere to be found. As she searches her home, the noise seems to be moving around, evading any attempt to locate the source. Her husband hears the tapping too, so Amanda knows she isn't imagining things. Alas, the mysterious racket continues. Resigned to the fact that she may never discover the cause of the sound, Amanda halts her search and learns to live with it. The incessant tap, tap, tapping fades from her mind, vanishing into the background noise of her everyday life.
The strange sound is just the beginning. Soon Amanda begins to have vivid dreams. In them she sees the figure of her childhood imaginary friend, a face she's long forgotten. Amanda recalls the mischief her friend would urge her to get into, the little devil on her shoulder egging her on. She's alarmed when she catches a glimpse one day of that same little face, the imaginary girl has now grown into a very real woman. But that can't be true. It has to just be her mind playing tricks on her. Then the blackouts begin. She has long stretches of time where she simply has no recollection of what happened to her. Amanda neglects her job, her home, and even her husband. By the time she seeks help for whatever is happening to her, the darkness inside has already taken hold.
If you are looking for a quick horror read to squeeze in before the spooky season retires for another year, Sara Gran's Come Closer perfectly fits the bill. In just under 200 pages, Gran writes of a woman slowly succumbing to either demonic possession or severe mental illness. The first-person narrative places the reader directly into the mind of this woman, helping us to feel the confusion, fear, and resignation of every moment. There is nothing spectacular or overtly supernatural about what is happening. Instead, Gran grounds every scene firmly in reality. I found this to only elevate the suspense as everything that happens in the book could truly happen in real life. What I read was one woman's slow descent to madness, a place that she has no real hope of ever coming back from. That, my friends, is truly terrifying.
For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2021, 42)
