Come Closer

June 9, 2003
"What we think is impossible happens all the time," observes Amanda, the narrator of Gran's second novel (after 2001's Saturn's Return to New York), providing all the explanation advanced for this effectively understated account of her demonic possession. An industrious young architect with a promising career and seemingly happy marriage, Amanda begins acting uncharacteristically: writing obscene notes to her boss, shoplifting, committing impulsive acts of cruelty, indulging in extramarital affairs—and worse. These episodes, as inexplicable as they are erratic, dovetail with sexually suggestive dreams dominated by an alluring woman who reminds Amanda of her imaginary childhood playmate. Is Amanda losing her grip? Or is Naamah, the dream woman, a demon who has sought since Amanda's infancy to take control of her? Gran keeps the reader as intriguingly uncertain as her heroine, letting Amanda relate her experience in the casual, un-self-conscious voice of someone so increasingly accepting of her outrageous behavior that she almost seems to stand outside it. This ambiguous balancing of the psychological and supernatural creates just the right amount of narrative tension to keep the reader turning pages to see if Amanda is a lost soul on the road to perdition or just a bored yuppie giving into the imp of the perverse. Gran demonstrates that an urbane and subtle approach to ideas more often treated with hysteria and flash can still produce a gripping contemporary tale of terror. (Aug.)Forecast:As the blurbs from Stewart O'Nan and Darin Strauss suggest, this one is aimed, like Gran's sleeper of a first novel, at a mainstream literary audience. Genre horror fans can help give a boost, especially with a World Fantasy or Stoker nomination.

June 15, 2003
In Gran's first novel, Saturn's Return to New York, the protagonist struggled to pull her life together to become an adult on her 29th birthday. In this second effort, quite the opposite happens when the main character faces a gradual but steady loss of control over her body to some sort of demon. Or is she merely delusional? Readers must decide, but it's safe to say that the supernatural is a subject for which Gran has some affinity. From the first tapping in the walls that mark the presence of the "demon" to the shocking conclusion, it's clear that nothing good is going to come of these characters. Amanda, an architect with a small firm, is married to Ed, who works in the financial department of a clothing corporation. They lead a relatively happy life, with the usual ups and downs of married couples, until Amanda's inexplicable behavior begins to alienate her from the people in her life. At less than 200 pages, Come Closer is a quick read-but not one that the reader will quickly forget. Recommended for most public libraries.-Caroline Mann, Univ. of Portland Lib., OR

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2003
Strange noises that come and go; objects that inexplicably appear, then vanish. Such bump-in-the-night shenanigans are horror-story standard fare, but in Gran's gifted hands, these stereotypes fade away like ghosts. In this sparsely constructed and compellingly succinct gem of a novel, Gran's heroine leads a normal life until things suddenly and mystifyingly go wrong. Amanda does hear noises and experience bizarre situations, yet as a vague but tantalizing feeling of unease settles in, Amanda's fear feeds her needs and desires. Gran's premise, that we accept the impossible, for to do otherwise is to foolishly court disaster, informs the subtle tension beneath this deliciously wicked tale. A short book, it is nonetheless long on style, thanks to Gran's talent for quickly and convincingly portraying Amanda's reluctant terror, abject denial, and, finally, resigned acceptance of the malevolent force commandeering her life. Seductively menacing, alluringly sinister, Gran's ominous study of psychological and spiritual suspense heralds a refreshingly sophisticated and literate approach to an often-predictable genre.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)