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The Grip of It

Jac Jemc (Goodreads Author)

3.26 · Rating details · 5,731 ratings · 1,149 reviews

A chilling literary horror novel about a young couple who purchase and live in a haunted house. Jac Jemc’s The Grip of It tells the eerie story of a young couple haunted by their new home.

Julie and James settle into a house in a small town outside the city where they met. The move—prompted by James’s penchant for gambling, his inability to keep his impulses in check—is ...more

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Paperback, 276 pages

Published August 1st 2017 by FSG

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Jul 27, 2017 Kevin Kelsey rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2017

Posted at Heradas Review

This short novel thoroughly creeped me the hell out. It’s been a few years since I’ve read anything that maintains this level of unease throughout. It’s not intended to be outright scary, instead it maintains an eerie tone (think VanderMeer’s Annihilation) and punctuates it with some genuine goosebump moments that snuck up on me. The narrative plays the POV characters’ relationship woes (something we can relate to) against a supernatural backdrop (something we cannot). Posted at Heradas Review

This short novel thoroughly creeped me the hell out. It’s been a few years since I’ve read anything that maintains this level of unease throughout. It’s not intended to be outright scary, instead it maintains an eerie tone (think VanderMeer’s Annihilation) and punctuates it with some genuine goosebump moments that snuck up on me. The narrative plays the POV characters’ relationship woes (something we can relate to) against a supernatural backdrop (something we cannot). Juxtaposing the relatable with the unrelatable works so well here, and serves to pull the unrelatable closer until it feels solid, foundational, and within the realm of possibility.

This narrative tactic also got me heavily invested in the characters and their troubled relationship; rooting for them to find a way out of their situation together; to come out the other side a more entwined, singular team. They’re two people who in a misguided attempt to navigate up out of a downwardly spiraling situation, inadvertently ensnare themselves into another, accelerated, more deadly one. I love the way that these events escalated, and built on one another. The way that they dealt with that escalation also felt incredibly like actual human behavior.

The story found its way to a terrific resolution. I imagine it’s difficult to end a haunted house novel in a way that is satisfying to the reader, but doesn’t undercut the creepy tone -- that built it in the first place -- with too much clarity. Do you completely explain the haunting and lose all the mystery, or do you leave it entirely unknown by ending in an ambiguous manner? The finale of The Grip of It finds that perfect middle point between these two extremes, balancing resolution/irresolution to both fulfill my deeply rooted desire for closure as a reader, and keep the eeriness fully at play.

We’ve all got that old lizard brain resting below our rational one, nearly all that it understands is fear, and it love a good poking. Logically, I know none of these supernatural events are real or even remotely possible, but my lizard brain doesn’t care about logic, it likes being afraid. It wallows in the macabre, and thrives in the unknown terrors that might lurk in the shadows residing just at the periphery of my vision. I mostly read this right before going to bed, and I found myself double checking silhouettes in my bedroom as I lay there, imagining how the strange sensation of seeing my wife’s face, but not recognizing her, would feel; finding patterns where none exist, and missing patterns previously obvious. The whole affair put me on edge.

The prose is clean, the chapters short, and the pacing tight. You could even read it in a single sitting if you wanted, and it’s engaging enough that the decision to do so might end up outside your control. It might just happen, you looking at the clock afterward and wondering where the time disappeared to. ...more

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Oct 07, 2017 Amalia Gavea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, favorites, usa, american-literature, contemporary, mystery-horror, gothic-fiction, psychology-mentality

"But what if those buried, fetid stories are the ones that have bubbled to the surface? What if they're right there, balanced on the edge of our teeth, ready to trip into the world without even our permission?"

And what if you have practically no idea what the bloody Hell you're actually reading, curled up in your sofa, and yet you cannot help being hypnotized chapter after chapter? Because this is what happened with "The Grip Of It". This book does grip you and leave you wondering and when you "But what if those buried, fetid stories are the ones that have bubbled to the surface? What if they're right there, balanced on the edge of our teeth, ready to trip into the world without even our permission?"

And what if you have practically no idea what the bloody Hell you're actually reading, curled up in your sofa, and yet you cannot help being hypnotized chapter after chapter? Because this is what happened with "The Grip Of It". This book does grip you and leave you wondering and when you reach the last page, you're still uncertain but you know you've enjoyed the journey. This is how I felt about the novel that kicked off my Halloween reads.

James and Julie are our protagonists. A young couple that decides to leave the big city and start a new life in a small town and a new house. They want to mend certain unhappy choices of the past and look to a cleaner, more innocent future. Their house, however, is anything but innocent. It seems alive, inhospitable. So far, there is nothing groundbreaking in the plot, the virtue of this novel isn't its originality but its powerful writing. This book is like a good ghost film that we watch again and again, always closing our eyes, hiding behind a pillow in the same jumpscares.

After a striking Prologue, we enter the heart of the action right away. The narration is told in both James' and Julie's point of view, in Present tense, like a voice -over. The chapters are like snippets from the couple's life in the house. The foreboding images are plenty. There is the constant presence of woods and waves, the earth and the water elements, both risky, symbolic and powerful. Voices of happy children can be heard, but they're not seen. Ever. In fact, the town seems almost deserted and the few residents seem to know there is something amiss but are unwilling to get involved. The forest surrounding the house seems to move closer, somehow. There is a constant humming noise, there are cracks, drawings on the walls appearing out of nowhere and an old, weird neighbour who may be an intruder.

James and Julie are very sympathetic characters, flowed and realistic. The phenomena largely affect Julie, as is often the case in supernatural occurrences. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I felt for her and I believe James was a fine equivalent to her strength, no matter his flaws. And there were many. Connie, on the other hand, is insufferable. A nosy hysterical who pretends to be interested in Julie's welfare. Why does every mystery seem to need an irritating busybody? I think we'd be much better without their ghastly presence.

I can't say more and I fear I've already said too much. What is so engaging, even frightening if you like, is the psychological effect of the haunting. The book passes beyond the supernatural thriller and becomes a psychological observation. Yes, at certain times, it becomes a bit repetitive and unnecessarily wordy, but overall it is a very satisfying effort. In my opinion, this is everything "The Upstairs Room" wasn't....

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.word... ...more

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Jan 13, 2018 Johann (jobis89) rated it it was ok

“We can lose ourselves behind a trapdoor, whether in our mind or in the house.”

A couple, Julie and James, move into a new home as a means of getting away from James’ gambling problems. Pretty quickly, the couple are tormented by strange occurrences - stains appear on the walls, bruises form on Julie’s body and they keep finding hidden spaces within the walls of their home. Together they try to investigate what is happening as more and more strain is placed on their relationship.

If I had to use ...more

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Sep 21, 2017 Chelsea Humphrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

If you are thinking about picking up this book, please do yourself the favor of listening to the audio version! The narrators are beyond excellent, and I feel they played a huge part in the success I felt while reading this story.

Readers looking for violent, graphic, and disturbing horror won't be the right target audience for this book, but THE GRIP OF IT will be a huge hit to those looking for a dark and chilling form of literary horror and slow building suspense. What really put this in 4 ...more

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Oct 19, 2017 Carol (Bookaria) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017, fiction

This book is so spooky!

Perfect pick for these days. Julie and James are married and looking to start fresh in a new home. In the past they've had some marital woes because of James' gambling problems.

They find what seems like the perfect house close to the ocean and cannot believe their luck when their offer goes through very quickly. Once they start settling in strange things start to happen, they also start getting lost in the hidden rooms within the house.

The novel is narrated from the ...more

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Sep 29, 2017 Char rated it really liked it

Shelves: from-library, dark-fiction, audio-book, haunted-houses

I loved the premise of this book and borrowed the audio from library because it sounded so good. The Grip of it delivered!

This audio follows Julie and James as they buy a new home to begin their fresh start. Almost immediately, creepy things begin to occur. Their new neighbor only adds to the uncomfortable atmosphere, not to mention the stories of the townspeople. When mysterious bruises begin to appear on Julie's body, they both have to admit there is some kind of problem, but how are they ...more

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Oct 13, 2017 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it liked it

3 Stars

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Oct 19, 2017 Edward Lorn rated it it was amazing

As an atheist and a horror fan, I find myself liking haunted house and ghost stories that do not really on a God Solution. Like religion, most haunted house stories stem from madness, a willingness to believe in the unbelievable simply because you don't have another explanation, or completely ignore facts that do not fit your beliefs. For all of these reasons do I love this book. The characters disbelieve up to the very end. They constantly question because what they are faced with simply cannot ...more

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Sep 01, 2017 Sadie Hartmann Mother Horror rated it really liked it

Shelves: season-of-horror-2017

"Well
You and I both know that the house is haunted
And you and I both know that the ghost is me
You used to catch me in your bed-sheets just a-rattling your chains
Well back then baby, it didn’t seem so strange."--Shaky Graves/Dearly Departed

I don't typically do song lyrics with my book reviews (seen that, over it *wink*) but this was just so damn appropriate that I had to.
So here we have a very moody, atmospheric setting for our story: A Haunted House.
And we have a typical, slightly dysfunctional ...more

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Aug 26, 2017 Ashley Daviau rated it it was amazing

I was really unsure what to expect when I started this and I honestly think that's the best way to go in to reading this book. It allowed me to be drawn into the story in a way that made me feel like I was PART of the story.

It takes a lot for me to be creeped out enough to want to sleep with the lights on. This book had me not just contemplating sleeping with the lights on but also just foregoing sleep altogether. It raised the hairs on the back of my neck in the most delightful way and I ...more

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Aug 25, 2018 mark monday rated it did not like it

Shelves: unstablenarratives, horror-modern, i-gave-up, inquiétude

try-hard

A person who puts a large amount of effort into achieving a certain image, or counter-image, to the point where it is obviously contrived. Rather than achieving an image through genuine personality, the try-hard consciously attempts to fit a certain style through deliberate imitation, forced style, or scripted behavior. That is to say, he/she is trying hard to create an image.

"A person"... or in this case, a book.

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Apr 06, 2017 Trin rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2010s, american-lit, horror

Effective horror is incredibly difficult to write. How do you sustain the suspense, let the terror build? Jac Jemc can't seem to with The Grip of It. This is a classic haunted house story, with some decent ideas -- (view spoiler) -- but I feel like the author runs out of steam a third of the way in. Some explanations or narrative excuses -- why would you stay in a house that is so obviously destroying your psyche?! -- arrive at least 50 pages too late, while ...more

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Nov 29, 2017 Anthony Vacca rated it did not like it

Oof. The Grip of It is a literary horror novel that slights the "horror" with its aim toward "literary." The novel is told in short bursts of "he said, she said" that do little to differentiate between one another stylistically to the point that the reader must continually check to see if the current narrator is the husband or the wife that is speaking in the ever-monotone present tense. The Grip of It wants to be a serious work that presents bits of philosophical poetry as human insight into ...more

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Nov 06, 2017 Janelle | She Reads with Cats rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017, horror

It took me one day to read THE GRIP OF IT by Jac Jemc. The chapters alternate between the point of views of husband and wife, James and Julie, as they describe their experience moving into a new house, in a new town. There are some trust issues between the couple because of James’ gambling problem which adds to the paranoia in this story. I was captivated throughout the book up until the ending. I am not a huge fan of neatly wrapped endings - I prefer books that make you think. And although this ...more

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Jul 31, 2019 ✨The Reading rated it it was ok

I don't think so...
A curious little haunted house story about a husband and wife that move into a new house and strange things begin to happen.
If this book was a horror film it would be one of those new, contemporary horror films that has absolutely no musical composition to it whatsoever. Just the dry straight facts. Let me tell you why...
This book is written in a first-person style jumping back and forth between the husband and wife's POV and is also written in present tense. You can imagine ...more

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Oct 28, 2017 Dennis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: psychological-thriller, suspense, domestic-thriller, supernatural, 2017-read, horror, favorites, coverporn

5/5 stars!!

Just a quick FYI before we get started... I started Jac Jemc's The Grip of It yesterday morning before work, continued reading it on my lunch break, on my commute home on the subway, before getting ready to meet up with friends for a pre-Halloween night out, left my friends early so I could come home and read this, and then stayed up until 2:30 am to finish this. If that doesn't mean that this book deserves 5 stars, then I don't know what else to tell you, but I digress. Let's get 5/5 stars!!

Just a quick FYI before we get started... I started Jac Jemc's The Grip of It yesterday morning before work, continued reading it on my lunch break, on my commute home on the subway, before getting ready to meet up with friends for a pre-Halloween night out, left my friends early so I could come home and read this, and then stayed up until 2:30 am to finish this. If that doesn't mean that this book deserves 5 stars, then I don't know what else to tell you, but I digress. Let's get started on this review, shall we?

Jac Jemc's The Grip of It is intoxicating and enchanting from the very beginning. The story revolves around a couple from the city, James and Julie, moving to the countryside to escape the drama surrounding them and to get a fresh start. James suffers from an addiction to gambling and the couple relocates to try and rid themselves of this horrible dilemma. Insert typical introduction to all haunted house stories: couple finds a cheap house that is way too big for them but provides them rustic charm and latches onto their egos and dreams, couple purchases the house and decides to not do any research into why the massive house is so cheap, couple moves in immediately. Once they move in, they realize that things aren't quite what it seems - shadows lurking around the house, random horrific growls coming from who knows where, little hidden rooms leading to areas of the house that have no value for the typical person, and a neighbor who won't keep his eyes off of them. This is just the start for the naive couple, but what is wrong here and what has James and Julie done to invoke these nightmarish plagues against them?

If you haven't read the first part of my review, I just wanted to reiterate how epic and awesome this story was for me. The Grip of It is not your typical horror story that has in-your-face gore and fright at every page. This story is a psychological thriller, mixed with suspense and a domestic thriller component all blended together with minor horror features. The slow build-up to the story is engaging and left me begging for more. I love this story - and now time for a nap because I'm exhausted. :) ...more

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Aug 17, 2017 Crime by the Book rated it really liked it

Read my full review here: http://crimebythebook.com/blog/2017/8...

I couldn't put this read down! It's a smart and surreal literary horror novel that incorporates themes readers might expect to find in a domestic thriller. This won't be the right choice if you're looking for bloody/gory horror, but it'll perfectly suit literary fiction readers looking for something chilling.

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Nov 25, 2017 Bri | bribooks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I have read two great haunted house novels this year. The Grip of It is one of them. (Without consulting my reviews, can anyone tell me what the other is? If you get it right, there isn’t a prize . . . except my undying love and admiration.) A dazzling, poetic, and challenging work, this is a literary masterpiece that deserves to sit on the shelves with the classics.

James and Julian have stumbled across a large, beautiful house for an excellent price — and they take it. The house gives them the ...more

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Oct 01, 2017 Matthew Cox rated it did not like it

Shelves: horror

Let me just say up front that a lot of people on goodreads seem to have enjoyed this book...I'm just not one of them. I found this book to be an absolute chore, and I regret that I took the time to finish it. So with that out of the way, lets dive into a bit more detail.

'The Grip of It' is as horror story that follows two malfunctioning robots, called Julie and James, who move to a house in a small town to escape James's gambling problems. So the main characters aren't actually robots; they Let me just say up front that a lot of people on goodreads seem to have enjoyed this book...I'm just not one of them. I found this book to be an absolute chore, and I regret that I took the time to finish it. So with that out of the way, lets dive into a bit more detail.

'The Grip of It' is as horror story that follows two malfunctioning robots, called Julie and James, who move to a house in a small town to escape James's gambling problems. So the main characters aren't actually robots; they might as well be. They have the personalities of automatons programmed to poorly fake superficial emotions until their circuits start breaking down and they behave even LESS coherently. Whew -Ok, this is going to be even harder then I thought...keep it together, Matt.

The story is written from the first person perspective, which I think is a good choice for horror as you get to experience events at a more intimate level. Additionally, the books chapters alternate between following Julie and James, meaning we are able to witness the thoughts of both characters as they deal with the events of the story.
Unfortunately both of these techniques fail this book.
There is something about the way this book is written that somehow had the effect of making me feel detached from the story; but it's hard to lock in on the problem. Something is just...off. The writing has a very stilted quality too it, while also having the most overdone way of describing events. It was as if the characters had written statements to the police after the events, and that's what we are reading. Except the characters are also poets, and desperately want to show that they have beautiful and creative ways of viewing the world - but ends up just making them more tiresome. It's hard to describe, so I'm just going to put a small bit of non-spoiler text here to give you an idea:

'I recognise the bright terror coursing through me. Every minute renders me closer to pitch-darkness. I want to break the seal into the next day. I want to forget what is happening now. I know it isn't that easy. I want to believe time has already passed. I want to reason my way through it. I am overcome. The tide is fast approaching. I let it have me. The brackish water reaches over me. Under the waves, without my breath, I find a tinted version of myself. I can't tell where my skin stops. I can't tell where the night begins.'

This isn't going well. I didn't set out to write a slam piece, but I can't stop myself. I'm just going to power through some more quick things and be done with it.

The characters say 'We did...' a lot. Enough so that it can take me a few sentences of each new chapter to remember which character's perspective I am actually following now, which kinda ruins the immersion. Mostly the chapters alternate characters - except when they don't for some reason. Also: Show, don't tell. Telling us the characters talk about their concerns is not as engaging as actually having them talk about them.

The characters are dull, and behave in surprisingly muted fashion to what should be seriously worrying events. James is a problem gambler with low impulse control, a love of photography, and an It job. Julie is...the wife. That's all I can remember about her. Maybe they should have gone to a counsellor to teach them how to communicate better, rather than buying a clearly haunted house.

I have read the whole book and I still don't know what was actually going on. The story throws some disconnected, creepy ideas at you but can't be bothered actually giving you much depth or history to the events. Don't get me wrong - Horror can work best when it DOESN'T explain everything - but it should still give you something. Some sort of context or history. Some sort of payoff. It throws out vague details here and there, but they feel just as distantly connected as the various creepy elements.

I didn't FEEL anything for the story or the characters, and while I can objectively recognise many of the events as 'creepy', I didn't actually feel creeped out. Maybe because everything else about the book felt so off that the horror elements just got lost in the noise.

I am sorry this review has ended up being so harsh. It turns out I had a lot to unpack. I just...there was just...nothing positive for me in it at all. But take my opinions with a grain of salt, as clearly a lot of people quite enjoyed it. In fact that is probably the biggest disappointment that I have regarding this whole thing: I didn't get to experience the awesome, creepy, horror story that so many other people apparently did. ...more

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Oct 18, 2017 Thomas Strömquist rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Quite a unique reading experience and it is very impressive to write such an unnerving book about a staple such as a haunted house. This is, of course, rather to do with the prose rather than the story (which is good too!). The shifting narrative (between the couple that are the protagonists of the story) works beautifully and the first half of the book took my breath away and filled me with a dread and a need to learn more. Towards the end, I did feel a little exhausted and started just wishing ...more

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Dec 01, 2017 Fabian rated it liked it

Goes through the haunted house conventions rather fast (finding a lone grave after purchasing a silly-cheap abode, hearing children in the forest, seriously second guessing your spouse, actual physical bruises...). Which was a definite plus. It's been awhile since a good ghost haunted house story emerged somewhere, in some medium... & it shall still be a while I suppose. I wish it had been better...

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May 27, 2017 Casey Frank rated it it was ok

While the writing was interesting and I was intrigued by the cause of the horrifying incidents around the house, I was disappointed with the last quarter of the book. While there were a handful of answers dropped amongst the convoluted narrative it was left too open ended for me to be happy with the overall story.

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Oct 27, 2017 Bill rated it really liked it · review of another edition

There are children in the trees. Whispering. Watching. Waiting.

Shadows. Drawings. Sounds.

The sound shapes itself, rough and wet before me. I smell the breath, sour and ripe at once.

I really dug this one. I liked how the chapters alternated between James and Julie. Their voices got confused in my head and it took a paragraph or two to figure it out who was “speaking”. It should have thrown me off and been a hot mess. It wasn’t. As a matter of fact, the alternating perspective and growing ...more

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Oct 28, 2017 Kimberly rated it really liked it

Shelves: psychological-horror, haunted-house, literary

THE GRIP OF IT, is the first novel I have read by author Jac Jemc. I honestly went into this book without any idea of what to expect. This turned out to be a great thing, as this book was nothing that I would have anticipated!

We start with a couple, Julie and James, that are purchasing their first home, hoping to get a fresh start on their lives after a series of "gambling incidents" that James was involved in. They find a large, strangely affordable home in a small town--this was perhaps the ...more

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Aug 16, 2018 Bark the Overwrought Keyboard Warrior rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, lohf

See this review and so much other good horror stuff at Ladies of Horror Fiction.

3 1/2 Stars

I’m not going to sugar coat things. This book was work and it was not a quick read. Not by a long shot. The chapters were super short so you would think the pages would fly, right? No. They absolutely do not fly. The writing style was literary, I knew that going in, and the language was lovely and often gutting in its honesty but what I didn’t anticipate were the alternating POV’s of the married couple who See this review and so much other good horror stuff at Ladies of Horror Fiction.

3 1/2 Stars

I’m not going to sugar coat things. This book was work and it was not a quick read. Not by a long shot. The chapters were super short so you would think the pages would fly, right? No. They absolutely do not fly. The writing style was literary, I knew that going in, and the language was lovely and often gutting in its honesty but what I didn’t anticipate were the alternating POV’s of the married couple who are haunted by their new house (or were they?). Every single time a new chapter began with the other’s POV it would throw me out of the groove of the story and take me several moments to get back into it. And since many of the chapters were only 2 – 3 pages long there was a lot of mental jostling going on here. Perhaps you won’t have this issue and this much of a struggle but I’d be lying if I didn’t cop to it.

With that said, the book was a treasure trove of eerie atmosphere and emotional turmoil. The writing was truly striking and the crushing and stifling dread closing in on the couple? Phew, I’m still feeling the remnants of those claustrophobic, paranoid feelings days later. Their struggle, their worry, and their confusion? That stuff was so amazingly well done. I LOVE that sort of writing thus I was determined to see this book through to the very end. Were they going mad together? Was the house haunted? Or was it something more sinister and grounded in the real world? And what was up with the weirdo neighbor? I’m not telling you any of these things because I am not 100% sure of the answers even after finishing it. I had to get this book back to the library so I’ll have to do a reread on audio someday to see if I can find all of my answers to all of my pesky questions.

So, do I think you should read it? Perhaps and perhaps not. What I do recommend is maybe grabbing yourself a sample and reading the first 50 -75 pages and see how it works for you personally. The Grip of It isn’t a book that will appeal to everyone but, damn, that writing was lush and I am sucker for lush writing especially when it’s creepy! I have zero regrets.

...more

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Oct 01, 2017 Sheila rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2017

4 stars--I really liked it.

Gonna be vague to avoid spoilers. This is a haunted house story, but an unusual one--there are no ghosts (or are there?), and it's possible that nothing supernatural was happening at all. It reminded me of a cross between House of Leaves (but much more narrow in scope) and Annihilation (but not quite so jumbled). I like both of those books, and I liked this one as well.

Except I found it sad. But maybe all the best ghost stories are.

I listened on audio, and both readers ...more

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Aug 02, 2017 Nancy Oakes rated it really liked it

Shelves: psychological-fiction, american-fiction, dark-fiction, arc

I don't keep ARCs so I'll be giving it away to anyone in the US who wants it.

**
The official blurb for this book calls it "a literary horror novel about a young couple haunted by their newly purchased home," which is definitely the case, but it is not at all your standard haunted house fare, and that's something everyone contemplating reading this novel should know right up front. Trust me on this one. In fact, I have to give the author major ingenuity points here -- not so much for the haunted ...more

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Aug 12, 2017 Lena rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, signed, nocturnalbookbox

"We can lose ourselves behind a trap door, whether in our mind or in the house."

Part haunted house, part psychological thriller, all three star.

Couple with issues buys underpriced house in the suburbs. Creepy things happen. They blame each other, they blame themselves, they get sick. The neighbor has a tragic past. There were solid ingredients but they just didn't come together - no cake.

This book was included in the August 2017 Infested/Infected Nocturnal Readers Box. My first ...more

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Sep 04, 2017 Stephanie (That's What She Read) rated it really liked it

Shelves: gothic, audiobook, creepy, marriage

House of Leaves meets Fates and Furies.

A couple buys a seemingly underpriced house as an attempt to deal with their issues with a "fresh start." The house, with its secret passages, inexplicable growing mold, and mystery drawings on the walls, threatens to push a wedge further between them.

I liked the chapters switchings back and forth between the husband and the wife. The writing was very literary, but not necessarily "scary." A quick and enjoyable read.

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May 21, 2017 Samantha Colwell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

(Review from HelloYellowRoom.com)

Meet James and Julie. They live in the city, work semi-professional jobs, and are married for a blip before James’ gambling addiction drains him of his savings and leaves Julie feeling frustrated and alone. James and Julie decide that moving out of the city will solve their trust issues; James will be out of the path of impulsive temptations, while Julie will feel more in control of their surroundings and their future.

They settle into a two-story house which (Review from HelloYellowRoom.com)

Meet James and Julie. They live in the city, work semi-professional jobs, and are married for a blip before James’ gambling addiction drains him of his savings and leaves Julie feeling frustrated and alone. James and Julie decide that moving out of the city will solve their trust issues; James will be out of the path of impulsive temptations, while Julie will feel more in control of their surroundings and their future.

They settle into a two-story house which sits between a lake and the forest, in a small town just outside the city. They ignore the subtle heaviness in the air, the strange scents, the odd discolorations in the walls. They ignore the instances of vases moving, the strange old man next door who silently stares at them from his living room window, the speculative children in the forest who sit in the trees and play games called Murder. But eventually they can’t ignore the painted faces on the walls, the bruises growing like purple blossoms across Julie’s back, the soiled, hot breath inches from their necks while they’re sleeping. Their escape from marital issues becomes a suffocating descent into mutual madness.

This novel is the literary embodiment of that unnerving sixth sense; the feeling of someone looking at you from behind your back, but you turn and no one is there. The eerie, palpable presence of something unexplainable drives the novel forward to its dizzying finale. By the end of the short but succinct novel, the author has written us a dozen riddles and left the pieces scattered along the way, allowing us to fit them into whatever picture we decide.

My favorite motif has got to be the masks. The way Jemc uses masks to emulate how we represent ourselves to the outside world, in relationships, at work, is actually very artful. You’d think the use of masks would be a literary cliche, but she’s subtle and transparent about its use, allowing the thematic symbols to soak into our periphery rather than wringing them dry.

There’s a scene I still can’t get out of my head, where James walks down the hallway and spies his wife sitting on the edge of the guest bed in a dark room wearing an old Mardi Gras mask that usually hangs on the wall for decoration. He asks her “What’re you doing in there?” and she responds in a whisper, “Nothing.” As he continues to the end of the hall and into their bedroom, he startles to see his wife in bed, tucked in, book in hand, asking “What am I doing in where?” There’s something so much more horrifying imagining that scene behind my eyes than seeing it visually represented in a horror movie. It immediately gave me the chills and stayed with me far longer than I wanted.

Maybe because it urges us to think beyond the thin veil of our fear to what we’re actually scared of–what’s behind the mask? Who did you marry? Who are you underneath your own veneer? And how will you handle it when the world you thought was completely planned starts to veer down an unfamiliar road, into territory that forces us to address who we actually are versus what we have decided we are?

Memorable quotes:

☠️”But then I feel it, like a dark, dark poem: how it enters the room. It displaces the air. I shut my eyes. Dark, dark, pressing down, invisible but moving, moving the air like hot breath.” ☠️
💀”Guilt is seldom felt by the guilty.” 💀 ...more

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