Come Closer by Sara Gran

Amanda is changing. At first, it's little things: arguments with her husband, a new shade of lipstick, ordering the wrong book online. But then the little things spiral. The argument with her husband turns into her burning him with a cigarette. The new shade of lipstick is one she's accused of shoplifting, even though she's sure she didn't. 

And then there's the book. A book on demon possession that Amanda received by accident, surely. Except that the book resonates with her more and more with each passing day. 

Come Closer is one of those books that consistently pops up on best of genre lists. Published in 2003, it's almost embarrassing it's taken me this long to actually buy and read the book!

But I was in Houston in October and popped into Murder By the Book to attend the Yrsa Sigurðardóttir/Michael Stanley (Michael Sears) event, which happened to be taking place on the one night I was in town! And of course I had to do some shopping! The bookseller helping me pulled it off the shelf as one of her "dark" recommendations and I figured I'd waited long enough.

The book is about demon possession and makes no bones about it. There's very little question as to whether that's what's going on—from the moment Amanda receives the book and begins to wonder herself, it's clear she's being possessed. Instead, the momentum of the story is built by Amanda's attempts to overcome Naamah, the demon intent on possessing her.

It's a battle of wits, a psychological push and pull all going on within Amanda's mind considering almost no one around her, except maybe those possessed themselves, are aware that Amanda isn't in control of the changes she's going through.

Come Closer is a creepy read packed into a little more than 150 pages and one deserving of all the praise it consistently gets. If you're in the mood for a darker read that you can finish in one sitting, this is absolutely the book for you!