The Grip of It
by Jac Jemc
Release Date: August 1st, 2017
Genre
Horror
Appeals of the
Book
• Fast-paced
• Eerie tone
• Flawed characters
Synopsis
James and Julie move out of the city to try and repair their
troubled marriage. They find and quickly purchase a cheap, big house that is
too good to be true in a small town nearby. Despite hearing eerie sounds and
witnessing strange occurrences within and around the home, they stay with hopes
of starting anew. Physical, mental, and emotional ailments break down
James and Julie as they try and uncover the past of the house they thought
would cure all their troubles. Will people believe what they have witnessed? Do
they even believe? And who is their strange elderly neighbor spying on them?
Characteristics
That Fit Into Horror
- Eerie tone.
- Dark atmosphere. Both characters have tension between them, which raises the darkness throughout the book as they are further broken down by the haunted house.
- Contains profanity.
- Setting is a haunted house.
- Supernatural elements.
- Sexual Content.
- Main characters are “…haunted, shattered individuals” (Saricks 118). The house breaks them down into madness.
- Fast-paced due to several jolts at “…irregular, unpredictable intervals” (Saricks 119).
- Several unexplained occurrences keep the book moving, creating a “..sense of unease as we await the unexpected” (Saricks 113).
- Ending is unresolved. You are left with more questions than answers.
Read-A-Likes
All Things Cease to
Appear by Elizabeth Brundage *
House of Leaves by
Mark Z. Danielewski *
Her Every Fear by
Peter Swanson *
Little Sister Death
by William Gay **
The Accidental by
Ali Smith **
* Suggested by NoveList
** Suggested by Kirkus
Review
Works Cited
Saricks, Joyce
G. The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction. Chicago, IL: ALA,
2009.
