The Grip of It

De: Jac Jemc

Narrado por: Amy McFadden, Michael David Axtell

Julie and James settle into a house in a small town outside the city where they met. The move - prompted by James' penchant for gambling, his inability to keep his impulses in check - is quick and seamless; both Julie and James are happy to leave behind their usual haunts and start afresh. But this house, which sits between lake and forest, has plans for the unsuspecting couple.

As Julie and James try to settle into their home and their relationship, the house and its surrounding terrain become the locus of increasingly strange happenings. The architecture - claustrophobic, riddled with hidden rooms within rooms - becomes unrecognizable, decaying before their eyes. Stains are animated on the wall - contracting, expanding - and map themselves onto Julie's body in the form of bruises; mold spores taint the water that James pours from the sink. Together the couple embark on a panicked search for the source of their mutual torment, a journey that mires them in the history of their peculiar neighbors and the mysterious residents who lived in the house before Julie and James.

Written in creepy, potent prose, The Grip of It is an enthralling, psychologically intense novel that deals in questions of home: how we make it and how it in turn makes us, inhabiting the bodies and the relationships we cherish.

©2017 Jac Jemc (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Many many words, few few scares

I typically LOVE a good horror story, much to the chagrin of my husband when I awake in bed soaked in night sweats. However, the rather boring narration and overly abstract wording in the book sucked all of the horror right out of it. I had to rewind it at several parts as say "wait. . . was that supposed to be scary?". Half of the time, I'll be honest, I had no idea what was even going on. I remember several points where the author would go into these long overly florid metaphors that didn't even make sense and I would think to myself "what the heck is going on?." It felt like maybe the characters were going insane so I wasn't really supposed to know or understand anything. Maybe I was going insane? I kind of thought so by the time the book was (finally) over. Oh and there really is no ending, just a bunch of little "clues" you can go ahead and piece together yourself and hope the book kind of makes sense. I really just wanted a book with a direct story line where a lot of scary stuff happens, and maybe a couple of night sweats. . . . this wasn't it.

starts strong but never finishes

as much as I wanted to love this book, I didn't find the story all that compelling. starts off of the great premise, but deteriorates into flowery language that leaves the reader more confused than anxious or scared. book starts out with a lot of plot motion but then gets stuck in a cycle that never goes anywhere.

Boring.

This storyline was drawn out & very confusing. the narration was very very boring. I never felt any emotion, including annoyance, I just kept waiting for the story to start but it never did. and yet somehow all the words leading to something still managed to feel forced & rushed. also the plot is so disjointed in an unstrategic way.

Subtle and creepy

This is one of the better "horror" novels I've read in quite some time. Subtle yet genuinely creepy.

At least it was short

I never drop books, but this is the closest I’ve ever come. The only reason I didn’t was because it was only 6 hours and I’m stuck in an airport for a delayed flight. Characters felt contrived and the story never really goes anywhere. I can’t recommend this one, sorry