The Grip of It

Reviews

“The novelist weaves insidious, lyrical prose into a chilling take on a marriage’s implosion and sets it in a haunted house whose inhabitants hold as many secrets as the structure itself.”

“With an eerie quality evocative of Shirley Jackson…[The Grip of It] feels both familiar and disorienting and both Gothic and modern—a reflection of Jemc’s masterful talent.”

“A page-turning psychological thriller…as chilling as it is evocative.”

“Jemc effortlessly weaves threads of reality and the abstract into an unsettling lens that distorts perception itself.”

“Jemc reconfigures the haunted-house story to reflect current anxieties and their violation of formerly intimate spaces and relationships.”

“A psychological spook story in the best high literary tradition…Shivery and smart. A book that brings the legacy of Henry James into the modern world with great effect.”

“Jemc has created a frightening world that feels both impossible and altogether too real. Prepare to read this in one sitting and think about it for days to come.”

“An exhilarating and unsettling literary page-turner…The conclusion is the perfect cap to a story full of genuine frights.”

“A stunning, smart, genuinely creepy page-turner that I couldn’t put down. It’s got depth, thrills, twists, and great writing…One of the few haunted house stories that sticks the landing.”

“This one grabbed me, not only because it was scary as all get-out but also because it was such an incisive and unwavering portrait of young marriage. I love Jemc’s depiction of millennial romance, her smart and funny dialogue even as readers’ unease keeps growing, and I love the way she plays with unreliability. This is a worthy successor to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves."

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