The opening chapter has Amanda’s boss hauling her over the coals for submitting a report to him which contains the memorable opening, “Leon Fields is a cocksucking faggot. Is Amanda really being possessed by a separate entity? Or is she acting out some hidden part of her own character? But what really makes the book sing is the ambiguity of its central premise. It has to be said that there are plenty of books about demonic possession. The story’s ending is ambiguous on the one hand, Amanda has lost everything she ever valued, but on the other hand, Naamah – now fully in possession of Amanda’s body – is having the time of her life, living exactly how she pleases and enjoying every minute. As the book unfolds and Naamah becomes more and more dominant, Amanda’s mental processes become increasingly unreliable.
The narrator, Amanda, describes the experience of being possessed by a female demon named Naamah. Specifically, the consequences of giving power to a previously powerless woman.Īt first sight, the plot is incredibly simple.
It’s scary because it raises some uncomfortable questions about the consequences of power.
What it is, though, is scary in the same tradition as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and Ira Levin’s “Rosemary’s Baby” (which I raved about here). At least, it’s not a scary book in the sense that it’s highly unlikely to give you nightmares (and I say this as someone who was plagued for years with terrible cold-sweat dreams about this completely unconvincing giant snake from Doctor Who). Despite this, I should begin by saying that – the odd moment of utter horror excepted – this is not, strictly speaking, a scary book. I read “Come Closer” after seeing it recommended on a Mumsnet thread asking for people to share their favourite “scary books”.
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