The Grip of It: A Novel

I’ve never been very interested in haunted house novels. There are the big ones, like Hell House by Matheson and Haunting of Hill House by Jackson, and I’ve read those. But in general, haunted houses in literature always leave me wanting something more. They always seem like an author’s trick to show the problems in a human relationship via difficulties presented in the setting, and it leaves me cold.

This novel, while well written and filled with solid, frightening imagery, does little to change my mind. I couldn’t help but think about the story The Yellow Wallpaper while reading it, asking the same questions I asked when I first read that story in high school.

Is this about how these characters are responding to a haunting? Or is it about these characters responding to each other and themselves? Is there even a haunting?

It’s clear something is going on. The mental faculties of the main couple (and we hear from both of them in first person as Jemc has her protagonists take turns narrating) certainly slip during the telling. There are physical manifestations of a haunting, such as mysterious bruises, wall drawings, doppelgängers, and townsfolk who know more than they let on. But in the end, you can’t be sure that it all wasn’t just built within the minds of the couple.

So I’m left with a haunted house that isn’t as much about a malevolent spirit world as it is about interpersonal human relationships, and that is definitely something I’ve seen before. No surprises here, but if that’s your jam, this one is well written.

I feel this threat to our credibility sharply behind my eyes. The inability to trust ourselves is the most menacing danger. I fear what we could find there. I fear what we won't. What is worse? To be confronted with an obvious horror, or to be haunted by a never-ending premonition of what's ahead?

Haunted houses are a common subgenre of horror that I keep dipping my toe into but I've yet to find one that has really gripped me (hyuck hyuck). This one was fine. We follow a married couple who move out of an unnamed city to an unnamed small town to help the husband avoid feeding his crippling gambling addiction, but the couple is too embarrassed to admit this to friends and family. They find a house that's been sitting on the market forever for dirt cheap and paranormal shenanigans ensue.

First two thirds of the book were interesting, and the prose definitely carried an oppressive vibe. Chapters alternated back and forth between James and Julie and they were short (I'm talking maybe two to three pages on average), so this book was flying through my hands. Last third however I started getting tripped up and confused over what was happening. The characters were understandably acting different from how they had in the beginning of the book because of all the creepy stuff they'd been going through, but things got a little wacky and I started to lose interest towards the end.

There were a few plot threads like the rumors the locals had about the house or the history of the previous family who lived there that I wish were given more time to develop. There's an attempt at an overall explanation at the end, but I didn't find it 100% satisfying. Still, this is a quick enough read if you're curious about the genre.