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A review by nietzschesghost
Come a Little Closer by Karen Perry
4.0
Come a Little Closer is another cracker of a psychological thriller from Karen Perry and it is genuinely one of the most taut, tense and utterly chilling books I've read this year. I have found some of Perry's earlier novels weren't to my taste but this has blown me away as I initially expected the same average novel. It is clear the author has stepped up her game considerably.
Jake and Leah are moving into a basement together — the first step in taking their relationship to the next level. However, not everything is as rosy as it should be: Leah is suffering from crippling insomnia, something I can relate to as I have it myself, and with Jake being away from home a lot Leah feels lonely and isolated, especially at night. It doesn't take long before she seeks solace elsewhere.
This leads her to the keen listening ear of Anton, the owner of the house in which they have rented the basement. He has returned to the locale after years away. Leah doesn't understand why the residents of the small community have shunned and ostracised him. But when it's revealed that he murdered his wife some years earlier Leah wishes she could unshare some of the secrets she told to him on many a long night.
The story starts with an almighty bang — a young boy bloodied, battered and begging for help in a local park. Now if that doesn't get you interested then I don't know what will. The menacing undertone continues throughout and the deeper you read the more deliciously dark and ominous the atmosphere becomes. It's well written and intelligently plotted with a complex, multilayered structure which means you have to revise your guesses about what will happen multiple times. The conclusion, however, felt rushed and slightly anticlimactic and is the reason for deducting a star. Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC.
Jake and Leah are moving into a basement together — the first step in taking their relationship to the next level. However, not everything is as rosy as it should be: Leah is suffering from crippling insomnia, something I can relate to as I have it myself, and with Jake being away from home a lot Leah feels lonely and isolated, especially at night. It doesn't take long before she seeks solace elsewhere.
This leads her to the keen listening ear of Anton, the owner of the house in which they have rented the basement. He has returned to the locale after years away. Leah doesn't understand why the residents of the small community have shunned and ostracised him. But when it's revealed that he murdered his wife some years earlier Leah wishes she could unshare some of the secrets she told to him on many a long night.
The story starts with an almighty bang — a young boy bloodied, battered and begging for help in a local park. Now if that doesn't get you interested then I don't know what will. The menacing undertone continues throughout and the deeper you read the more deliciously dark and ominous the atmosphere becomes. It's well written and intelligently plotted with a complex, multilayered structure which means you have to revise your guesses about what will happen multiple times. The conclusion, however, felt rushed and slightly anticlimactic and is the reason for deducting a star. Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC.