Book Review – The Grip of It by Jac Jemc

The Grip of It

The Grip if It is a 2017 horror novel by Jac Jemc and my first Frighteningly Good Read for 2021. Married couple James and Julie have purchased their first home together in a small town just outside of the city where they met. They have decided to seek a fresh start after James’s gambling problem leaves his personal savings emptied out, putting some strain on their relationship. The transition to their new home is so seamless, however, it’s almost too good to be true.

They purchased the house, which has a forest behind it that leads to a beach, for a great price too. The seemingly innumerable hidden rooms are strange, but they provide a lot of extra storage space. And that constant deep, vibrating noise just at the edge of hearing, not unlike throat singing, is probably just the house settling, or so they tell themselves. They try their best to settle into their new home and lives, but it seems the house has other plans for them.Read More »

Advertisement

WWW Wednesday – October 27, 2021

www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

Salems LotI was finally able to start reading ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King later last week, though I’m only about 50 pages in at the moment. I’m sad that I won’t be finishing it before Halloween, but I expected that possibility already. I’m busier than normal, and in previous years this would often happen anyway. I’m enjoying the book so far, though it’s taking its time at the moment. I didn’t realize there was a “chapter two switcheroo” so to speak, with the prologue taking place after what I can only assume is at least a huge chunk of the story. Though I know what it’s building to already, I’m enjoying the mystique being built around the Marsten House concurrently with the arrival of its mysterious new resident.


Recently Finished

The Grip of ItIn the middle of last week I finished reading The Grip of It by Jac Jemc, though regretfully I’ve not had the time to finish up a review for it just yet. I’m expecting I will have one up by Friday, just in time for Halloween. With all said and done, I did really enjoy this novel, and a prediction of mine from last week came true. It was specifically that the story would amount to something much more up to interpretation than concrete that came true, which is the lesser of two evils, I suppose. Upon reflection, the ways in which it leaves things up to interpretation are actually quite clever, because you cannot simply reduce everything to the perspective characters being unreliable. It’s a book I would love to have a long, in-person conversation about, but I don’t know anybody who has read it yet.

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (2)I also read through the graphic novel adaptation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by I.N.J. Culbard, adapting the short story by H.P. Lovecraft. I was right, I did enjoy this story much more visually than I did Lovecraft’s prose, but there is definitely something lost when considered by itself rather than the culmination of a number of Dream Cycle stories. It helps that I’ve read them, of course, but I wish this book had instead been a part of something bigger. This isn’t even the first Lovecraft story to involve Randolph Carter, nor the numerous denizens of the dream lands that he encounters. Still, it is a worthwhile read and far more accessible than his prose, so it’s worth checking out if you’re at all curious about his work.


Reading Next

A Gathering of GhostsWith all of this consideration for Halloween going on, I actually hadn’t given much thought toward what I want to read next. With autumn still in full swing and myself continuing to be in a horror mood, however, I think I will make good on my old September plans and start reading A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland next. When this will be is hard to say, since I will probably be reading ‘Salem’s Lot for the next little while, but hopefully I can push for more reading time instead of other leisure activities to pick up the slack. Easier said than done, in practice, but we’ll see.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – October 20, 2021

www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

The Grip of ItI’m a significant amount into The Grip of It by Jac Jemc now, thanks to some free time over the weekend. I love the way the story is broken up in the small chapters, as it’s easy to say “just one more chapter” and allows for easy stopping points when necessary. I am really loving this haunted house story, which hasn’t reigned in the continually escalating sense of dread that it started off with. What I find most especially effective is that scenes that read more dreamlike are offset by others that are so matter of fact, often bringing in other characters to make events more reliable, but ultimately raising a lot more questions. My only concern right now is that all of this will lead to either something woefully open to interpretation or something dumb. It has done right by me so far, though, so I’m optimistic.


Recently Finished

Nothing this week, I focused pretty much all of my attention on The Grip of It. I expect I should have two books here by next week, though.


Reading Next

Salems LotWith Halloween approaching like a speeding ghost-locomotive, I will have to make myself read The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by I.N.J. Culbard sooner rather than later. With The Grip of It nearly finished, however, I’m also going to start reading ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. It’s a novel I’ve heard a lot about, but I really don’t know the way the story unfolds. The idea of a Dracula analog moving to and disrupting a small town community in the United States sounds really fascinating to me, though, and I hope it has some surprise scares in store for me too. As a bonus, it’ll be nice to see the origin story of Father Callahan.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – October 13, 2021

www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

The Grip of ItEarlier today, I decided to squeeze in some time to finally start reading The Grip of It by Jac Jemc, my first Halloween read this year. It was Thanksgiving and my birthday this past long weekend, so while I brought the book just in case I found some reading time, it surprisingly didn’t happen. I’ve only read a token amount really, only the first few chapters (about 14 pages), but I’m really enjoying the tone that’s being set so far. It’s mostly been about a couple buying a new house, but the way things feel immediately off without being outright scary has been great, the use of one detail in particular making the house strange without being such a big red flag that you think you would reject it in their position.


Recently Finished

JingoI’m really pleased that last week I was able to finish reading Jingo by Terry Pratchett. If my schedule had gone a little differently, I’d probably still be in the middle of it right now. Even with it all said and done, I honestly feel a little at a loss for words about it. This was a really good Discworld novel, with some particularly great elements sprinkled throughout, but I still feel like reviewing it will be a little difficult. Is it possible, so many books into a series, that a book can be so solidly written it actually becomes unremarkable? I hope that doesn’t sound too harsh, but it feels apt all the same. I was too busy to review since last week, but I am hoping I can have one up by Friday. Fingers crossed.


Reading Next

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (2)My second Halloween novel will be ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King, but that’s a little further down the line at the moment. I have, however, finally gotten a copy of the graphic novel adaptation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H.P. Lovecraft, adapted and illustrated by I.N.J. Culbard. I first read the story in the collection Dreams of Terror and Death a couple of years ago, and while I did enjoy it at the time, due to Lovecraft’s weaknesses as an author I anticipated it making an even better graphic novel. Now that I’ve got my own copy of the adaptation, I’m eager to dig in and see it more visually realized.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – October 6, 2021

www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

JingoI’m still reading through Jingo by Terry Pratchett, but I’ve actually managed to make a lot of progress since last week. As chance would have it, my workload has been a lot smaller these past few days, so I’ve had more time to buckle down and read more quickly. The timing has been impeccable, in a way, as I really want to get started on my Halloween reads. I feel in an odd spot with this Discworld book, because I really like it, it doesn’t feel too formulaic, yet there isn’t anything I’ve been finding especially remarkable about it either. I just think it’s quite good, and the simplicity of that is making me feel like reviewing it will be a challenge. Hopefully I’ll have my thoughts in better order after I’ve finished it.


Recently Finished

Berserk 33I also took some time in the past week to read two more volumes of Berserk by Kentaro Miura; I specifically read volumes 32 and 33. Volume 32 brought about a thrilling conclusion to the battle taking place in the harbour between Guts and the invading forces of the Kushan Empire, before pivoting into the greater conflict separated from the main cast. The way the main villain is being represented as a saviour-like figure, nigh-untouchable, really has me curious about how he’ll eventually be confronted. Volume 33 gave us a lot of good time with the main cast at rest, having finally embarked upon their sea voyage to a fabled land. The war with the Kushan Empire back on the mainland seems to have reached a climactic point too, and I really want to see what the fallout of that will be.


Reading Next

I still have every intention of reading The Grip of It by Jac Jemc next, by first Frighteningly Good Read for this year. With Jingo so close to finished, it’s only a matter of time until I can get it started.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – September 29, 2021

www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

JingoSince last week I’ve made some decent progress on Jingo by Terry Pratchett, about 110 pages to be specific. I’m enjoying this book quite a lot, which is shaping up to be a decent mystery that seems to be about conspiracy to start a war. What I’m finding most intriguing and hilarious is the fact that the inciting incident that sparked tension between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch is the emergence of an island in the middle of the sea, which both city-states try to lay claim to. We haven’t seen much about it yet, but at first I was expecting it to be analogous to Atlantis. It would seem, however, that it’s actually a lot closer to R’lyeh. I’m curious how much this will factor into the story or just be a gag, as I’m not sure if I want an eldritch horror actively thrown into the mix.


Recently Finished

Berserk 31Though my birthday is not for over a week yet, a friend of mind gifted me with three new volumes of Berserk by Kentaro Miura. So, last night I decided to read through volume 31, since it’s been a little while since I continued the series. I enjoyed it a lot, though it was a more action-heavy volume. This is of course all well and good, but it also means that there wasn’t a lot of forward movement in the plot. A battle broke out at the harbour while they were trying to flee the city, and by the end of the volume they’re still in this harbour. This book further cemented the fact that there are two significant villainous forces at play in the story at the moment, though, and I really like the way this is making the overall conflict less clear-cut.


Reading Next

The Grip of ItWith the Halloween season upon us, it’s only a matter of time before I start my first spooky read (after I finish Jingo). For me this year, that book will be The Grip of It by Jac Jemc, a haunted house story that I’ve had a copy of for a little while now and have had my eye on for even longer. It’s not especially long, so I’m hoping I can get it finished quickly and move on to at least one other horror read for October. The freelance editing work is feeling easier and easier as I get more of it done, so hopefully I’ll be able to better balance out work and reading in the near future.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.