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An autumn 2021 pick for New York Times * Observer * Esquire * O Quarterly * Chicago Tribune * Shondaland
'An eventual American classic' KIESE LAYMON
'The kind of storytelling that keeps you turning pages' RUMAAN ALAM
'The rare novel that will make your heart pound with terror while it aches with grief' JUNG YUN
Most people didn't make it to Cell Six, he said. Most called out the safe word -
reprieve -
after the first Cell. It was that intense.When Bryan, Jaidee, Victor and Jane team up to compete at a full-contact escape room, it seems simple. Hold your nerve through six terrifying challenges; collect all the red envelopes; win a huge cash prize.
But the real horror is unfolding outside of the game, in a series of deceits and misunderstandings fuelled by obsession and prejudice. And by the end of the night, one of the contestants will be dead.
A startlingly soulful exploration of complicity and masquerade,
Reprieve combines the psychological tension of classic horror with searing social criticism, and seamlessly threads together trial transcripts, evidence descriptions, and deeply layered individual narratives to present a chilling portrait of American life.
About the author
James Han Mattson
Summary
An autumn 2021 pick for New York Times * Observer * Esquire * O Quarterly * Chicago Tribune * Shondaland
'[A] gripping piece of storytelling' GUARDIAN
'Brilliantly conceived and unsettling' SUNDAY TIMES
'Clever, insightful and unnerving' OBSERVER
Most people didn't make it to Cell Six, he said. Most called out the safe word - reprieve - after the first Cell. It was that intense.
When Bryan, Jaidee, Victor and Jane team up to compete at a full-contact escape room, it seems simple. Hold your nerve through six terrifying challenges; collect all the red envelopes; win a huge cash prize.
But the real horror is unfolding outside of the game, in a series of deceits and misunderstandings fuelled by obsession and prejudice. And by the end of the night, one of the contestants will be dead.
A startlingly soulful exploration of complicity and masquerade, Reprieve combines the psychological tension of classic horror with searing social criticism, and seamlessly threads together trial transcripts, evidence descriptions, and deeply layered individual narratives to present a chilling portrait of American life.
Additional text
Sharp as a razor's edge . . . Mattson's devious trick is in revealing America itself as a topsy-turvy house of horrors
