Overview

""Creep is everything I want from a novel--it's obsessive, it's rapturous, it spirals into the most masochistic corners of the mind. A perfectly twisted debut.""--Anna Dorn, author of Perfume & Pain ""A chilling book by an exciting new voice.""--Vogue (UK) From a blistering new voice in dark literary fiction, a novel of psychological suspense and an unsettling portrait of loneliness, obsession, and identity which asks: if a stranger was left alone in your house, how well could they truly get to know you--enough to fall in love with you? Alice and Tom are made for each other. Deeply connected, they share a flat in London, go to galleries together, enjoy the same books and wine. They even share a toothbrush. It's all picture perfect. Except Alice and Tom have never met. Alice has been cleaning Tom's apartment every Wednesday for a year. With every smudge wiped from his coffee cup, every multivitamin counted in the jar, Alice spirals deeper into infatuation, imagining a love so powerful it might erase a lifetime of self-hatred and loneliness. But as Alice prepares for the moment when she and Tom will finally meet face-to-face, she discovers that love might not be the cure she thought it was. Instead, the line between fantasy and reality becomes ever more blurred, shattering everything Alice thought she knew. Told in Alice's compelling, deliciously acidic voice, Creep is a literary study of unreliability and unlikability. Exploring alienation, class, and race, it's a skilled debut with resonance in the way that we view women, mental health, and the lost in society. A great psychological thriller for spooky-season nights A perfect addition to any Halloween reading list for fans of unsettling stalker novels [Published as This Immaculate Body in the UK]

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9780063411012

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Reviews

""Emma Van Straaten's Creep is everything I want from a novel--it's obsessive, it's rapturous, it spirals into the most masochistic corners of the mind. A perfectly twisted debut."" -- Anna Dorn, author of Perfume & Pain ""An addictive deep-dive into the dark, throbbing heart of obsessive desire. Baby Reindeer meets Convenience Store Woman."" -- Kirsty Logan, author of Now She is Witch ""Truly fascinating and compulsive--transgressive with an ending that gave me whiplash. Emma's writing is gorgeous--rich and delicious and evocative even when uncomfortable. I found myself drawn to and repelled by Alice in equal measure, I couldn't tear my eyes away . . . an accomplished and visceral debut. I'm slightly concerned about how decisively Alice crawled into my head and has stayed there since I finished reading."" -- Kirsty Capes, author of Girls ""Stirring to its very core, Creep enthralls beyond measure. It bleeds, burns, and beguiles, and asks you, dear reader, to give in to obsession. Truly, a religious experience."" -- Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb ""Safe to say this is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It was addictive, unsettling, and propulsive, I was hooked after the first page. I will be recommending to everybody!"" -- Chloe Michelle Howarth, author of Sunburn ""When it comes to love, we've all got the odd horror story. But Alice loves harder than most. She's dangerous, vulnerable, devious, hilarious, and she pushes our sympathy to breaking point. I loved every minute of her unsettling company."" -- Kate van der Borgh, author of And He Shall Appear ""Deeply unsettling, horribly insightful, oddly hilarious and alarmingly tender. Creep is a deliciously addictive portrayal of blood-thumping, heart-bursting obsession that lures you in and makes you culpable."" -- Hazel Barkworth, author of The Drownings ""An intense, richly textured book that I read with one eye covered--eager to see what Alice would do next, yet afraid for (and of) her. Every sentence crackles with suspense and sensory detail."" -- Nikkitha Bakshani, author of Ghost Chilli

""Stirring to its very core, Creep enthralls beyond measure. It bleeds, burns, and beguiles, and asks you, dear reader, to give in to obsession. Truly, a religious experience."" -- Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb

Author Information

Emma van Straaten is a writer of British-Mauritian heritage living in London with her husband and two children. Born in Lewisham, she grew up on the Sussex coast, headed north to Durham to study English Literature, and is now happily surrounded by books working at The London Library. In 2021, she won the inaugural Women's Prize Discoveries Award with an early partial draft of Creep and has been writing whenever she can, ever since.

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