Reprieve: James Han Mattson - Softcover

Mattson, James Han

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1526635550 ISBN 13: 9781526635556

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

James Han Mattson was born in Seoul, Korea and raised in North Dakota. The author of one previous novel, The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves, he is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a recipient of awards from the Michener-Copernicus Society of America and Humanities North Dakota. He is currently the fiction editor of Hyphen Magazine and has taught at the Universities of Iowa, Cape Town, Maryland, George Washington, Murray State and California, Berkeley. In 2009, he reunited with his Korean birth family after 30 years of separation.

From the Back Cover

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1526635550
• ISBN 13: 9781526635556
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416