Part horror, part lit fic, this gory new feast of a novel is almost too much

James Han Mattson's Reprieve is a novel about otherness, loneliness, racism, and identity wrapped in a gory tale about a full-contact escape room attraction. Mattson walks the line between pulpy horror and smart literary fiction here, and the result is a multilayered book that has enough going on to please fans of both genres ... or turn them off.

Quigley House is an escape room where the actors can attack participants, but the participants can't retaliate until they're given permission to do so. Rumor has it that contestants are