I can understand the comparisons to other horror fiction, but as many others have pointed out, the depictions of depression and suicidality in the book seem a bit too real to be a fictional character -- instead, it seems like the author's own views and experiences, told through a fictionalized account. I'm not sure whether this is a fault on the part of marketing or my own inability to read between the lines, but the gulf between what I wanted and what I got from this book is wide enough to sail a ship in.

"Even the language we use to describe sickness is, at its best, rife with rote metaphor, and, at its worst, profoundly dehumanizing. It inscribes a lack of control: we "battle" insomnia, we "suffer" a heart attack, become "victim" to dementia. We "collapse," and at times even "succumb" to sickness. Yielding to death."

TW: Coup de Grâce deals entirely and explicitly with suicide, depression, and self-harm. That is the entire crux of this novella, and if that is in any way triggering to you, you might want to skip this book altogether.

Despite some good The Magnus Archives-esque storytelling, Coup de Grâce is not horror, nor is it a fiction novel. As much as this book is marketed as literary horror, in my mind, there is no question that it is a memoir told through a fictional character's voice rather than Ajram's own. The only things horrifying in Coup de Grâce are the realities of depression, and nothing more.

From the premise, Coup de Grâce sounded like a fun, mind-bending romp: a never-ending, abandoned Montreal subway station that refuses to let our narrator Vicken go? Amazing premise - and it's queer, too! That kind of thing is right up my alley. But this novella is nothing like its synopsis, and no matter what you're expecting to read here, you're wrong. Tonally, it's mind-bending in the way that it is bogged down in literary metaphor and description, so much so that it's almost impossible to tell what the rooms Vicken is standing in look like because Ajram is too busy crafting language to remember that he's telling a story.

While there are a few body horror-ish moments, what Coup de Grâce is is a personal reflection on depression, self-harm, and suicide. From his writing, Ajram clearly has a personal, complex relationship to these topics: and if Coup de Grâce had been marketed as a memoir or a mental health nonfiction book, this review would be a very different thing. The way Ajram describes so much of Vicken's mental health is aching, and beautiful, and horrible, and cruel, and breathtaking. There's no doubt in my mind that Sofia Ajram is a great writer - but not of fiction.

On top of this, I will flag one moment in this book that really just didn't sit right with me: the Elisa Lam comparisons. There is a point in this book where Vicken reflects on the very real death of Elisa Lam - if you're a horror or true crime fan, you probably know plenty about the Elisa Lam case - and starts talking about how Elisa must have felt, and describing how his body feels similar to that of her corpse's. Elisa is brought up multiple times in this book as almost a foil for Vicken, which feels really disgusting, because Elisa Lam was a real person. Elisa had real friends and real family, is not just a victim in a case you heard about on a podcast to be exploited, or to be woven into your fictional novel after her death. I could go on a long rant about the commodification and depersonalization in true crime, but the key point for Coup de Grâce is that Ajram should not be bringing the death of a real person into their fictional book at such length, particularly discussing her dead body and the circumstances of her death. Ajram seems to really be indicating that he thinks Elisa's death was a suicide, and again, this is not the time or the place to be speaking about that. This is a fictional book about a fictional character lost in a fictional subway tunnel, but sure, tell me more about this real girl who tragically lost her life and how similar she is to your fictional character. Yikes.

Again, if Coup de Grâce had been made into something like a collection of personal essays on depression, suicide, and mental health, I think this could've been a really moving, heartbreaking, well-written book. Instead, it's a memoir trying to pass as something it isn't, seems over-complicated and somewhat pretentious at times, and capitalizes on real-world deaths to make us better relate to a fictional character. Really disappointed with this one.

Think house of leaves as novella form set in 2000's. Defiantly do not read if triggered by mental health or suicide as this goes very in depth into thoughts and feelings during depression episodes (although as someone who does struggle with this, I do believe it to have been written very well). The writing style is a little too 'floaty and descriptive' for me and sometimes it does feel as if the character is going way off into a tangent to what they were originally saying. Horror parts were very good and did give me a chill a few times.

The liminal visuals of this are stunning. There's a moment at the end of the book that turns into something really fun! While I DO wish there was more to the story, and while I was totally rooting for one plotline to happen, I still liked this very, very much.

I don’t even know how to begin explaining how I felt about this. It was wonderful and horrifying all at once. It made me feel heavy and uncomfortable, and at times I felt like the walls were closing in on me from all angles.

A book I will read again many many times, experiencing new dread every single time.

✩✩✩✩✩

Not for me. I requested this to read in October, as I always like to stock up on "spooky stories" to get me in the Halloween mood. This wasn't quite what I expected, and not my favorite.

I first want to thank Titan Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of Coup de Grâce in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I could follow my thanks with something similarly positive, but unfortunately, there is little here I found deserving of praise. Coup de Grâce is a horror novella, ostensibly a work of psychological, cosmic body horror. Its attempt to blend the conventions of all three subgenres is conceptually ambitious, but ultimately a failure, managing to be both unsuccessful and heavy-handed. With overwrought, violently purple prose and a plot hinging entirely on the interiority of one of the most shallow perspectives I've had the misfortune of occupying, all I can say is that I'm glad it was short - though, in a way, that almost makes its self-indulgence even more shocking.

For a sample of the self-indulgent prose: "Overhead, inverted crenellations of concrete dissever further mezzanine landings and cut the harsh luminescence of the overhead lights into a lambent gloom." I'm not one to criticise an author for using 'big words', but I did feel that Sofia Ajram was favouring a maximalist approach that did more to obfuscate than it did to render with clarity. "Inverted crenellations" is redundant, "mezzanine landings" is redundant, "dissever" is to "sever" as "irregardless" is to "regardless" - stupid, and redundant - and it should go without saying that not every noun needs an adjective. And every sentence was like that.

If I had the bandwidth to write in-depth reviews at the moment, an expanded Coup de Grâce review would look something like this: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6880473703. Goodreads user AfterPlague hits every issue I had on the head, so if you'd like to hear in a bit more detail about the plot, I highly recommend you check that out. Don't check the book out, though. I would be livid if I'd paid for this thing.

This was a strange, experimental little book that took me on a rollercoaster journey. I really enjoyed the setup and the cosmic nature of the story in the beginning, the middle dragged a little for me as I got a little lost in the story (not in a good way), and then I appreciated the unique ending. This book takes risks, and it didn't fully work for me, but I appreciated it and I would read from the author again.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.

Coup de Grâce had the potential to be a clever and unsettling horror novel, but it falls flat due to overwrought prose and an over-reliance on forced symbolism. While the concept is intriguing, the execution feels heavy-handed, with Ajram spending too much time trying to impress rather than letting the story breathe. The characters, instead of feeling relatable or complex, are reduced to vessels for philosophical musings that distract from the tension and fear.
Ultimately, the novel is bogged down by its pretensions, leaving little room for genuine suspense or emotional engagement.

Vivid and intimate for each claustrophobic minute. I really enjoyed this novella, and its nuanced look through the eyes of depression. Looking forward to Ajram's next!

I didn't really like this book. I think it was very well written, the body horror was very gross, but it just began to get repetitive. I didn't find the characters to be likeable at all, and my lord that ending was frustrating. This book filled me with the same intrigue that I got from reading Piranesi, so in that way, I had a hard time putting it down, but in the end it just left me disappointed. The ending makes a very interesting choice that I feel like people are either going to love or hate, and I'm leaning further on the hate side. Overall, the book is fine, just fine, body horror is good, but that's not the point of the book, therefore there's not much of it there

Oh boy this threw me for a loop. It was a really good psychological horror book. The writing in this book is great and it was a good foray into the genre.

I really thought given the themes of this book that I would enjoy it. But I DNF'd it at 20% and it's a short novel but felt terribly long. It's not even the plot that made me not like this, I did like the plot, but the style of writing was just too flowery. I don't know, I guess I prefer more direct writing, or at least not flowery every single sentence. Many people enjoyed this so there's an audience and the author is talented. I just couldn't connect with this novel though.

En route to the beach in Montreal to commit suicide in the Saint Lawrence River, Vicken Asatryan has one last encounter with a man named Felix in a subway toilet stall. At Assomption station, the doors open and Felix alights after giving Vicken his number. Stunned silent, Vicken simply watches as the doors close and he feels the train trundle on towards his non-metaphorical final destination. Before he knows it, however, Vicken finds himself at the terminus station and more alone than he ever knew was possible. He knows he is in the subway. He must be, because he never left it. But the tracks are gone. All color is leached away to gray. There isn’t a single living person around. And the station seems to go on forever in room after room, at once both claustrophobic and endless. Alone, Vicken resolves to find the exit to continue what he started.

After hours, after days, Vicken finally encounters a woman. He calls her Pashmina, for her shawl, but honestly, he didn’t bother with her name at first and by the time he thinks to ask for it, it is too awkward. Together, Vicken and Pashmina continue to search the never ending gray, exploring the same set of infinite rooms until they discover a small fissure. What lies inside isn’t freedom; it’s a grotesque amalgam of human flesh festering in the dark, waiting for them to join it. In the rush to escape, Pashmina sustains an accident that ultimately leads her to becoming one with the gray stains upon the subway floor and pushes Vicken to disassociate to the point where he cuts wound after wound to break the monotony. Still, the infinite nothing of the subway remains unchanged…until Vicken finds first an elevator, a fathomless lake, and a payphone. One of these may lead to his salvation, but only if he survives the others.

Coup de Grâce is a horror novella from author Sofia Ajram. Set in present day Montreal, Canada, we experience Vicken’s last day on Earth, with Vicken himself as the narrator. During the brief part of the story before Vicken finds himself trapped in a subterranean horrorscape, we learn that Vicken is gay, depressed, and quite literally on his way to drown himself. Throughout the book, there are little snippets into his lived experience, like how his personal life is as much of an unchanging, tedious void as the station is. Vicken feels like his home offers no personal or creature comforts, just like his EMT job is a sorry compromise for not being able afford all the schooling to become a doctor.

In the midst of reading the story, I was consumed with Vicken’s journey, the things he sees and does in the subway. These are the trees in the “can’t see the forest for the trees” analogy. The “forest,” I think, is how Vicken’s being trapped in the train station from hell is meant to mirror his actual life. At first, Vicken seems to simply accept that the very normal train he had been on, where he met Felix and had a fling, exists in the same world where the got off the train at the last stop and discovered there were no exits, no matter how many three-story escalators or rooms or convenience stores he finds. Even discovering Pashmina after an unknowable amount of time alone is taken in stride. It isn’t until he is well and truly in the thick of existing in this hellscape that Vicken begins to rise against it and to think of ways to get out. Vicken discovers he wants to live.

The narrative tone of the story was incredible. Despite being a horror story, Vicken’s narrative voice made even the most grotesque and macabre events feel compelling, rather than cringey. It’s easy to accept his explanation that, as a trained EMT, he is more desensitized to the body horror he and Pashmina find deep in the bowels of the station or the injury Pashmina suffers. At the same time, it could also be partly a manifestation of Vicken’s disassociation with his world.

Coup de Grâce is a sublime work of horror. Vicken is a delightful character who felt surprisingly relatable given his current situation in life. The liminal space of the depopulated subway station was a powerful backdrop for this journey into the unknowable. References to a few real-world events only added to the sense of eeriness. And perhaps my favorite part is how Ajram brings in the brief glimmers of brightness (Felix, an unused subway ticket, some Canadian coins) and ties them to Vicken’s bleak sense of self to bring the story to a conclusion.

Fans of horror, people who want the book-approximation of a liminal space, readers who enjoy a complex main character, or anyone who just likes well-crafted stories with a killer twist at the end are sure to enjoy this book.

“Coup de Grâce” is a visceral, experimental horror novella that plunges readers into a labyrinth of despair, both psychological and physical. Set in an infinite, nightmarish Montreal subway station, Vicken’s journey to end his life is derailed by a never-ending maze of brutalist architecture and existential dread. Sofia Ajram's debut is as much a deep dive into the human psyche as it is a horror tale, where the real terror lies in Vicken’s internal struggles, grappling with depression and the meaning of existence.

Ajram’s prose is intoxicating, lyrical, and often unsettling. The novella’s language forces readers to confront the protagonist’s pain and nihilism head-on, making the experience both cathartic and harrowing. While the narrative lacks a traditional plot, it excels in mood and introspection, making the book a powerful, albeit non-linear, exploration of mental illness. The choose-your-own-adventure style ending adds an interactive layer, forcing readers to make decisions about Vicken’s fate, making them complicit in the story’s outcome.

Though the heavy themes and non-traditional structure may alienate some readers, Coup de Grâce is a raw and haunting read for those willing to explore its depths.

This is one of those genuinely astounding debuts that has me raving, in the best time of way. This starts out with a suicide attempt and then our main wakes up in a liminal labrynthine purgatory and tries to find his way forward. I'm also a huge sucker for the choose your own ending trope and how its implemented here. Pick this up and enjoy the ride.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!

Coup de Grace is a short, horror book (almost 150 pages in length) following Vicken, a 32 year-old EMT who has decided to throw himself into a river. He takes the subway to get there; however, when he reaches his stop, he finds that he is stuck in a labyrinth with no apparent entrance or exit. The story is part cosmic horror, part psychological thriller, part literary fiction about mental health... with a bunch of weirdness thrown in. I think there's definitely an audience who will enjoy this, but I encourage everyone to read the trigger warnings and only pick this up if they're prepared for a very dark read.

I love strange books about liminal spaces, so this absolutely sounded like my type of story. Unfortunately, it didn't end up being my favorite read of the year, but it was still an entertaining way to spend an evening.

I'll start with the positives. First, I can't even count the number of times I've read horror novels and thought to myself: "This would be so much better if it were a novella!" Especially in the horror genre, there are many great premises for stories, but not all of them need to be written as 300+ page novels. I applaud Sofia Ajram for selecting the perfect length for this book - it was just long enough to convey everything it needed to, without dragging or moving too quickly. Additionally, I loved the varied tone and Vicken's characterization. There are funny moments, creepy scenes, terrifying entities, and plenty of emotionally moving passages. Since the story is written in first person present point of view, much of the momentum comes from Vicken and his commentary on what's happening around him. Even though we never learn that much about him (which I think was a good choice for this type of story), he still has a strong, unique voice that makes for an engaging read. Despite the tough subject matter of the book, I still had fun reading, because I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next or even what emotion the next section would make me feel. And lastly, I thought the use of the subway station as both a metaphor and a horror setting was well done.

However, a couple of things also didn't work for me. The biggest issue I had was the superfluous writing, which I would argue frequently verged into purple prose. There are so many long sentences in this story that are filled with metaphors and complicated language. I frequently love descriptive writing, but the constant use of simple metaphors in any story grates on my nerves. As I read Coup de Grace, I was sometimes noticing metaphors and similes in every single paragraph, which became so distracting. The constant use of thesaurus-like words also took me out of the story and made descriptions far more confusing than they needed to be. That may have been intentional, but for a short book like this, it was unnecessary. There were some moments (usually when Vicken was talking to someone or interacting with something physical in the world) that flowed more smoothly, and I even found a bunch of good quotes that made me stop and think before continuing to read. I wish the whole book had been written that way. The author clearly has strong writing skills, but the descriptive language could have been simplified and trimmed down.

My other critique is that I had trouble connecting with the story at times. There were a lot of references to pop culture, which doesn't always bother me in books, but here, it felt like all of the references sometimes took up more page space than necessary for such a short story. There was also another literary device used near the end (I won't specify what it was, because I don't want to spoil anyone) that I thought was interesting, but it made it hard for me to emotionally connect to the ending. I still found it to be a fascinating story, but I was so distracted by the shift at the end that I wasn't very moved by the plot anymore.

I had fun reading this book, but I'm not sure it's something I would return to in the future. I imagine it'll be divisive, because I think there are many people who will adore the strangeness, but at the same time, I can see some readers being annoyed by the very things that others really loved. For me, it was such a short and unique read that I didn't mind that it wasn't completely my cup of tea. I'd recommend that anyone interested gives it a try, but please do be aware that it's got a lot of intense mental health themes and it's very graphic in its horror depictions. If you're looking for a bizarre book about severe depression explored through horror, though, you might like this. I'll definitely keep an eye out for future books by Sofia Ajram.

3 stars out of 5 stars.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it didn't disappoint. Unique, atmospheric, and scary!

Coup de Grace is about a man who is riding the subway on his way to end his life, when he gets drawn into a never-ending, backrooms type subway station. What he finds there is terrifying, confusing, and ultimately it's you as the reader who feels like they cannot escape. Loved this.

many thanks to netgalley and titan books for the arc ~

this is such a heavy read for being such a short book (please look up tw before diving in). i really didn’t know what to expect and went into reading this blind, but i was far from disappointed. it took me a moment to fully grasp the world ajram was setting up but once i got it, i was invested. don’t be like me though and split this into a 2 day read. i think it makes the difference reading this in one sitting.

vicken is depressed and on his way to his (literal) final destination but when he gets off at his stop, things don’t seem quite right. without giving too much away, i applaud the way ajram tackles the topics of depression, suicide, existential dread. vicken’s descent into madness leaves you feeling just a bit off, a little unsure if anything is even really real. i personally enjoyed the ending and i won’t say much more than that but!!! if you think you’re in the right headspace to make this your next read, i do recommend it. it’s worth spending some time with.

I didn't realize liminal horror was a thing until this book and now I'm hooked! This book creeped me out a little with the dive into the human psyche and depression because it was just so realistic and so well written. One of the best novellas I have read this year, hands down!