Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Creep.

The title says it all: the novel revolves around Alice, a cleaner for Tom's house. Tom doesn't know it but he and Alice are destined for each other. It's just a matter of time.

This literary trend has only grown in recent years; stalker main characters obsessing over someone.

I don't get this trend; why should I care about these stalkers? They're not compelling or interesting characters nor do I want to get to know them better in real life.

I requested the ARC because I hoped the premise would surprise me, but instead I got a disturbing account of Alice's obsessive love for Tom.

I'm not even sure how it happened, where it came from, or perhaps she's just mentally ill?

The writing was good, but I didn't like the format or style nor was I a fan of Alice's voice.

Not surprisingly, she has no friends and has a poor relationship with her mom and sister.

Is that why she is the way she is?

So many of these types of characters are characterized this way; outcast, loner, delusional. I'm not a fan of this characterization since it perpetuates stereotypes.

Nothing in Creep is original or a compelling perspective on the 'stalker' narrative.

Why should I care about Alice? Or Tom? Or this story at all?

There's a sinister quality inherent in any narrative when a stranger has access to your personal space and belongings, not unlike being burglarized or robbed.

But there's no suspense or urgency; the narrative drags on since readers are stuck in Alice's head all the time, which isn't a bad thing, if she was an interesting character, but she's not.

I'm not the right audience for this type of story but I think some readers might enjoy it.

I don’t care, I still fall into the “it’s worth it to have someone clean for you, even if he/she/they are secretly obsessed with me” group. Three stars.

Alice and Tom are the perfect couple. They share a flat in London. They like all the same things. They even share a toothbrush. Only Tom doesn’t know and they’ve never met.

Alice has been cleaning Tom’s apartment once a week for a year and she has fallen hard for him. Now she’s ready to meet him. It goes about how you’d think.

“Love is this: when it is your greatest desire to slice open His chest and crawl inside Him to rest. A compulsion to drink His blood, great copper gulps of it, to press yourself to Him, limb to limb, palm to palm, so that you might be absorbed.”

This is on the second page of the book. And the caps are Alice’s. And God’s, I think.

What did I take from this book? Well, it reinforces my desire to live in Europe, where one can hop on a train, ride for a few hours, then spend the weekend in another country. Bliss!

I hated all the self-hatred surrounding Alice and food. Such a disturbing story about a disturbed woman.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title.

And wow, what a title!

From start to finish, compelling, twisted, and utterly captivating; Creep:A Love Story adds something new and refreshing to the genre of twisted / psychopathic protagonist à la You by Caroline Kepnes.

Alice, a London paralegal and part time cleaner, has a deeply complicated, fraught relationship with her family, her body, and well…reality in general. She just knows that Tom, a man who’s flat she cleans once a week, is her soulmate and she is determined to make him understand that by any means necessary. Small incidentals like the fact that she and Tom have never actually met and have no real relationship are just minor inconveniences to be overcome.

It’s a difficult thing, being in the shoes of a character we would consider monstrous. It takes a lot out of the reader and requires a high degree of skill from the storyteller, skill that is readily apparent in this book. This story is told solely from Alice’s perspective so we are placed snugly inside the mind of a deeply unwell person and see the world through her eyes. Time and again you’re lulled into forgetting who you’re dealing with, only to discover some fresh new depravity as you turn the page. But more surprisingly, the author managed to create small (minute, miniscule, infinitesimal) footholds of common ground and (shudder) relatability within the maelstrom of extremely upsetting thoughts and shocking behavior that make up this character’s world. While reading I found myself being alternately horrified by what Alice was doing and also desperately wanting her to make better, healthier, less insane choices. This push and pull, back and forth, left me amazed that I could find small things to relate to while also being horrified at the depths of depravity and personal violation people are capable of.

This was an impressive, immersive book. The literary landscape isn’t what it used to be, a book can’t bank on creating a splash simply by telling a story through the lens of a morally bad, mentally compromised narrator any more. We’ve all read American Psycho and A Clockwork Orange by this point. The real success of Creep: A Love Story is that it makes you identify, however briefly, with its outlandishly reprehensible protagonist, even as you’re terrified to see what she’ll do next.

If the title didn't clue you in, the cover certainly does!
Alice she is the most unreliable narrator you have come in contact with. She clean's Tom's home and believes they are soulmates. But Tom has never met her! Van Straaten ratchets up the intensity and anxiety as Alice becomes more and more convinced and erratic. Never have I yelled so loudly at a character in a book!
Pick up this book for it's Creep factor, it's intensity and for the moment when the two meet face to face. #harperperrenial #creep #emmavanstraaten