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"An eventual American classic that is unrelenting in its beauty and incisive cultural critique." - KIESE LAYMONA chilling and blisteringly relevant literary novel of social horror centered around a brutal killing that takes place in a full-contact haunted escape room - a provocative exploration of capitalism, hate politics, racial fetishism, and our obsession with fear as entertainment. On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, "reprieve," they'll win a substantial cash prize - a startling feat accomplished only by one other group in the house's long history.



About the Author

James Han Mattson

James Han Mattson was born in Seoul, Korea and raised in North Dakota. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he has received grants from the Michener-Copernicus Society of America and Humanities North Dakota. He has been a featured storyteller on The Moth, and has taught at the University of Iowa, the University of Cape Town, the University of Maryland, the George Washington University, Murray State University, and the University of California - Berkeley. In 2009, he moved to Korea and reunited with his birth family after 30 years of separation.He is the author of two novels: The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves (Little A: 2017) and Reprieve (William Morrow/HarperCollins: 2021) . He is currently the fiction editor of Hyphen Magazine.



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