Literary Devices in Hold Me Closer, Necromancer
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Seattle, Washington: Grunge Capital of the World, Gateway to Alaska, home of the Seahawks, and of course, the center of the northwestern United States' paranormal underworld. McBride may claim to h...
Narrator Point of View
For the first few chapters, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer looks like any other first person novel narrated by its protagonist. We get Sam's observations about the world, details about his life, and h...
Genre
It's pretty obvious that this book has all the ingredients for a classic horror story—including zombies, werewolves, and necromancers—but it comes with a couple of twists. First, the paranormal...
Tone
In a book about necromancers, you better believe that death is going to make an appearance somewhere. Descriptions of mortality and violence show up a lot throughout the story and pack a huge punch...
Writing Style
The horror-comedy has been a unique subgenre of the horror film probably since Ed Wood, the King of Awesomely Bad Movies, graced the silver screen with his masterpiece, Plan 9 From Outer Space (Not...
What's Up With the Title?
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is a play on Elton John's pop hit "Tiny Dancer". Obviously, the story doesn't have much to do with the 1970s or Elton John. Still, McBride's decision to parody th...
What's Up With the Ending?
If you felt like this book ended with a lot of stuff unresolved, don't fret—the story of Sam, Ramon, Bridin, and the rest of the gang continues in the sequel, Necromancing the Stone, as well as "...
Tough-o-Meter
The subject matter is entertaining, captivating, and often hilarious, but that doesn't mean reading Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is a total breeze. While Sam is the book's primary narrator, the stor...
Plot Analysis
Identity CrisisSam begins our story extremely unsure of who he is and his place in the world. He's dropped out of college and is living the life of a fast food worker. He senses that there's got to...
Trivia
McBride has some serious credibility when it comes to writing. She holds an MFA in fiction writing from the University of New Orleans, and Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, her first novel, was a finali...
Steaminess Rating
While Hold Me Closer, Necromancer does include a pretty steamy scene of human-on-werewolf foreplay, the action conveniently cuts away from Bridin and Sam doing the actual deed. Still, there's plent...
Allusions
The Bible (3.31)Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (11.54, 11.55; 20.71)Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"William Shakespeare (23.132)Vlad the Impaler (8.34)Genghis...