I write dark, creepy fiction where bad things happen to morally ambiguous people.
My first novel, Josie and Jack , was published in February 2005 by Houghton Mifflin/Mariner Books, and my second, Last Seen Leaving , was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. I live in Brooklyn with a certain tall, dark and handsome writer fella . We have three cats. Two and a half of them are black. Since buying my books will help buy them cat food, not buying my books must mean that you hate animals and want my cats to starve. How sad for you.
Check out my website here .
Check out Mrs. Pyxylplk, my new video-game-centric blog, here .
Praise for Last Seen Leaving:
"A suspenseful, emotionally resonant story about a mother and her daughter caught in the mystery of her husband's disappearance. Braffet's lean prose, taut pacing and subtle characterizations here live up to the promise of her debut (Josie and Jack, 2005). . . A keen, heartfelt thrill."
- Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"Brilliant . . . Fluid prose, vivid characters and suspenseful twists lead to a hopeful denouement."
- Publisher's Weekly (Starred Review)
"Her skillful portrayal of unresolved grief and shattered relationships lends sensitivity to this solidly crafted and compelling sophomore effort, which will secure the author's place as a novelist of note."
- Library Journal
"Kelly Braffet's Last Seen Leaving is a terrific read - at once a smart, deft thriller and a vivid study of family breakdown. Its creeping paranoia kept me intrigued and engaged right until the very last cunning sleight of hand."
- Graham Joyce , author of The Limits of Enchantment
"In Last Seen Leaving, Kelly Braffet writes beautifully about genuine emotion while at the same time giving us a hint of things creepy and wicked. It's a delight."
- Ayelet Waldman , author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits
Praise for Josie and Jack:
"Josie and Jack takes place within a wholly imagined space, wondrously dense and strange, which moves from a kind of enchanted/poisoned hothouse rural isolation to an urban reality that is both gritty and seemingly glamorous..Kelly Braffet keeps us interested, alarmed, and involved for the whole of this descent from magical isolation into a grimmer, sadder world. I couldn't stop reading this marvelous book." - Peter Straub , author of Shadowland , Lost Boy Lost Girl , and Ghost Story
"Dark and gripping, it's a cross between The Royal Tenenbaums and Shallow Grave - Elle magazine, UK
This modern-day adaptation [of Hansel and Gretl] retains all the frightening Gothic qualities of the original tale of mistreated siblings losing their way, getting trapped, and cunningly breaking free - though Braffet allows only one of her characters such redemption . . . A dramatic and horrific resolution is countered by Josie's subtle maturation throughout, and we emerge from the book's spell feeling almost hopeful." - Library Journal
"Top dialogue, strong storytelling. A gripping debut" - Kirkus Reviews
"[A] captivating debut. Braffet's sharp portrait of an asphyxiating love and a legacy of madness is darkly gothic and supremely readable" - Publishers Weekly
"A wonderfully sick and twisted book. Josie and Jack is not only wicked fun, but proof that the novel is alive, kicking and can take a reader on a gothic tour of hell, American style." - Los Angeles Times
"Like Zeus and Hera, Hansel and Gretel, and, heck, Six Feet Under's Billy and Brenda, the titular Raeburn siblings of this thrilling debut are inexorably entwined in a deadly waltz of pain, codependency, and tragedy" - Entertainment Weekly
