Let Me in

by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Ebba Segerberg (Translator)

Oskar and Eli. In very different ways, they were both victims. Which is why, against the odds, they became friends. And how they came to depend on one another, for life itself. Oskar is a 12 year old boy living with his mother on a dreary housing estate at the city's edge. He dreams about his absentee father, gets bullied at school, and wets himself when he's frightened. Eli is the young girl who moves in next door. She doesn't go to school and never leaves the flat by day. She is a 200 year old vampire, forever frozen in childhood, and condemned to live on a diet of fresh blood. John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel is a unique and brilliant fusion of social novel and vampire legend, a deeply moving fable about rejection, friendship and loyalty.

• ISBN10: 0312355300
• ISBN13: 9780312355302
• Publish Date: 1 May 2007
• Publish Status: Cancelled
• Imprint: Minotaur Books
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

Let me In was dark, gritty and filled with disturbing scenes. At times I found the violence and sexual content unsettling. In fact, more than once I considered putting it down. The narration and talented writing kept me listening. I was rewarded as shock gave way to a suspenseful, unsettling horror story that slowly pulled me in until there was no escape. Vampires do not sparkle. Beware of the dark.

“Keep your relationships brief. Don’t let them in. Once they’re inside they have more potential to hurt you. Comfort yourself. You can live with the anguish as long as it only involves yourself. As long as there is no hope.”

Fans of Joe Hill and Stephen King's darker works will find the tale riveting. The characters are complex and the story well-plotted as threads slowly drive you towards the unknown.

Oskar is a 12-year old  latch-key boy who is bullied at school. His parents are divorced. His father is an alcoholic and Oskar lives with his overprotective mum. Oskar daydreams about hurting the bullies and his thoughts are vivid and disturbing. He is lonely and befriends Eli, a one-hundred and twenty year old vampire girl who is forever twelve. She is taken care of by a pedophile who becomes enraged and jealous of the friendship between Eli and Oskar. This causes things to spiral out of control and sends the reader down a dark hole.

Like King and Hill, John Ajvide Lindqvist shares a macabre, horrifying tale that reminds us sometimes the monsters aren't the things that go bump in the night but the humans who claim to fear them.

Steven Pacey narrated Let Me In, and he captured not only the atmospheric tones of story but the emotions and desperation of the characters.

“-there was something in her, something that was...pure horror. Everything you were supposed to watch out for. Heights, fire, shards of glass, snakes, Everything that his mom tried so hard to keep him safe from.”  This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer