Let Me In [Hardcover]

John Ajvide Lindqvist (Author), Ebba Segerberg (Translator)

Book Description

Release date: October 16, 2007

Already sold in ten countries, Let Me In introduces a startling new talent from Sweden whose work is creating an international sensation. John Ajvide Lindqvist has been compared to such top horror writers as Anne Rice, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Whitley Strieber, and last but certainly not least, Stephen King—American readers of vampire fiction will be thrilled!

 

It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last---revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.

 

But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door---a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Swedish author Lindqvist's debut, a horror novel, offers few twists that won't already be familiar to readers of modern vampire fiction. Oskar, a much bullied 12-year-old schoolboy living in a Stockholm suburb, notices that his next-door neighbor, Eli, has some peculiar traits: Eli only comes out at night, smells like death warmed over and is of ambiguous gender. Eventually, Eli reveals he's a vampire who survives by feeding off the neighborhood lowlifes. Occasionally, his bite accidentally turns victims into undeads who, unaware of their vampirization, go on rampages that end in spectacularly gruesome fates. As sweet as the pure and wholesome friendship between Oskar and Eli may be, it's the gory set pieces that propel the predictable plot. (Oct.)
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From Booklist

Swedish TV and stage writer Lindqvist's first novel is set in a commonplace suburb of Stockholm, where 12-year-old Oskar lives with his mother, is bullied at school, shoplifts, and keeps a scrapbook of notes and clippings about gruesome murders. Eli, apparently about his age, moves in next door but doesn't go to school, leaving the flat only at night. Shortly after, the killings start. At first more fascinated than sorry, since one victim had bullied him, Oskar eventually discovers that Eli is a vampire, stuck permanently in childhood. What should Oskar do, especially when Eli is his friend as much as anyone is? Lindqvist develops the plot in rich detail. The characters, adult and child, are quite convincingly the sort that one would probably cross the street to avoid in any city. Lindqvist also realistically depicts the aftermath of brutal homicide on the nearby: shock and horror, some sleepless nights and bad dreams, despite which you must go to work and get the groceries; eventually, the police leave the neighborhood. Murray, Frieda

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (October 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312355289
• ISBN-13: 978-0312355289
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #684,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #95 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Vampires

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

188 of 195 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Victims and Victimizers March 3, 2008

By Dr. W. L. Lyon

Format:Hardcover

Let the Right One In, by John Ajvide Lindovist. has one fantastic element: vampires. It's set in a suburb of Stockholm, on a social housing development that has become a sink estate. It's a sad place, full of aimless people. The people with responsibility - teachers, policemen, parents, are, for the most part, trying to do the right thing. They've got good intentions.

The book has a huge cast of characters with the major division between adults and children, each subdivided into the successful, more or less, and the failures, with a further division into victims and victimizers. The book opens with a bullied child, Oskar, who fantasizes about becoming a mass murderer. He meets Elli, a child vampire. The predictable does not happen.

Many of the adults on the estate are as powerless as the children - lonely, middle aged and elderly alcoholics, unemployed or working at minimum wage jobs. They are presented with a moral choice similar to that of the children: even if a victim, one can refuse to victimize others. (And that is the major freedom the characters in the book have.)

An earlier reviewer said he/she wasn't sure if this was belonged in horror... it's horror in the same way that Henry James' ghost stories fit the genre. It's mainstream/literary/horror, a book that crosses boundaries. I think genres are more useful for finding a kind of reading than describing a book - essentially, this is a very good book that people who read horror and people who would never consider reading horror would both like. It doesn't rank highly on the 'feel good factor' but it has a surprisingly happy ending -- one of those 'happy endings' that is about as happy as, all things considered, an ending can be.

I loved it - and think it's one of the best books I've read in the past year or so.

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars unique addition to vampire literature November 7, 2007

By Derek Tatum

Format:Hardcover

I am not sure if "Let Me In" was truly a good book, or if it is because it is so different than much of the vampire fiction being published right now, but I found it fascinating. It is not for everyone - not so much for the violence (par for the course in these sorts of books) as much as the peek into damaged psyches. It's to Lindqvist's credit that he presents even the most revolting human beings as full-fledged characters and not just drooling, one-note lunatics. The vampire, Eli, is also that rarity in horror fiction - a sympathetic vampire who is by no means "good." Eli will attack and kill innocent human beings, yet still remains sad because of her loneliness; in this way, she reminded me of Miriam Blaylock in "The Hunger." Definitely recommended for fans of the weirder side of vampire fiction.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Upsettingly Spellbinding July 21, 2009

By Jamie A. Girard

Format:Hardcover

"Let Me In" is extremely well written. !Disturbing! At times the story is so intense and demented that I would look away from the book trying to stop the atrocities from crawling into my brain yet my enslaved eyes would twist in their sockets to read on. If you dare read "Let Me In" you will see things not ment to be seen. Forever changed.