Let the Right One In in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Oct 29, 2009 Sean rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This was creeeeeeepyyyyyyyy. I haven't read a 'horror' novel in quite some time I guess because this got me squeamish at points. Especially initially. (Spending my early teens with Stephen King, I didn't expect that reaction.) Therefore it was slightly difficult to get into at first. Also initially difficult is the fact that there are many characters to keep track of. The point of view flits among them every few pages and it can be a bit difficult to remember who's who for a while. But once the This was creeeeeeepyyyyyyyy. I haven't read a 'horror' novel in quite some time I guess because this got me squeamish at points. Especially initially. (Spending my early teens with Stephen King, I didn't expect that reaction.) Therefore it was slightly difficult to get into at first. Also initially difficult is the fact that there are many characters to keep track of. The point of view flits among them every few pages and it can be a bit difficult to remember who's who for a while. But once the story hits its stride, this panorama pays off.

This is a decidedly modern take on vampires. I don't think I'll be giving much away when I say that there is no mythology, etc, incorporated here. Nor any hints of a shared history among them. The vampires are essentially clueless as to the origins of their existence. They are just 'infected' bodies whose hearts literally have minds of their owns. And one need: to satiate their hunger. Feeding, emptiness and isolation are their nonstop settings.

The tone throughout the novel is unrelentingly bleak. To put it nicely. The western suburbs of Stockholm in the winter of 1981 could not be more depressing. Forget any cliched images of a Scandinavian socialist utopia. Picture: soulless apartment blocks that are essentially housing projects. Frumpy long-suffering single mothers. Antisocial teenage bullies who huff glue, vandalize and terrorize fellow students. Bleary-eyed aging alcoholics lingering in shut-in apartments, wreaking of cat urine from the dozens of inbred felines milling about. All with the backdrop of frigid weather, gray snow, KISS music and ripped up denim. And those are just the humans!

I've yet to see the film version. But if they're able to duplicate the majority of the genuinely disturbing yet cleverly plotted scenes from the novel, I will be very very impressed. The story went in several directions that I didn't expect. None that I'll give away. But oh. Fun Fact: Despite being a mega-fan for [ahem:] years now, I had no idea the title for this novel is taken from a Morrissey song. How teen angsty appropriate yeah. This is definitely an enjoyably creepy winter read.

p.s. GoodReads - thanks for the free book! ...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Megan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror

Ok, this gets bumped up to four stars because I liked that vampires were still monsters, pretty much. Oh, and an interesting thing: (view spoiler) ...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Monica rated it liked it

Shelves: genrex, 2011

It might be possible that I'm not able to enjoy horror anymore. Even though I appreciated a lot of things about the character development, origins, and storytelling, this just wasn't any more than a good read for me.

Meh, I'm eager to be proven wrong with the right book so suggest away gr friends. ...more

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