Let Me In » (Media Tie-In)

JOHN AJVIDE LINDQVIST's debut novel, Let the Right One In, was a bestseller in Sweden and was named Best Novel in Translation 2005 in Norway. Lindqvist's second book, Handling the Undead, is forthcoming in hardcover from Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press in fall 2010.

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. . . .

Patricia Altner - Library Journal

Lindqvist's dark debut novel, originally published in Sweden in 2004, takes place in a 1980s Stockholm suburb. Twelve-year-old Oskar suffers beatings nearly every school day by a group of bullies who thrive on the fear they cause him. Oskar has no close friends until Eli, a mesmerizing girl about his age, moves next door. She has peculiar habits, like spending her days inside with curtains closed and only venturing out at night, but Oskar has no idea that besides being odd, she is also quite dangerous. Eli is a vampire who uses the services of a crazed pedophile named Hakan to forage for live victims from which she can take sustenance. When the unstable Hakan cripples himself by throwing acid on his face, Eli has to bumble through gory hunts on her own. Still, through it all she maintains her friendship with Oskar and at one point even becomes his salvation. Unfortunately, Lindqvist's predictable plot lumbers through one ghastly scene after another. Recommended only for comprehensive horror collections.