Let Me In

July 16, 2007
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.

October 15, 2007
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.Patricia Altner, BiblioInfo.com, Columbia, MD

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2007
Swedish TV and stage writer Lindqvists 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 doesnt 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)