A recently widowed father of twin girls is trying to get things under control. Until the girls tell him a man is in their room. This nightmare goes away soon, but now the twins have an imaginary adult male friend who becomes more and more a part of this family's life—finally giving orders and working to take over the Dad's place.

This was a decent tale of an evil imaginary friend who turns out to be much more. I didn't connect with the characters, not really liking them, even the kids. It was however a sometimes creepy little book.

Before I even opened this I was creeped out from the cover .
Then add creepy twins ... I need a nightlight 😂

Overall though I was disappointed in this book . Although yes it was creepy at times , overall it fell flat for me . Maybe because imo it was a slow burn .. also I'm not a fan of the ending. ... it was weird & rushed & a bit confusing.

#lethimin was a creepy read at times but overall not for me I guess.
Regardless thanks for the Arc #NetGalley 🖤

This book started off with serious creepy vibes but I ended up having a hard time getting into it. The ending was also a little confusing.

Thank you, Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Let Him In" was a very slow start for me. The concept is there, the storytelling skills are there. There's just not a lot there. Character development is lacking tremendously. This seems like it has the basic start to something really cool, but it needs more structure. It also seemed like it was hard choosing a genre. I like when authors mix genres, but it has to be done well.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

With a cover that immediately grabbed by attention, Let Him In impressed me with its exploration of some really complicated family dynamics.

In this story, we meet Dad, Alfie, and his twin daughters, Cassia and Sylvie. Nine months ago, the girls' Mum, and Alfie's long-time partner, Pippa, died suddenly and unexpectedly in their home.

Alfie, battling his own grief, is struggling to parent the girls alone. In spite of the challenges, Alfie feels like overall, they're doing okay. At least as well as could be expected. Things take a turn though when the girls wake Alfie one night stating, 'Daddy, there's a man in our room...'

Cue eyebrow raise, jaw drop and shiver running up spine.

That starts the girls' new found obsession with their imaginary friend, Black Mamba, who they describe as a man who can shape-shift into any animal. He protects them and also takes them on fabulous adventures.
Alfie calls in Pippa's sister, the girls' Aunt Julia, for help with the Black Mamba situation. As a psychiatrist, he feels Julia is probably much more qualified to navigate this situation than he is.

The Reader gets both Alfie and Julia's perspectives as the drama with the girls' new friend escalates. What they both assume is just a coping mechanism following Pippa's untimely death begins to feel like more, however, as a series of increasingly disturbing events occurs. This includes both Alfie and Julia having visions that could possibly be linked to the mysterious Black Mamba.

Will Julia and Alfie be able to exorcise this hostile presence from their lives? Their family has already been shattered by tragedy, but it seems this being, the hold he has over the girls, could end up causing even further irreparable harm.

I really enjoyed my time with this story. I did end up listening to the audiobook and appreciate that it included the use of dual narration. Having a different voice for both Alfie and Julia helped to bring the story to life.
I thought the family dynamics were fascinating, not just amongst our main characters, but the backstory of Pippa and Julia's family as well.

This is a debut novel for William Friend and I feel like it's definitely impressive in that regard. The story has a ominous, haunting feel throughout that succeeded in getting under my skin. There were a couple places towards the end where I got a little lost, but that could totally just be my own issue. Wandering mind and all that. Besides those couple of spots though, overall, I was extremely invested in this.

One of my favorite Horror tropes is the creepy kid trope. Friend definitely nailed that. Bonus points for them being twins and for the super-disturbing imaginary friend. I'm not going to say anything else about this one, because I feel it's best served if you go in knowing just the basics. Settle in and go along for the ride. This is the perfect read to kick off your October Spooky Season TBR.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press and Dreamscape Media, for providing me with copies to read and review. I'm looking forward to more from William Friend!

Let Him In is both terrifying and heartrending. It explores the terrible impact of a mother's sudden death on her husband, twin daughters, elderly and medically fragile mother, and her twin sister. What begins as a creepy story about grieving little girls making an imaginary friend is a complex exploration of perspectives on loss, love, envy, faith, and family dynamics. You will cower, question, and commiserate.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was an absolutely FANTASTIC book. I didn’t even make notes for a review throughout my read as I didn’t want anything to take me out of it.

I don’t think that anything I say will do it justice, so this is a short but sweet review. This was truly one of the most eerie & captivating books I have ever read. Do yourself a favour & buy this IMMEDIATELY on its publication date!

Friend’s debut novel is a horror/mystery-thriller by category but I found it more psychological thriller. Well written and entertaining, I found the character development a bit lacking; especially the grandmother and aunt, the nephew/cousin is nothing more than a device to further the plot. The story is slow moving with information dropped as you need it but at times feels like it is being withheld too long. The basic plot line and story idea is very intriguing and worth the read.

In Friend’s debut novel Alfie, his twin daughters Sylvie and Cassia and his sister-in-law, psychotherapist Julia are all reeling from the unexpected death of Pippa, Allie’s partner, mother of the twins and Julia’s own twin. Alfie, Sylvia and Cassia reside at Hart House which was Julia and Pippa’s childhood home and where their father died. The novel begins with the girls saying that they see a man in their room at night. This man becomes Black Mamba, an imaginary friend who seemingly makes the girls act out in destructive ways. Julia attempts to counsel them, but what is really going on at Hart House and is it related to Julia and Pippa’s unconventional upbringing?

This was originally published in the UK as BLACK MAMBA and it’s a good thing the publishers changed the title or I would have dismissed this as a book about Kobe Bryant (rest well, Kobe). As it was I couldn’t help thinking of him throughout and how odd it was that the twins were haunted by the ghost of Kobe. This wasn’t really a BAD book, per se, but the ending was really so much….nothing that I was quite disappointed, hence my low rating. A psychotherapist and those really interested in twins might find more to like, I don’t know. I was just really sad it wasn’t more. Sorry to say I can’t recommend this one. Too little payoff in the end.

This debut horror novel is a study in grief and how it can effect everyone differently. Twins, Sylvie and Cassia unexpectedly lost their mother, Pippa, to a freak accident. Their father, Alfie, is not coping well and is overwhelmed by his responsibilities as a single parent. Pippa's twin sister, Julia, a psychiatrist, is also not coping well but dealing with her grief very differently.
One night, the girls tell Alfie there is a man in their room. But there isn't. Suddenly, "Black Mamba" is all they talk about, set places for him at dinner, blame him for accidents and injuries, and even start calling him "daddy". Alfie is beside himself and Julia is perplexed. Told from both POVs, this one will have you guessing until the very end.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this e-arc.*

💀 Book Review 💀

Let Him In by William Friendd

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Let Him In is an atmospheric read. It centers on a father with two twins girls. They lost their mother nearly a year ago in a tragic accident.

One night the girls come to their father, saying that there’s a man in their room. He checks out the room and finds nothing there. This happened several more times until the girls finally announce, they have a new friend named Black Mamba. At first, this imaginary friend seems innocent enough, but things quickly take a turn to the sinister side.

Things I liked:

🍁Creepy Imaginary Friend
🍁Slow burn, spooky atmosphere
🍁Dual POVs

What didn’t work for me:

🍁The ending: The ending left me with more questions than answers. If felt a bit rushed to me.

🍁The Characters: Don’t get me wrong, I like the characters overall. But without spoiling anything I was not a fan of two characters and the choice they made together. It felt wrong.

Overall, it’s a short read that has some creepy moments sprinkled in here or there. It’s a book that makes you think… what if my imaginary friend was real?

While looking for a spooky read for fall, this cover drew me in.

Allie is still mourning the loss of his wife when their twin girls tell him there has been a man in their room at night. Oh, and sometimes he is a snake. And sometimes a bird. Alfie’s sister in law is a therapist, and she tells Alfie imaginary friends are normal. But something strange is definitely happening in this house….

Without giving any spoilers, the way things played out in this story just wasn’t for me. There weren’t very many creepy or chilling moments the way you’d expect from the cover, and the ending is left very open to interpretation. I also couldn’t stand something that happened with the main characters towards the end. The writing could be repetitive at times and was very slow paced.

I did think the twins were well written and found them to be the best characters in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Demonic imaginary friend that shape shifts? Oh yeah, this book is creepy.

Alfie is dealing with the loss of his wife while trying to stay strong for their twin girls. When the girls start talking about their new imaginary friend called “Dark Mamba” he thinks it’s just the grief. It isn’t.

I really like a horror story that deals with the rippling effects of grief, kind of along the lines of The Babadook. There’s something so scary and real about losing a loved one and the way humanity deals with that weight.

I read this all in one sitting. It is completely consuming and I think I’ll be thinking about that ending for a while!

This is the tale of grief stricken Alfie, his 2 daughters and their “imaginary friend” Black Mamba.
The book feels very much like an allegory of grief, mourning and dealing with loss. The coping mechanism of children that leads to a much darker and more sinister tale.

Ping-ponging between Alfie and Julia(the girls aunt), we travel through trauma and discovery of just how dark and unsettling the girls friend actually is. A story that builds slowly as the momentum builds.
It’s a very atmospheric read and was tense and frightening at times as things begin to nosedive.

I think it’s a solid debut novel, but I did find it to very slow at times and had to force myself to keep going. I also found that I really struggled to connect with any of the characters within the book, which kept me on the outside of the tension and unease that was there.

Thank you so much to the publisher for my #gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review!


𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
A family that is grief stricken…and a creepy imaginary friend-I AM SOLD! What a completely chilling, eerie, and entertaining story! The author did such a great job with the creative, yet chilling way in which he tells the story of grief and its effects, and how everyone deals with the aftermath of it in different ways. I absolutely LOVED this debut book and the psychological webs that it spun. It was bingeable, creepy, eerie, sinister, a page turner, and the perfect read for spooky season with just the right amount of horror weaved in. I think that this book can be preceived and interpreted differently by readers, and that opinions of readers will vary greatly based on that. I absolutely loved every minute of it and highly recommend this sinister book for a pre halloween read!

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞?
The absolute perfect book for spooky season! Any fans of horror and spooky reads should add this to your TBR now!

𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5

I read/listened to this whole book in 1 day. It was so well written, so creepy and unsettling. I had a feeling about where the story was heading but it didn't take away from my enjoyment at all. I was very fond of the characters, it is so easy for me to be distracted by an annoying MC in a thriller/horror but I think Alfie was well written. I also loved the dual POV with Julia, I think this was a fantastic way to further explore the grief and haunting in this book. The only thing that took away from the story was the development of Julia and Alfie's relationship (though this is mentioned in the synopsis I read so I wasn't so caught off guard by it and it didn't take away from the story as much as it might have).

It's out in less than a week so be sure to add it to your tbr!!!!

Really impressed by this debut from Friend and I will be looking out for their next horror/thriller release.
Thanks NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an eARC of Let Him In.

This book started strong for me. I was interested in the family dynamics and the creep factor with the twins and their new “friend”. Then there came a point where I found it hard to pick the book up and keep reading. I’m not sure what the disconnect was, but I had a hard time finishing it. It was more psychological horror than jump scare type. Grief is the big theme here and I appreciated that it tackled how adults grieve and how children do. The ending was a bit ambiguous but I kind of liked that. It’s a decent book for the season!

The cover and the blurb drew me in on this one. I got a copy as an ARC from Netgalley and was keen to delve into the spooky world described.

Alas, things didn't quite go to plan. This read like someone had watched all the recent paranormal ghost/haunting movies and then stuffed all the tropes into a single book with absolutely no thought for making things original.

There's twins, religion, demons, possessions, using photography to capture paranormal occurrances, curses, hauntings, imaginary friends who aren't really what they seem, more twins, death of loved ones, grief and familial bonds that need exploring. All of these have been done to death in the recent spate of paranormal movies, and in my opinion, done far better.

The story offers little more than surface information. You get very little in the way of atmospheric sensations. The writing unable to lift the reader out of the real world and drag them into the scary world it's attempting to create between the pages.

The pace is plodding, offering a lot of internal dialogue and guff that really added very little to the story. Where there could have been a lot of additional information, the history of Hart House, is so light on that it's covered in a few paragraphs.

It seems other readers dislike the name of the imaginary friend. I didn't care much either way as he felt like a crutch to move the story along when things got stale. It was as if the author went, what if this character tried doing this?! and just wrote a scene about that. Then moved on to another scene and left things very disjointed.

Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't a terrible book, the writing for the most part is good. It just fails to deliver anything original and new in a genre where most things have been done before and done better by others.

**Note: I received an electronic copy of this book via Netgalley**

Thank you to Net Galley for this review copy! This book made me nervous to walk into my daughter’s room at night. This is the stuff that scared me when I was a kid. Fear of things under the bed or in the closet. And from a parenting perspective it is almost scarier because logic does not compute. From the first page until the twisty end, I was completely hooked on the slightly unreliable narrators, the questionable shapeshifting “Black Mamba” who is inserting itself into this family already full of grief.

This is the perfect Halloween read. It will keep you guessing and will make you afraid to turn out the lights at night.

Let Him In is a creepy novel about a family coming to terms with their mother's untimely death. Alfie is left to raise their twin girls alone when his wife dies of anaphylactic shock after a bizarre bite. Shortly after, the twins bring to "life" the Black Mamba, an invisible, shape shifting, friend.

This book totally had me on edge. I didn't know what to believe, who to trust, and what was real. The twins were odd and a bit creepy but it was also heartbreaking thinking of them being so young and losing their mother. Alfie was a hot mess who just kept spiraling more and more out of control. He was a bizarre character and I found it so strange that he was jealous of the Black Mamba and the twins' kinship.

There were a lot of surprises in this book and the ending was just delicious. I keep thinking about it!

I listened to this novel on audio and the narrators were pretty good. I didn't particularly like Julia's voice for Alfie or Alfie's voice for the girls, but it was a minor gripe. All in all, they were great at inflecting the required level of suspense and drama.

This novel was the perfect way to kick off spooky season and one I definitely recommend.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for the copy.