After Alfie, a father of twin girls. Loses his wife, Pippa and mother to the girls in an accidental death. Things start happening at Hart house. The girls start seeing a shadowy figure of a man at the end of their bed. As time goes on, it becomes apparent this entity tightens its grip around the twins as Alfie loses his to grief.

Let Him In , takes the reader on a spooky, foreboding ride that centralises around a deep seated fear of death, loss, grief and afterlife. It’s both gripping and medium paced for the majority of the book. The main characters, felt 3D and the narrative is told from 2 perspectives as first person. Alfie being one, and Julia who is Pippas twin sister.

I like how Julia fills in the back story of the house itself and her relationship with her twin as we move through the book. Some may find it slows the story down or fluff it up but I found it intriguing. The ending I loved, as it gets you thinking

The only slight negative is the author is quite fond of comma splicing. Especially in the earlier stages of the book. It takes a little to get used to but it’s just a personal thing for me as I mentally run out of breath haha.

A great spooky read and a 3.5 /5 for me.

I really liked the first half of the debut. The way the girls interacted with their dad and black mamba was creepy. I really like how it was going and how he was affecting the family. It had all the makings to make you really creeped out. There is a lot of focus on grief and the benefits of therapy which I thought was fantastically done.Unfortunately, the second half of the book fell flat for me. It seemed like nothing added up, and was not a spooky as the start. I really really liked the concept and I defintly will be reading from this author again!

2.5/3
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgally for my Gifted Copy.

A family coming to terms with a new normal after a death, a house with a history, creepy twins being creepy, and an imaginary friends that causes tension among the people that live in the house. If it sounds like you've read that book before, it's probably because you have. William Friend establishes a slow-burn, almost gothic atmosphere. The pages are bleak and gray with shadows and every corner. Those are elements that can lead to success, but ultimately, Let Him In doesn't really have anything new to contribute to the conversation. I nearly gave up at multiple points, but assumed for a book in 2023 to explore these tropes, it must contain a new spin. Except, spoiler, that spin never came. Fans of atmospheric and dreary haunted house novels that explore family dynamics will find a well-written, if safe, story in these pages. Readers looking for something new and different would be better off looking elsewhere.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

“Black Mamba is not a snake he’s a man.”

This book was pretty freaking creepy. I love the atmospheric unsettling vibes this book put into my brain.

I really enjoyed the characters in this one and the familial relationships. I don’t think all authors are all that good at writing books with kids in them without making the kids so annoying and unrealistic. This author did a great job creating the Black Mamba obsessed twins. These kids were perfectly written and def creeped me out whenever they talked about Black Mamba.

I wish we got to learn more and the church aspect and more about what exactly Black Mamba was (ghost? Demon? Imaginary friend? Etc)…I wonder if that was purposefully left up to the interpretation of the reader.

The ending seemed like it was up to interpretation as well, which I like in some cases but for this particular book I would’ve preferred something more concrete.

Overall it was a decent read that is perfect for spooky season.

Let Him In by William Friend is a psychological suspense novel that alternates perspectives between Alfie, a grief stricken husband, and his sister in law Julia.

Alfie lost his wife Pippa suddenly, leaving him to care for his two daughters Sylvie and Cassia. In this novel we get to witness the ways in which the remaining family processes their grief. When the girls start seeing things in the shadows, welcome a new imaginary friend, and behaving erratically, Alfie calls his sister in law Julia who is a psychotherapist to talk to the girls. Julia assures Alfie that this is normal for their age and the girls are processing their grief. But as things keep getting stranger, they begin to believe otherwise.

I often found myself getting confused as we switched from current thoughts or conversations to one’s from the past just sentences apart. I also thought some parts were harder to get through than others, and that some parts were a little religion heavy for my taste.

Generally speaking this novel was good, it was a good way to kick off my fall spooky reads!

Well that was an interesting read. I didn’t really get scared or have the skin crawl on me or anything. I felt like the first half was so repetitive and there could have done without things. Such as the church symbolism. There also I think needed to be more clarity on certain items (the house, Him, etc).

The cover is wonderful and the reason I requested this book. And I loved the ending.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This didn’t work for me. It took too long to get going and way too many things were left unexplained.

Full review:

I think that Friend should have decided if this was a horror book or a thriller book. I think he tried to merge what he was doing together in the end, but it just didn't work for me. I think the issue was that nothing truly scary happens (until pretty much the end) but things are left unclear enough that I went, so that's it? Is there something else that's supposed to happen? I also think that the grandmother character should have been in the book more than she was, especially when we get to the end and all kinds of things get revealed (haphazardly).

"Let Him In" follows Alfie, a widower of almost a year who is trying to do his best to raise his twin daughters. Alfie though has a shock when his twin daughters start telling him about a man named Black Mamba. Alfie's daughters have never had an imaginary friend, and now he is worried that it means something dangerous. When his wife's twin sister Julia, a child psychologist starts to become involved, she thinks that the twins friend is just a reaction to their mother's death. But what if it's something more.

Friend jumps back and forth between Alfie and Julia throughout the story. It doesn't really work. Probably because they both are coming at the twins from different points of view and Julia is hiding things from herself, and even Alfie is hiding things. It just felt like everyone was playing a game of keep away from the truth.

The flow wasn't great. It took me a really long time to finish this book. About two months off and on since it just wasn't engrossing enough for me to sit and read. And I honestly didn't care about what happened to who or why.

The setting of the house, Hart House doesn't work for me because we don't even get an understanding of why that house may be bad til almost the very end of the book.

The ending left too many things hanging for me.

I enjoyed this book and found it very chilling in parts. Some of the religious references were a bit complicated and I found the plot a little confusing at times. I liked the way the general plot and the ending could be interpreted in many different ways depending on the reader.. overall it was good but I felt it could have been amazing if aspects of the story such as the religious references and back story of the house weren’t so complicated.

“Let Him In” was a fantastic book to kick off spooky season. Hart House created such an uncomfy backdrop for this story. I found myself unsure of what the twist was going to be throughout and nothing ever gave anything away.

Black Mamba was a great character in that you initially did think he was fake, all to learn he was there, cursing the house. I did find the name Black Mamba to be rather unusual and distracted from the creepiness of it all.

The ending was not at all what I expected, but it left it open-ended enough for the reader to draw their own conclusions without it being overdone.

Definitely enjoyed this and would read more from this author.

A book to keep you guessing. Twin girls, who have lost their mother, have made a creepy, imaginary friend. Black Mamba, as they call him, is for their eyes only and he demands that they push their dad away. Reminiscent of a chilling, gothic novel Let Him In is asolid, debut novel with themes of cults, possession, and evil presences. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Let Him In is a dark exploration of grief.

Alfie and his twin daughters are struggling after the loss of their wife and mother. The twins now have a new friend, an imaginary friend. Soon, they start treating Black Mamba like a member of the family, setting a place for him at the table.

Alfie, at first, explains this away as part of the grieving process, but soon starts experiencing odd things around the house.

Are there other forces at play?

This book is a S........L.......O.........W burn. Slower than I prefer, but it still provided excellent creepy reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you @poisonedpenpress for the #gifted copy of this e-arc!

What it’s about:

This books starts out with twin girls standing at the foot of their father Alfie’s bed telling him about the man in their room. Like any good father, Alfie gets up to check under the bed and closets to make sure he can comfort them and put them back to bed. No one needs a creepy man in their bedroom at night! Alfie chalks this Ho to being a nightmare and is not shocked his girls are having them. They recently lost their mother and he’s struggling to raise them on his own. The girls insist the man is their friend and Alfie thinks it’s all harmless until things become more sinister.

Thoughts:

This book definitely starts out with a bang. So much so that I decided to save it for the following day when it was light out. 😅 I loved the premise of the creepy figure that kept showing up with the girls in different forms and just didn’t go away. I think anytime a book includes children and scary ghosts, it’s a winner.

This book was short and a quick read so if you’re looking for a creepy book for October, consider this one. I was hoping for a little more background on the house to help me understand where this spirit came from. I do think the book was a little repetitive at times and in the end I was confused with the outcome of what actually happened. I do think this was the point of the ending however…to come up with your own interpretation. I do want to end on a high note in this book because how amazing is that cover?!

Newly widowed Alfie and his twin daughters navigate life without Pippa, his wife and their mother. The twins latch on to an imaginary friend, Black Mamba, who is a black snake that can change into any body he wants. Beyond this, I have NO idea what happened in this book lol. I don’t know if the ending was psychological, spiritual, or religious. There were some spooky aspects that I enjoyed, and following this family along their journey of grief was enjoyable for me as a counselor. Otherwise, I just don’t think this book was really for me. I went into it thinking it was going to be scary and perfect for spooky season but that just wasn’t it. The pacing also felt slightly off to me. Nothing really happened for 70% of the book, then all the sudden everything felt rushed to the finish. I’m giving this 2 stars, only because I was interested enough to finish this book to see what happened, but Let Him In fell flat for me.

Thank you netgalley and poisoned pen press for this ARC - this book is out October 3rd!

I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley.
What a creepy, amazing read. This was a nail-biting page turner and I would recommend to anyone that likes a good horror novel.

Hart House is full of secrets, and perhaps demons, or perhaps it is all a dream? Who knows... grab a copy of Let Me In and you decide.

really cool, daunting vibe. absolutely loved it. tho felt like something was missing which made me deduct one star but other than that an absolute must read.

This was a fantastic story, that grabbed me from the first page. One, the cover is exceptional, which is what drew me in to pick this up. All the creepy vibes, perfect for a fall read!
Thank you to NetGalley and to Poisoned Pen Press for an e-arc, this was excellent!

4.5 stars

First of all the title and the cover were looking good. the story is even better, Black Mamba is an interesting character.

A slow burn horror with two sets of twins, a boundary-stomping granny, and the creepiest "imaginary friend" you've met in a long time. There are only two paths for this book and you walk a tightrope the whole time wondering how it's going to play out.

Let Him In is a story about an imaginary friend, grief and religion. This book kept me intrigued the whole way through, wanting to know what was going on with Black Mamba and the twins. The writing style is easy. The plot enjoyable, but not something that will really stick with me. I am not entirely sure how I feel about the ending of the book.

I'm not sure what I just read, I mean WOW! This book was so tense and the ending was disturbing. Such a great read for spooky season! Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC!