🚨MUST HAVE for your Spooky Season TBR 🚨: “Let Him In” by William Friend

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Alfie recently lost his wife and is struggling to raise his twin daughters solo. They live in Hart House, a gothic old home where his wife grew up living and two mysterious deaths occurred. The house itself holds onto to horror stories of its own … and so it continues … 🏚️

Night after night his daughters rush into his bedroom at night terrified saying that there is a man standing in their bedroom. After no evidence of an intruder is found, Alfie figures these nightmares are a result of their loss and grieving of their mom. The nighttime visits randomly come to an abrupt stop and Alfie figures they have moved past from their fears.

BUT now the girls have a new “friend” called Black Mamba. And HE does not want to be seen by or heard from their father. Sinister things start to happen and the girls point their fingers at Black Mamba. He has become a protective figure to them and is trying to put a wedge between the twins and their father. Alfie seeks help from his deceased wife’s twin sister to try to break the influence this imaginary friend has over his daughters. But here’s the kicker … Alfie’s wife had a VERY similar kind of “friend” as a child growing up in THAT house! Is history repeating itself??

EEEK🫣!! I read this in under 4 hours and absolutely loved it! It was haunting, chilling, dark and EXACTLY what I was looking for … a creepy read that kept me on EDGE the entire way through!

For fans of Hidden Pictures, The Whisper Man and The Haunting of Hill House, this spooktacular DEBUT novel is for you!

Thank you kindly to William Friend, @poisonedpenpress @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on October 3, 2023!

Really enjoyed this book. Mysterious, spooky, and mind bending, I thought is showed the twin relationship in an interesting way that made me feel like I was witnessing the family dynamic in real time. I expected the book to be scarier but ended up enjoying that it had more to do with trauma, religion, getting older and healing.

This was a chilling gothic tale. It kept me hooked throughout the story. It had all the ingredients of a great horror novel. The ending was a little ambitious where I questioned what I just read and was like what just happened. I also think the author could have explained more about the rattle, house, and Julia and Pippa’s dad. Many questions, but it still kept me hooked.

Alfie's wife has recently died. He now has to raise his twin daughters on his own. When the girls claim to see a shadowy figure in their room, and Alfie can't find anything, he assumes its a result of their loosing their mother.

as the gilrs behavor becomes stranger, Alfie calls on his wifes sister Julia, who is a psychiatrist for help. When the girls feel their imaginay friend is more important than their father, things become very strained. At one point the girls lead Alfie to the basement where it appears that something is going on with the floor. Shortly after you need to decide if the "friend" the girls called black mamba, is real,a maade up friend or really Alfie.

Unfortunately this fell very flat for me. At first I enjoyed the pacing and change of POV from chapter to chapter but as the story continued I just felt bored. I also could not stop thinking of the “Black Mamba” as Kobe Bryant so that didn’t help.

This had a lot of potential but I feel like it took to long to get to the point and when it got there I was underwhelmed. Had some creepy moments and anything with kids seeing ghosts freaks me out so in that regard it did what it needed to do, but apart from the moments in the evenings when weird things were happening I was very disconnected from the story.

I don’t know about this book, it was just weird, I couldn’t stay interested in it at all! Just the thought of something coming into a kids room that can change into multiple different things just wasn’t the right fit of a book for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the early read. This one was a DNF for me....

From what I finished of this one it wasn't bad. I just couldn't get into this one.

A terrible accident marked the beginning of a horror story. Inside Alfie’s house, a man appears at night terrorizing the twin girls just months after a gruesome accident claimed the life of Pippa, Alfie’s wife and the twins’ mother.

The book divides into different points of view, from the perspective of Julia and of Alfie. Julia is the twin sister of Alfie’s late wife, Pippa. The story tells the generational trauma passed down within a house. So, when the girls start seeing a man concern arises and elements of magical realism kick in. The invisible man remains a mystery, only existing when the kids talk about him, never developing a solid character plot.

A psychological thriller that will keep every reader wondering what’s real and what isn’t within that house gives a well-rounded exploration of how grief can stay in someone’s life for years and years. William Friend does a good job at crafting a horror atmosphere and at maintaining a good-paced narrative in the story.

However, there are no memorable quotes due to the simple writing that won’t impact those seeking for poetry. Besides, there’s a point in the book where the story feels stagnant, with little significant development until the apparitions of Black Mamba start making sense. Furthermore, the story lacks a variety of characters and the author doesn’t delve deeply into them. Finally, the book may not be as scary as it suggests it could be.

I’m grateful with NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity of letting me read this before its publication.

Let Him In is a chilling gothic tale about grief. Shortly after Alfie's wife, Pippa, passes away, Alfie's twin daughters inform him that there's a man in their room. The twin daughters quickly befriend this shape-shifting man known as the Black Mamba. At first Alfie and his sister-in-law, Julia, think the twins have invented Black Mamba as a coping mechanism, but as the story progresses we learn that there's something far more sinister going on.

I loved that the book switches from Alfie and Julia's perspective. We get to see inside their heads and how they are coping with the loss of Pippa. Alfie is starting to have visions of her, sometimes in the form of nightmares, and Julia starts thinking about her dad, who also passed away in the house that Alfie is living in. The characters are so well-written that you can't help but feel bad for them.

I also loved how atmospheric this story is.  There were times that I felt really unsettled whenever the twins would talk about Black Mamba. I also enjoyed reading about the tragic back story of Hart House, which the home has been passed down through generations, and it felt like I was walking through the halls with the family.

Highly recommend checking this one out when it releases next month! It's definitely a perfect read for the spooky season 👻.

A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the gifted copy.

This horror novel was everything I enjoy in a good horror story.. There are creepy twins and an imaginary friend. This is perfect for the Halloween spooky season!

I have mixed feelings about this book. The setup is very good, very creepy and eerie. Alfie and his twin daughters are coping with the recent death of the girls' mother. The girls start to get visits from an imaginary friend who can change forms and who the girls believe has come to protect them. Alfie enlists help from the girls' aunt Julia, who is a therapist and is the twin of his deceased partner. There are also family secrets, a house with a sordid past, and lots of other horror staples. This one has a lot of great stuff, the writing is compelling, and the characters are relatable. But it all doesn't quite come together in my opinion. If you're into horror in general, this is a decent read, and it's short. I would give it a solid 3.5 out of 5.

Thank you @williamfriend, @PoisenedPenPress and @NetGalley for a free e-ARC. The opinions are mine alone and not biased in any way.

A solid horror debut.

William Friend takes a popular and creepy childhood element and develops an atmospheric novel that slowly gets under your skin.

Creepy Twins will get me every time. Pair that with an imaginary friend, loss of a parent, and gothic house vibes, you got yourself one heck of a Halloween read this year!! The pacing was great, I loved how unsettled I felt the whole time I was reading this!!! Will definitely recommend this to fans of Darcy Coates and Adam Nevill!

Thank you NeGalley for the ARC!

Horror isn't a genre I typically enjoy and I didn't really care for this story. That being said upfront, I very much enjoyed Mr. Friend's writing style. The pacing of the story was excellent. I was never tempted to not finish Let Him In. In fact I looked forward to when I could pick it up again.

If you are a fan of horror, I would recommend this book. I will certainly read another book by this author.

Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and William Friend for an ARC of Let Him In.
#LetHimIn#PoisonedPenPress#WilliamFriend#NetGalley

A chilling, atmospheric horror that stays consistent throughout the entire book. Each character is so well developed which meant I was able to really connect with them, particularly Alfie.

Can’t believe this is a debut! Absolutely brilliant writing, plot, and execution. Can’t wait to read more from this author.

PG-13 level horror that borrows classic genre tropes and feels familiar, but in a good way - a way that made me ready for spooky season.

Imaginary friends, creepy twins, obscure religious beliefs, a family imploding from grief. This book doesn't reinvent the wheel by any means. Instead, it revisits some well traversed, and generally well-liked staples, and combines them in a way that feels satisfying. I appreciate how the author creates a heavy, suffocating atmosphere and some genuinely eerie moments, without ever becoming too gruesome or vulgar.

The book was at its best when discussing the psychology of the twin relationship, and their invention of Black Mamba, and at its worst when fixating on the relationship between Alfie and Julia (yuck). The biggest missed opportunity for me involves the inclusion of the religious component. I really enjoyed the religious undertone, and I found it to be the most original part of the novel. As such, I wish it would have been at the forefront a little more.

This book started off really strong- creepy twins seeing a man and a snake in their bedroom - but I got a bit lost in the plot about 70-75% in. I couldn’t really make sense of the ending, and it wasn’t really wrapped up for me.

I loved the vibe and I definitely felt spooked while reading. But it also felt like the haunted part of the story just disappeared without a lot of explanation/resolution.

I’m still not entirely sure what the ending meant and the last 20% or so was a bit harder for me to follow and stay engaged.

I did enjoy the story and the premise behind it. Creepy kids is always a trope that I gravitate towards and I would continue to read this author’s work. It’s a great book to kick off spooky season.

Creepy and twisty.
Loved the cover, and it immediately hit me with a wave of unease as I started reading.
Twists and unexpected turns left me wanting to keep reading, only during the daylight..
If you're a fan of horror, pick this one up, just in time for Halloween.

I've had to sit on this review for a while, and I honestly don't think I have a lot to say. Let Him In is a gothic horror that deals a lot with grief. I found myself not wanting to pick it up, but while I was reading I found myself enjoying it. Throughout the story I wasn't invested in the actual characters; I wanted to see what was going down with Black Mamba. The ending was unclear, which I think saved the novel. If it had had a different ending, I would have been much more disappointed in it. Overall, not my favorite. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys gothic horror, but will warn that your results may vary.