Drawing from the same well of inspiration as Rosemary's Baby and The Haunting of Hill House (loved the "mug of stars"), Let Him In is creepy as hell, but doesn't quite stick the intentionally ambiguous ending. The author clearly doesn't want to fully explain the supernatural events of the book, but they don't coalesce quite enough to make it easy to draw your own conclusion; instead, you're left with a general vibe of creepiness and questions. Still, it's a quick read and one that made me gasp in fear a few times; I'm a sucker for creepy kids and haunted houses and demonic forces. I recommend this one to anyone who just wants to give themselves a bit of a fright on a rainy day.

I wanted to love this book. And for the majority of the time, I did love it. But the ending fell flat and I have a few issues.

First, the supernatural, eerie vibe of Hart House was incredible. The suspense built up over the reality of what was happening was done very well. Getting Julia’s perspective from the psychological side of things made it a very interesting dichotomy of reality vs make believe.
Black Mamba was an excellent villain - is he a figment of their imagination brought on as a coping mechanism for the loss of the their mother? Is he a supernatural being haunting the house? Is he a supernatural representation or Alfie and his absent parenting? Is he a reincarnation of Pippa/Julia’s late father? The sheer mystery behind Black Mamba’s creation and purpose was great and provided an excellent source of creepy, disturbing events.

Warning: the following points contain spoilers for the last 20% or so of the book.
My two main issues with the book, which ultimately led to a four star review dropping down to a 3 star review:
1. The resolution was practically nonexistent? Black Mamba disappeared simply because they went to the cellar and talked about it with Marian? It felt incredibly anticlimactic; especially given the way the antics had ramped up over the course of the book.
2. Julia and Alfie conceiving a child together was appalling. Julia was jealous of her sister all along and so she went and slept with the grieving husband (who in turn also chose to sleep with his sister in law) while his twins were downstairs. And then they just become one big happy family? Talk about a messy dynamic. I was not a fan of this relationship AT ALL.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the e-ARC of this book that will be released in October 2023.

This was one of the creepiest books I have read and sucked me in from the first page ! Highly recommend!

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

Let Him In was an anticipated read of mine and I was so glad to get an early copy. It follows Alfie and his twin girls in the aftermath of his wife's death. While barely coping with the loss, Alfie's children begin to see a strange man in their room at night.

While this book definitely had moments that really creeped me out, I think it would have benefited from being a tad longer. It was just over 200 pages which, to me, was not enough time to fully build up the tension and the ending fell a bit flat.

Overall though, I really enjoyed the story and I look forward to William Friend's future work.

ʟᴇᴛ ʜɪᴍ ɪɴ
ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ
ᴘᴏɪsᴏɴᴇᴅ ᴘᴇɴ ᴘʀᴇss
ᴘᴜʙ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ: ᴏᴄᴛᴏʙᴇʀ 𝟹 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟹

Happy Friday🎉! I was really craving a spooky horror story so I searched through my Netgalley shelf and found debut novel 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝐼𝑛 by William Friend. This is considered a gothic, psychological suspense, but for babies like me this is HORROR.

𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝐼𝑛 totally fulfilled my craving, it was CREEPY, chilling and haunting. I was reading this on my kindle, mostly at night, when I couldn’t sleep and well this story didn’t help😱. The begining started off with a bang and I was hooked from page one.

The story is set in an atmospheric haunted house which was passed down between family members. Several bad events have occurred in this house and it’s just full of bad vibes. Our main characters are two young twin girls who claim there is a “man in their room.” This man becomes all the girls can talk about, they woriship him as a God, and does what he says.

The twins have just lost their mother to a tragic accident so their father Alfie and Aunt Julia belive this man is just an imaginary friend and part of their grieving. The narration flips between Alfie & Julia and both hold some serious secrets!

100% reccomend if your looking for a spooky read. Although the ending did feel rushed and there are some unanswered questions this was a solid four star read- add this to TBR for spooky season!

✨special thanks to @netgalley @poisonedpenpress for the early copy! Full synopsis in comments✨
•

As a parent, the last thing you want to hear is that there is a stranger in your child's room. Alfie, a recent widower, is awakened by his twin daughters who claim a strange man is in their bedroom. When he investigates, nothing seems out of place. Is this a ploy to sleep with their dad? Alfie enlists the help of his sister-in-law, a psychologist, to find out what is going on. Alfie's wife, Pippa, died in a freak accident and he is trying to cope. Strange things are happening. The girls refer to their new invisible friend as "Black Mamba". Is this friend an attempt to replace their mother? Can Julia the psychologist help this damaged family?

William Friend's characters need some development. Julia, the sister-in-law, leaves her psychology practice to help her nieces. Her actions seem stiff and forced, making it hard for the reader to relate to her. More detail could help the characters become more relatable and understandable.

Let Him In will confuse and surprise you, This thriller actually borders on terror, be prepared!

This book was a slow burn at times but wanting to find out what was happening kept me interested. I don't feel that the reader ever gets a good sense of what was occurring/why/how so I hope there is another book in the works which might expand on that and continue the storyline. Overall I did like the book and would read a sequel if one became available.

Unfortunately I was left frustrated while reading this book. So many concepts were introduced but never fully explained. I don't necessarily need to know what Black Mamba was (ghost, demon, etc) but details like Michael, the rattle, the fatal bug bite amongst others were introduced but never explained. I also absolutely hated that [ Julia and Alfie end up together. It felt out of nowhere and a huge betrayal to Pippa. How can Alfie have loved her so much but moved on so easily to her twin sister?

This book. Wow. Gothic suspense perfect for anyone who is looking to get into the Halloween spirit. Chilling and intriguing story surrounding a recent widower and his young twins. Immediate similarities and comparisons are unavoidable to the creepy twins from Kubrick's "The Shining", where the house itself and an entity actually play the main characters in the plot. Supernatural elements also come into play but truthfully the center of the eeriness of the story is the setting. You can't tell me that you aren't a bit creeped out by time worn buildings with sinister back stories no matter how old you are or aren't. Truly great debut from William Friend, perfect for the upcoming season, but be prepared to be looking over your shoulder for a few sleepless nights. Reminiscent of "The Others", it will make you question what you think you know over the course of the story. Well done. 4/5 stars.

I was very excited to get my hands on Let Him In. It begins almost like a domestic suspense with the cast of characters all trying to find their footing in the wake of Pippa’s death but it soon morphs into a different type of haunted house tale. Rather than the dark, creepy, and foreboding isolated “classic” haunted house, the house in this story is bright and comfortable with an ideal location in London— the perfect home to raise families despite the tragedies that keep occurring. After losing his wife Pippa, Alfie struggles to keep himself together while raising young twin girls who have an obsessive relationship with each other and with their imaginary friend Black Mamba. Alfie and his late wife’s sister Julia try to discover who or what Black Mamba is as he begins to consume the lives and thoughts of the family. The atmosphere was chilling, the characters compelling, and the story interesting, but the end falls a little short for me. It moves too fast towards an ending and left a few too many unanswered questions in its wake which left me frustrated. I am very thankful to have received an ARC on Net Galley and can’t wait to hear everyone else’s thought after it’s out.

A gothic thriller laced with tragedy and suspense. I loved this chilling and eerie tale and could not wait to see what each new chapter would unfold, definitely unputdownable.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel before publish date!

If you up for a great horror book, THIS IS IT!

Great read, steady pace!

Don't read when you are home alone and have a active imagination like me!

Highly recommend this book.

This book was very good. It took awhile to get to what if was alk about but once I did I couldn't put it down. If ya like spooky then this book would be a good own for you. Thanks to herbalist for the opportunity to read this book!!!

I think this story had big potential but it just moved too slow for me. It’s definitely a physiological thriller but it didn’t seem to have enough events to keep me invested.

The greatest strength of the novel Let Him In by William Friend is the skillfully ambiguous narration that makes the reader struggle to place its genre until the climax. It is a suspense filled horror story about the psychology of personal loss that leaves scope for multiple interpretations.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

This was really atmospheric, the author really made it feel like someone was watching you. I had the creepy & eerie sense of someone behind me. Also being a parent myself made it feel all too real.
Very captivating from the start. Will definitely look forward to other books by this author.

5/5⭐️

This book had me on the edge of my seat I read the whole thing in like 2 hours lol.
This is such a great creepy read to get you in the fall spirit.

I grew up in a house that was haunted and I used to see a “shadow man” at my bed, in the corner of my room, & on my attic stairs. So needless to say, this book felt so real to me.

I constantly was looking up from my Kindle and checking to make sure nothing was watching me, and had an uneasy feeling of someone sitting next to me while I was reading.

Very reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s Haunting of Hill House which I’m a huge fan of the book & the Netflix show!

Multiple POV with a twist, I had a sense of what was coming but kept doubting and doubting and wow, the ending was fantastic.

I really enjoyed the gothic dark feel and it felt like I was transported into the pages of this book. This is probably in the top of my favorite horror reads this year.

This book was very interesting. It showed the true story behind grief and loss as well as the horror around trying to move forward in a world where it feels like you are standing still. Alfie and his twin daughters are trying to figure out what their life looks like after their mother / wife, Pippa, passes away. There are some unexplainable things going on in the home and Alfie turns to his wife’s sister for support. When the girls start talking about “a man in their room”, Alfie starts questioning things, and he’ll have to start addressing his own secrets, the secrets of the Hart House, and the secrets of reality.

This book did keep me engaged all the way through the end and did have me flipping back and forth a few times. There were some questions that were left unanswered, in my opinion, which I didn’t really like. Otherwise, it was a decently quick read. I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

If you are a fan of Catriona Ward, I believe you will enjoy this book. Told in a very similar style, we watch a family following a great tragedy and their meager attempts to regain their lives. However, things are not going well and the children have found a new way to cope. We see alternating perspectives and timelines as we take a deep dive into the strange occurrences that plague the family members. There are some twists and turns. I truly could not put this book down. I was racing through the pages to find out how it all ends. Honestly, I am still unsure at this point if all my questions are answered or maybe I just missed something and didn’t realize it, but I would say it ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. You will have to decide what's real and what isn’t and to me that was a frustrating but entertaining aspect.

So if you like to be left questioning after reading something a little creepy, this is your book!

Check it out October 3, 2023!! Perfect for your fall TBR.

Thanks to Netgalley, Sourcebooks, and William Friend for this advanced copy.

#creepystory #fallreading #familystories #lethimin #falltbr #bookstagram #addtoyourtbr #sourcebooks #williamfriend