This book was a bit slow for me, but a pretty enjoyable throughout. There were questions that I had hoped were answered, but weren’t, and the religion the family practiced was a bit confusing. The twins were just as creepy as they needed to be, and I loved that!
I kinda knew what was going to happen with Black Mamba and Alfie at the end because of the foreshadowing, and that could have been written with a bit more clarity. Overall this was a pretty solid story, and would be a great read during the month of October for for some great creepiness!

Holy freaking shhhh. Let Him In starts strong, and you think you know where it’s going, but let me assure you-you do not. It twists, then twists some more, and drags you behind it as it goes, not taking care with what you’re pulled through. For fans of Naomi’s Room, and anyone obsessed with the unknown, this cleanly fits the bill.

I absolutely tore through this, in two sittings, and only bc I had to be an adult and go to work. I need more. I need backstory, a prequel. I am BEGGING MR. FRIEND. DO THE THING.

One of my top ten this year, and is absolutely one you need to read.

A great haunted house tale, that literally creeps up on you, that challenges your powers of deduction and provides a visceral atmosphere of the paranormal. What I love about this story, is that it doesn't neatly wrap everything up for you, which leads to a more satisfying read. Recommended.

The beginning of this book was great. It creeped me the eff out when I was reading it before bed. I'm already not a fan of the dark and this made it a little more scary, however; I was so disappointed with the end. I have so many questions. I feel like it could have been developed a little more to explain what the grandpa was doing when Pippa and Julie were young or how the adopted kids that used to live in the house play into it. Did it actually happen? Was it real? Did what happened in the cellar actually happened? Was it just some big prank? It's almost like there's one more piece that I can't put my finger on that would close all of this up.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to receive an ARC.

It begins ten months after the death of his wife Pippa. Twins Sylvie and Cassia wake Alfie to tell him there’s a man in their room. Only there isn’t. After several nights of confusion and terror, the man is a snake. A bird. A dark moth. And then a man again, sitting next to him at the table, eating dinner. But Alfie can’t see him. He enlists the help of his sister-in law Julie, a psychotherapist and Pippa’s twin. She thinks it may be the girls’ grief, manifesting as a folie à deux. Perhaps. But there is something wrong with the house, with the people who have lived there and maybe with the twins themselves. There’s danger in the cellar, in the attic noises and the open window.

You won’t want to look behind you when you read Let Him In. Don’t read it when you are alone. There are “things that go bump in the night” and the last few paragraphs are totally chilling. It’s hard to believe that this is William Friend’s first novel. I am excited and terrified to see what he writes next. 5 stars.

Thank yo to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and William Friend for this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of this title!

While this was originally published in Great Britain under the name Black Mamba, I will say i prefer the cover & title of this version.

As a debut writer Friend knows how to tell a fantastic story. While reading this book I felt so many different emotions right along side the characters & felt like I was truly there. It was definitely creepy but in all the right ways.

This book was not exactly for me. I didn’t love the religious undertones as I am not religious myself. It seemed to be a bit disjointed and like there were too many plot lines in the book. It was a frightening topic but I didn’t get the sense of fear or dread that I would have liked from a book called “Let Him In”. While it wasn’t for me, I do think others might enjoy it more.

I had trouble keeping up with the book in some parts, but some parts were really good. I just wish that it wouldn’t have jumped all over the place. I think the plot was actually really good but I feel for myself that it was too scattered all over the book.

The built up tension throughout the entirety of this book frightened me, but in the BEST way. The disturbing atmosphere grabs your attention right at the beginning. It was very hard for me to put this book down! I’m normally not a gothic setting reader, but this book has hooked me. I cannot wait to read more from William Friend. Thank you so much William Friend, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this great digital review copy!

Thank you so much NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read Let Him In before the official release. I really got into this book. It's such a creative way to write about grief involving children. The family dynamic was very interesting also. The entire time I was reading it I was questioning my own thoughts wondering if Black Mamba was real, if they were lying, who really caused the bruises, and what on earth was going on with Julia and Pippa in their childhood. I highly recommend this read to any interested in it because it really makes the reader think and try to solve the truth. I thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you again!

Jeepers, creepers! I am still not 100% sure what really happened in this book — which makes it even more devilishly creepy. Friend does a good job capturing this family haunted by grief, especially the way children have of saying and doing the most unsettling things in such a supposedly innocent way.

It has been a long time since a book has gotten to me like this, and I’m sure I’ll be trying not to look too closely at the shadows for awhile.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC!

Wow—what a creepy and disturbing read! Yet, I really enjoyed it. We follow Archie, a single father to twins, and the twins’ aunt, Julia, as they work together to cope with loss and figure out the story behind the twins’ imaginary friend named Black Mamba. This book had such a creepy vibe and I found myself unable to read at nighttime! It reminded me a lot of the movie Hide and Seek, which I find particularly scary for many reasons…

I will say though, I was a little bit confused at the ending. I think the story ended a bit abruptly and didn’t fully explain what happened and how things were wrapped up. Overall though, I really enjoyed this one!

OMG I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars! This book infuriated me. I will not even lie about that. But in a good way. The way that older slasher films make you want to scream at the screen when the killer gets into the house and they stupidly run upstairs lol. This book gave me chills early on and they only increased in intensity the more I read, to the point I was literally shivering by the time I finished this title. This book is terrifying, truly. Not in the "traditional horror" sense like Vamps and other such monsters are terrifying but in the way that it is so realistic for lack of better words. We , as humans, have a tendency to completely over look, blind out, ignore, anything that makes us too uncomfortable or doesn't align with our beliefs or thoughts. This book , hands down is phenomenal ! Part of me would love another title following this family BUT a larger part of me really appreciates that I am left with so much unanswered. The "obvious" is left entirely unspoken leaving the reader to wonder alongside the characters if they have gone mad ! LOVED IT! EVERY........INFURIATING..........SECOND.............SUPERBLY DONE!

This book is ideal for the spooky season. It features a creepy old house with a dark past, young twins with an eerie imaginary friend, and a despondent widower whose wife died mysteriously. The book is filled with tension, with each chapter building on the feeling of dread. There are two narrators: Alfie, the widower, and the twin sister of his late wife. They take turns telling the story of how the twin daughters deal with the death of their mother. Throughout the book, there are hints to the dark history of the house and the family. It harkens back to the romantic gothic horror of Henry James and Poe. The ending is terrifying. You might think it’s just a game, but you can’t be sure.

A fantastic psychological horror novel that swims in the waters of the supernatural, grief, family secrets, and parenthood.

A newly widowed father and his twin daughters start to experience seemingly supernatural events when the girls wake him up one night and tell him there's a man in their room.

But this isn't any man and it's not quite the imagination of children. As events start spinning further out of control and become more demanding, family secrets from the sister of the mans late wife come to the surface. These secrets might hold the answers to this "man" and what it is he really wants.

This story isn't particularly bloody or gory but it's truly a deeply disturbing and extremely unsettling tale about family. It's filled with tension that's as thick as the walls of the house they live in and the slow reveals plink these puzzle pieces together brilliantly.

This is a great book for a dark and stormy night that will give you goosebumps and make you scared of every strange sound. I highly recommend it.

Rounded up to 3.5 stars

I received an email from Netgalley about this new gothic psychological suspense book coming out and the cover alone made me immediately hit request. I got the book right then and there and dove right into it. The synopsis of the book "A widowed father is struggling to raise twin daughters obsessed with an imaginary friend. "Daddy, there's a man in our room.'"

From the beginning, I couldn't stop reading. It was so interesting and gave me the redrum twins creepy vibes. Somewhere along the middle of the book, the writing started unraveling. Still gave off creepiness but now I had a lot more questions and wanted to see what actually happened to the Mom because I thought there would be more to that story. I wish the history of the house would have had more background as well as the other tragedy that took place there. Then religion, demons, witchiness was brought in. The story had Hereditary movie vibes but also fell apart like the movie did in my opinion.

I think this book is very promising for a debut. There are a few more things that could be added and/or explained so that the reader has a better understanding of why this is happening. Maybe the house is actually a portal to the netherworld and that's why things happen or the mom didn't really die that way but was dragged to the netherworld and is trying to get out. Something more.

I'm not one that gets uneasy feelings very often but I woke up at 3 AM one morning to use the loo and looked in the corner of my room and saw a shadow. Heart thumping loudly as I turned on the light and it was just a shirt that I had left hanging on the closet door. I thought it was HIM!

Thank you to #netgalley, #williamfriend and #poisonedpenpress for the advanced copy of Let Him In.

Creepy. After the death of Pippa, wife and mother, her family struggles to find normalcy again. Through the twins grief Black Mamba appears and weird things start to happen. Add in a cult-like religion and let the terror roll. This book will have you jumping at every sound, yet you will be unable to put it down until the very end. While it has a couple slow spots, stick with it because the end is worth it! Looking for more from this debut author!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you NetGalley, William Friend and Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press for hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
#partner

Let Him In by William Friend is a novel about Alfie, his twin daughters and their aunt Julia. After the twins mother dies unexpectedly the twins begin experiencing visions of a man inside their home. They grow closer and closer to ‘Black Mamba’ a man who can change forms. This is an engrossing story that slowly gives details that paint a haunting picture. Is the man a demon or simply a fantasy that the twins enjoy? Very good book!

Let Him In is an atmospheric, character-driven literary suspense. The story is told in dual first-person POV. First, we get the perspective of Alfie, a newly widowed single father of twin girls. It’s been ten months since their mother passed, and they’ve made a new… friend. This imaginary friend, named Black Mamba, is unsettling and Alfie isn’t sure of what he should do. The second POV comes from his late wife’s twin sister–Julia. She’s a psychotherapist, and she comes to the house regularly to check on the girls.

Despite the book being quite short (at only about 240 pages), it’s very slow-paced. The author leisurely takes his time telling this story, which is filled with flashbacks–in both POVs–of the late wife, Pippa. While the imaginary friend possibly being something more plotline is far from original, Let Him In takes this concept and pairs it with themes of loss and grieving of a loved one. While unsettling at times, I’m reluctant to call this book a “horror” title, as the author doesn’t quite deliver on that front. The novel is more of a character study with an atmospheric setting and a languorously suspenseful plot.

Let Him In is for those who want to read a creepy (haunted house?) story that’s rife with allegory.

Let Him In was an intense ride from start to finish. It's a story about grief, about the connection between twins, about belief systems. Told in chapters that feature one of two characters' thoughts and observations, the book tells the tale of a family still grieving the loss of a mother/wife/sister/daughter. Alfie and his twin seven-year old daughters Cassia and Sylvie are struggling after the Alfie's wife Pippa died unexpectedly a while before. One night, the twins show up at Alfie's bed claiming there was a man in their room. A man they call "Black Mamba" who continues to visit and takes on the forms of various animals. Marian, Alfie's mother-in-law, insists that Julia, Pippa's twin who is a family psychiatrist, help the twins out. Julia tries to resist, as she has distanced herself on purpose as being too close to them to offer therapy, and also has no desire to return to Hart House, the old house in which she grew up and in which her parents practiced their own versions of religion and spirituality. But as the twins' dependence on Black Mamba and resistance to Alfie escalate, Julia finds herself drawn in to try to set the girls straight and hope to save her remaining family from calamity.
I don't know what William Friend's writing background is prior to this, his debut novel, but this book read like the work of a veteran author. The atmosphere got creepier as the story went along, and the tension increased throughout, as past secrets were unveiled little by little, and the truth of Black Mamba eventually comes to light. 4.5 of 5 stars.