Nine months after his wife's passing, Alfie is awoken in the middle of the night by his twin daughters " daddy's there's a man in our room" and things only escalate from there. The man becomes an imaginary friend that doesn't want Alfie to hear or see him and becomes enraged when Alfie demands that he leaves. This reminded me of paranormal activity and I really enjoyed the back story of hart house and the beliefs of the grandparents. Thank you Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press and William Friend for letting me read this copy

In his first literary venture, William Friend has crafted a taut thriller that takes the reader on a journey of harmless play, seemingly brought on by a coping mechanism, to bone chilling horror as the effects of Black Mamba begin to take a toll on the family.

Fans of horror are certain to find many elements that are familiar to them but Friend’s use of those tropes still instill fear within the reader. Suffice to say, this reviewer found himself checking his closet and under the bed before turning out the lights, only to wake up in a cold sweat or two.

Let Him In is a fantastic debut novel, that is certain to frighten even the most hardened reader.

I did not enjoy this book. It had good potential though. I thought it was too much all over the place with the story. Or too much tossed in together in a short amount of time.

I've always found the concept of imaginary friends to be creepy and after reading this book I feel it tenfold. While there were things that left me feeling a little confused I did find this to be wonderfully creepy!

Let Him In was a puzzling book affair. One that would leave a reader in an unsettling twist. A dark drama encompassing a family of different generations. A father/husband looses his wife and is left to pick up the pieces of himself and continue to raise his twin girls. When the girls say they have seen the same shadowed figure in their room one night the story begins.

The story is told from the view point of two characters: Alfie (the Father) and Julia (the sister in law). Both characters are drug into this mystery centered around the twins. Who or what is the man in the shadows, the snake with glistening eyes, who is Black Mamba?

The author describes the grief of the MC so well that you cannot help but offer empathy for the father and the situation he was left in. I appreciated the true to life character development of both Alfie and Julia. Whilst trying to help the girls with this strange phenomena, both are dealing with the loss of loved ones, and still trying to remain objective. Reaching into their sociological tool belts so to say in order to put the girls welfare first. An admirable family first gift within the story.

So many elements of this story that you have to follow and piece together. A house with a woeful past, and a seemingly imagined entity that the girls share. Is it just an imaginary friend? If it is why are the twins acting out in curious ways, violent even? Why are there strange occurrences within the house? Why the shared spooky visions? Who exactly is involved? What is it that the odd mother in law isn't sharing? Why is Black Mamba going through a series of metamorphic changes? Real or imagined?

Questions, questions, questions are what you are left with in this supernatural thriller. Breadcrumbs as clues stringing you along causing you to turn the page a little faster.

If you like the imaginary friend trope in your horror reads this story will amp up the suspense.

Alfie is a widower and father to his twin girls living in Hart House. When his girls wake him one night saying "Daddy, there's a man in our room" everything begins to get creepy.

The imaginary friend begins to fill the girls lives, insisting on a place setting at dinner and taking them from their beds for adventures at night. Alfie enlists his sister in law Julia to get to the bottom of the enigma that is Black Mamba.

I enjoyed this book but I don't know whether it was a horror story, a ghost story or a piece on how our minds will conjure anything to protect us from the thoughts we don't want.

This was a thrilling spooky book about family secrets and what happens when the dead don’t want to stay dead. Alfie is trying to heal himself and his two twin daughters after losing his wife in a semi-freaky accident but, when the twins start playing with an ‘imaginary friend’, Alfie becomes concerned and seeks help via Pippa’s therapist twin sister, Julia. Old family secrets become exposed and the dark side of the twins’ imaginary friend, Black Mamba, creeps into the already rocky family relationship. Black Mamba is here to stay, whether they like it or not.

I really enjoyed the build up of this novel. It was very creepy and got progressively creepier, which is always a delight. I really loved the plot but I did feel like there were key items that weren’t explored enough; the basis of the ‘imaginary friend’ was tied to a dark family secret but you didn’t really find out about the entirety of the secret until the very end, there were only small mentions of it throughout. I also think I am in the majority when I say I am annoyed that Alfie and Julia get together (SPOILER). It just doesn’t seem very fitting for the novel, especially if the imaginary friend is who you think they are.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good book that had a lot of spooky elements I really enjoyed. Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced readers' copy in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, I was very excited to pick up this book and read it because of the cover, title and description. It gave me a paranormal version of “Let Me In” movie vibes which pushed me to request to review this novel. However, after reading this book, I feel very letdown and uncaring about what I read.

It’s like, the whole story was about Pippa, religion and Pippa’s family. That’s really it. When it came to any spooky or paranormal pieces in the story, they felt like forced add-ons. There’s not even a pitch of fear factor in those pieces.

I don’t know if it’s because the grief and depression aura took over like, 90% of the book, or the author was trying to go a different route to explain their version of what fear can look like, but it didn’t work for me. I just couldn’t pick up any intended fear vibes from this novel.

And I felt the sudden relationship with Julia & Alfred was the cherry on top I needed to become even more disappointed in this book. However, I don’t believe in DNF books so I kept reading until the end honestly.

I can vouch that the author has good writing skills, knows how to write identical twins, very knowledgeable in Christian religion and can explain different sets of griefs and depression. So I will give the author credit for that.

But, this might be my first and last book I read from this author. Now this can change if the author writes up a story where majority of it can be super thrilling, I wouldn’t mind supporting since that’s the type of books I love reading.

I sincerely thank NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and William Friend for allowing me to read and review the novel, Let Him In. Again, thank you very much for allowing me to read it.

Loved this book... it would be great source material for a limited series or thriller film. Why? The novel opens with a recently widowed father attempting to raise his twin daughters when they report that they have seen a man in their room. Immediately the setting is set for investigation: Is he real? Why is he here? Is there more history behind why he has started interacting with the girls? Through alternating view, the reader begins to learn more about this complicated family as the girls grow close to the man in their room. Would recommend to readers who have time to finish a book in one sitting or love a spooky thriller.


Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, it does a great job of building suspense and sucking you into the story right away. I immediately wanted to keep reading and find out more. There was a great creepy feel and the suspense kept me wanting to know more. I loved the twin psyche aspect the story explored and have always found it to be a great addition to a horror story when it’s not overly done. The story did lag a bit in the middle for me but the beginning does such a great job of keeping you invested and establishing a spooky atmosphere early on that I didn’t mind pushing through to see this story’s ending.

This is the first book I have read in a while that really gave me the creeps. Maybe it is because I have twins, and I know how close they are and how easy it is for them to forget that other people exist. Maybe it was the way that the viewpoint shifted between two narrators, but neither of them was exactly a reliable narrator. Most likely, it was because I was left constantly questioning what was real and what was imaginary, and every time I thought I had it figured out, that I could tell where the story was going, a new revelation made me start questioning everything all over again.

The author did an amazing job of setting a scene that greatly helped in creating the spooky atmosphere. Alphie and Julia, the narrators, have very different versions of Hart House, where Julia grew up and Alphie is raising his daughters. As the story goes on, the House almost becomes a character in its own right. Whether it is a welcome sanctuary or a house of horrors varies depending on the point of view, the current moment, and the emotions of the characters.

My only criticism of the book is that, at points, it seemed a little disjointed, and since this was an advanced copy, the bumps and jumps may be ironed out by final publication. Sometimes, it just seemed as though I was being shuffled from one event to another without any transition, and it was a little disconcerting.

Overall, this book really got into my head. If you want things neat and orderly with a nice little bow tied up at the end, this book is not for you. If you like a book that challenges you, and that will have you thinking about it for days after you finish it, then definitely put this on your TBR.

Alfie begins to worry when his twin daughters wake him up to say there is a man in their bedroom. Pippa, his wife, died ten months prior and Alfie is hurting. Now his girls say they have a new friend named Black Mamba. Surely just an imaginary friend but could it be more?

Hart House is Pippa’s family home and it is also where she and her father died. Alfie and the girls have remained in the home and everyone is beginning to fall apart. While the girls start seeing Black Mamba everywhere, Alfie feels like he is failing his children and wife. Julia, Pippa’s twin sister, begins to come around more to discuss how the girls are doing. They tell her that Black Mamba is a man that can change his shape and wants to take them to his home when the time is right. Creepy, huh?!

Let Him In is a classic story involving little kids that say disturbing things. I really enjoyed Julia and found her relatable. I read this book in just a few hours. I was very intrigued to find out what was going to happen and if Black Mamba was real.

Thank you William Friend and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Let Him In. I have written this review voluntarily.

William Friend captures creepy perfectly throughout this entire novel. Told through different perspectives, you will see how grief affects everyone differently and in the case of twin girls, it is eerie and unsettling. Something is clearly not right.
I was captivated and left wanting more all the way to the end while reading Let Him In.

I was not a huge fan of this one. I felt that it was too long and could have been cut down quite a bit. I look forward to checking out more books by this author in the future because I enjoyed the creative idea and plot.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the Publisher and William Friend for the opportunity to read this early.

I was pleasantly surprised by the beginning of this book. Considering horror books never scare me, this definitely gave me the creeps.

Unfortunately as the story began to unfold it became a little unhinged and confusing. I’m still very unsure of what happened at the end, we didn’t get much clarification as to what actually happened in this house. Maybe that was the intended outcome but I personally like stories to be well tied up.

I hoped for a big unravelling, with the cause of deaths coming to light and the big reveal as to what happened in the house but it was all a bit underwhelming.

I will be adding my review to my book review page linked in my profile.

This psychological thriller nailed an air of discomfort from the very start. You’re immediately thrown into the mystery, and your desperation for answers keeps you reading.

I feel like this book pulls on some really simple horror tropes, most obviously creepy twins who can see something no one else can. But, the twist comes in the form of their psychologist Aunt who ‘experienced’ something herself as a child and is convinced that ‘Black Mamba‘ isn’t real.

I found the tension between what’s real and what isn’t was perfectly balanced. Just when you think you’ve wrapped your head around what’s happening, something comes along to challenge your thinking. But, I have to admit I was disappointed with the ambiguous ending that seemed reluctant to commit to either option.

Slight spoiler: the relationship between the Aunt and the Father really frustrated me. It felt unnatural, forced and just thrown in at the end. For me, it jarred from the plot at the heart of the story. Given how much Alfie adored his wife, I just didn’t get why they ended up together.

At its core, this psychological horror explores the effect of grief on a family. It watches as a father implodes, as twin girls struggle to process their loss. I wanted more from the horror aspect of this book - something of a more unexplained and supernatural nature.

It was a good book though and one I’d recommend for those into psychological thrillers and horror books. I’m keen to see what’s next from this author and what others think of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and William Friend for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Let Him In is an upcoming horror novel surrounding a grieving family and the entity that appears at night at the foot of the girls bed.

When I read the synopsis, I knew I had to read this book, as a huge fan of horror I jumped at the chance to read Let Him In as soon as I knew of its existence.

Unfortunately, this story with such a promising premise fell flat. It’s short, which could be a good thing and a bad thing- good because I got through it in one day, bad because I felt there is a massively interesting backstory that could have been explored.

We never get a full explanation on what exactly is going on, is it the house or the family that’s “cursed”? Nonetheless, I felt as I was reading that this had been done before. The book really brought nothing new to the genre.

3 stars

Thank you Netgalley and Poison pen press for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley and the author William Friend for the ARC! To me, this book was a solid 3 stars: I liked it. could have been better.

Alfie is a recently widowed parent of twins. One night the girls come to his room saying that there's a man in their room, and even if that's not weird (considering the trauma they just sustained and the grief affecting them because of Pippa, their mother, dying), it is when an imaginary friend, starts taking a lot of space in their family life. Thinking that it's just a coping mechanism he calls Julia, the girls' aunt who is a psychiatrist to help out. But then weird things start happening in the house and he's plagued with visions as the imaginary friend tells the girls he doesn't want to leave.

This was cool. There's nothing creepier than twin girls who speak in unison of strange imaginary friends. Between that and the cover, honestly, I was hooked.

It's difficult to explain the things I liked and didn't like about this book without spoiling it, but I'll try my best.

The first 15% of the book felt a bit dense and boring. As I got to the 25% mark it got a little better. I really liked how the book handled Alfie's struggle with raising two girls while also grieving himself and, to someone who doesn't understand how kids work, they felt very real (I don't know if it's just me but sometimes kids in books seem fake, like to charactery to be actual kids).

I didn't like Julia. I think she had a lot of potential to be a really cool character but I got bored of her really fast and (a little spoiler) <spoiler>I hated that she knew something was happening and still not only didn't want to help but also kept telling Alfie that everything was fine</spoiler>. To me, she lacked a real personality because a lot of it was her <i>not</i> being Pippa.

I loved the ambiance of the strange house and how the rooms are described, and I love that you can tell there's a lot of history in those walls even before reading about it, just by how the characters feel in it. I think the author did a great job of making it feel as if we were actually there.
The twins and the imaginary friend are very creepy, but what I loved the most was the constant doubt about the thing being actually an imaginary friend or a supernatural being.

I don't have a problem with short books, but even though GoodReads states that the book is 240 pages my ARC was 208 which I feel is too short for a book surrounding family relationships, which could have been more developed. I'd also like to read more about the church Pippa and Julia attended as kids.

I have a lot to say about the ending but I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm just gonna say that I hated half of chapter 15, including Alfie's part, and half of chapter 16. Chapters 17 and 18 were great, but I'm still not sure what happened and I don't know how to feel about that. I get that maybe that's what the author intended, to leave the ending a bit ambiguous so the reader could take it wherever they wanted, it's just that I don't know if I liked that. I expected something a bit more intense given everything that led to what happened, but it just felt a bit anticlimactic.

Overall I liked this book, I just think it left a lot to be desired and it could have been a lot better.

Let Him In’s creepy cover called to me. It captures the vibe of this book so well.  William Friend’s debut is a hazy, spooky slow burn. I stayed up way past my bedtime reading this one.

Alfie’s wife Pippa has died, leaving behind their twin little girls.  The girls casually mention that a man has been watching them sleep, and he can turn into animals, and oh, he’s their new best friend.

Alfie brings in Pippa’s sister Julie, a child psychologist, to figure out what’s going on.

There’s a bunch more weirdness that Alfie and Julia uncover… I loved how it hit many of the spooky kid / imaginary friend tropes without ever feeling cliché or predictable.  The little girls’ dialogue is natural and not written to be cute or precocious.  

I’ve seen some debate online about the end of the book, but it really worked for me.  It was ambiguous and unsettling and will stick with me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my review copy of this book.

First thing that caught my attention to this book was the cover! It was a quick read and told in alternating POVs. I will forever be decimated with twins after reading this. I loved that this book had paranormal elements to it. The more you read the more secrets come out which lead to an ending that didn’t keep you guessing which personally I like. I did feel like the back story could have been stronger to bring it all together a little more! Overall a good read!