***A big thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy of this book.***
**contains spoilers**

The captivating cover of "Let Him In" immediately seized my attention, and the novel lived up to my expectations by immersing me in intricate family dynamics. Through the narrative, we are introduced to Dad, Alfie, and his twin daughters, Cassia and Sylvie. The family grapples with the aftermath of a tragic event that unfolded nine months ago: the sudden and unexpected death of Pippa, the girls' mother and Alfie's long-time partner, within the confines of their home.

This chilling Gothic thriller, perfect for amplifying the atmospheric suspense during Halloween, invites readers to save it for the chilling season. Reflecting on the eeriest books I've encountered, many revolve around twins, and "Let Him In" follows suit. The story weaves a narrative that explores the telepathy, giggles, and profound visions of a dark presence intertwined with the twins' grief.

Alfie, coping with the recent loss of his wife, Pippa, while raising his twin daughters, faces a disturbing scenario. The girls claim a man is in their room at night, but when no evidence surfaces, Alfie dismisses it as psychological effects of missing their mother. As nightmares plague him, Alfie becomes increasingly fearful that his own dark secrets are haunting him. Seeking clarity, he enlists the help of Pippa's twin sister, Julia, a psychiatrist, to observe the girls as they interact with an imaginary friend, setting the stage for a revelation of a dangerous presence.

The imaginary friend, Black Mamba, possesses the ability to transform into animals and travel to mystical lands, linking to the sinister past of Hart House. This dark history has previously haunted Julia and Pippa when they, too, had an imaginary friend. The narrative unfolds with a creepy and atmospheric tale, although at times I found myself lost in thought, possibly overanalyzing or misunderstanding certain aspects of the plot. Nevertheless, "Let Him In" delivered on its promise of a suspenseful and unsettling reading experience.

Alfie is adjusting to raising his twin daughters when his wife dies. He gets help from his wife's sister Julia when they become obsessed with an imaginary friend with sinister intentions.

Let Him In is a creeping slow-burn horror novel. Imagine your daughters some into your room and say there is a man in their room. It is really chilling. The characters are well developed and realistic. The large manor in disrepair gives a gothic mood. The first half could have been a bit more fast paced, but things really picked up about half way through. Some aspects of the ending were a little unclear. It was an good debut, and the explorations of grief and imagination were really interesting.

I would recommend Let Him In for those that like a creepy, gothic, slow burn story.

I loved this book! I kept thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it. The sure sign of a good read! It was creepy good! Thank you for letting me read it!

I concluded my Halloween reading with "Let Him In," which unfortunately ranked my least favorite among the spooky and thrilling reads I delved into. Maybe it was timing because I read chilling tales before this, and Let Him In struggled to measure up.

William Friend uses the vulnerable child trope, exploring either severe behavioral issues or potentially supernatural forces at play. However, the narrative falls short of evoking that deeply unsettling feeling associated with children in horror. While this might appeal to readers seeking a slightly eerie touch in their horror, as a devoted fan of dark and creepy tales, I found the children's portrayal of their spooky friend, Black Mamba, to be more whiny than genuinely unsettling, making it challenging to buy into the ambiguity of his reality fully.

On a positive note, William Friend does a good job setting the stage with the family house and its ominous past, successfully instilling a sense of creepiness and suspense surrounding the family dynamics in the house. Despite this, the payoff in the end didn't deliver the desired eerie and unsettling impact. The resolution wrapped up too conveniently, leaving specific questions I had answered but lacking the satisfying payoff I sought.

Well, this was creepy. The ending chilled me to my core. Nothing like a good imaginary friend trope to get your imagination going. I won't be sleeping with he lights on tonight, but Black Mamba will not soon leave the corners of my mind.

This was one of those plots that could go one of two ways. It could end up being incredibly terrifying, or it could be just okay, and unfortunately for me it was the latter.

I loved some of the spooky elements, but at times the story dragged for me. I also found the sudden romantic relationship between Alfie and Julia a bit strange and not important to the main plot.

Overall it was a decent story, and one I’d recommend to readers who don’t like super scary books, but enjoy a spooky atmosphere.

A Scary Imaginary Friend

Surprisingly complicated in scope for a debut novel, this book lured me in and then pulled me under. There are triggers which will deter the sensitive and it's not an easy read. The plot is obscured by a malevolence that is filling this damaged family's lives like a toxic fog. The suspense builds painfully as events unfold, leading to a place of deep, dark psychological horror.

The circumstances under which Alfie loses his wife and is left alone to raise their girls is conveyed well, though tragically. The heavy weight of grief and loneliness on the household seems at first natural but gradually becomes imbued with such creepiness that the threat of even greater losses awaiting can't be ignored.

Life in Hart House seems like a terrifying dream I'd want to quickly bundle up my kids and flee from, never to return. But, like Alfie, I would stay because I had no place to take them to. Alfie’s self-doubt is sadly justified as reality is slowly and painfully revealed. If there's no intervention, this family is doomed.

Julia, Alfie’s sister in law, is a survivor of some very strange parenting. Her own complicated grief is painful and it's understandable that she hesitates to become further involved with her late sister's daughters. She can help them, but like Alfie, her forced perspective has rendered her unable to grasp the truth.

I don't want to reveal anything, but I must say that the ending of the story is outstanding because it didn't feel like the end. My mind keeps returning to it, trying to work things out. It feels like something terrible has happened but is tragically unacknowledged. William Friend has worked an artifice that makes me doubt my own conclusions. Let Him In is profoundly horrifying.

Thank you to author William Friend, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for their gift of an advance reader's copy of Let Him In. My review is my own opinion and uninfluenced by anyone else. This is a powerful and frightening book

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I feel bad for saying this but I absolutely hated this book. I wanted to DNF after a few chapters but since it was an arc I pushed through. It’s a really short book (less than 300 pages on my e-reader) and took weeks for me to read because I kept reading a few pages then putting it down. I felt the atmosphere that was trying to be created but the pacing so so slow it wasn’t affective. Not to mention, the plot twist was not a plot twist, could see it coming a mile away, which made the ending lack luster. I will say, I wasn’t expecting the grandma’s role in all of this, I truly thought she would have been a solid back seat character but she really sat in the middle seat and leaned forward to get some book time.

Anyways, I’m sure this book would be effective for some readers, it just didn’t land for me.

I did like Julia though, she was my favorite character (minus her unnecessary ending).

This is Friend’s debut novel, and it is certainly one that will make you shiver. It begs the question, what is the correct way to grieve? The answer, of course, is that there is no one way to mourn. Let Him In explores this question and what grief might look like for young children. Friend is great at building a tense, creepy atmosphere, and I definitely did not read this after dark!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I have mixed feelings about this one. There were parts where I was totally hooked and invested, but there were also parts of the story that pulled me out of the experience. I love the creepy, haunted house/children trope. The twin factor just added to the ominous tension in the story. There is also generational trauma linked to the events. It’s one of those stories where you’re never quite sure what is real or not. It’s a classic gothic horror story. It also deals with the complexities of overcoming grief, particularly as a child, examining the normalcy of behaviors. I think the pacing was a little off for me. It dragged at times and became a bit repetitive. I didn’t feel any particular connection with the characters, especially the adults, whose actions I didn’t always agree with. It was just an okay story for me in general. Nothing totally blew me away but it was still a good read. Also, this cover is to die for, props to the designer. Overall, I think it’s a solid debut and I’d be interested in seeing what the author has in store for us next.

Let Him In was a chilling story of an imaginary friend. The premise was unique, and the loved that several of the characters were pairs of twins - it added a new level of eeriness and suspense. With a heavy theme of death and grief, I found myself very invested in the characters. The ending gave me goosebumps! This was a perfect book to read during spooky season.

This was such an eerie book to read. I really enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but when you add children and so-called "imaginary friends" I am shivering my timbers. I wasn't a complete fan of the writing, I think it could have been done a lot better, and I felt like it would have been more interesting, in my opinion, as a single point of view narrative. Despite that I think that it was thoroughly creepy, and I had read this on a plane back home and let me tell you, I was spooked the whole way back.

Spooky and sinister, I was on the edge of my seat reading this chilling family ghost story. It felt very cinematic and I was reminded of both The Babadook and The Others while reading. Very enjoyable and a satisfying ending.

The characters are well-developed and their emotional struggles feel authentic and relatable. The exploration of loss and its impact on both children and adults is handled with sensitivity and depth. The plot takes unexpected twists and turns, keeping readers engaged and on the edge of their seats.

Contains spoilers** This book had me from the beginning. I was engaged in the story of the twin girls whose mother had passed away and a father/husband dealing with the aftermath. Unfortunately, by the end of the book I had too many unanswered questions. What was the correlation of the aunt & her son that passed away, the grandfather & the rattle, the grandmother being found coming out of the attic? and the ending left me.........?
Thank you for the ARC. I did enjoy most of the book, but by the end I was just confused.

I really wanted to like this book based on the description. However, it was just an okay story. It seemed repetitive in several places. I really couldn't figure out what was going on during most of this story, especially when it was things with Black Mamba. At first I though maybe it was a demon or the spirit of someone who dies in the house. By the end I had no idea what or who it was. It felt like some of the back story and deaths in the house weren't really explained, yet they kept being brought up all through the story. The aunt's church was also strange and not really fully explained. It had some creepy moments, but not enough to make this a really good book.

An amazingly terrifying debut horror novel that fans of Jason Rekulak's Hidden Pictures will surely enjoy. This novel has all the hallmarks of a good horror story such as creepy twins, unexpected deaths, an imaginary friend, a haunted house, and a cult-like religious group. What more could we ask for? Friend's exploration of grief in its many forms is also written spectacularly well. I will be recommending this one for a long time.

I really really wanted to like this book so much, but it just wasn’t it for me. Although, I do have to say I did like the black mamba quite a bit.

The plot felt like it took forever just to develop, which is what I didn’t really enjoy. Which that also almost made me DNF this many, many times. I think I just went into the book expecting a lot more, which is why I came out of it a bit disappointed.

I read this book in a day and I never looked back! The twist and the plot were pretty easy to identify but the different POV's kept me intrigued to see how everything was going to unfold. A couple of the characters were so unlikable that it made it hard to feel bad or connect with them in any way. I do wish that the ending would've given a little more, I wanted to know how the characters dealt with the aftermath.


*I received a copy of this eARC via NetGalley*

William Friend's haunting debut, "Let Him In," unfolds as a creeping and gothic psychological suspense narrative. The story revolves around a young widowed father, Alfie, who is grappling with the task of raising his twin daughters, both of whom are obsessed with an imaginary friend.

One fateful night, Alfie wakes to find his twin daughters standing at the foot of his bed, distressed and claiming that a shadowy figure lurks in their bedroom. As he searches for any sign of an intruder and finds none, he assumes that the girls simply had a nightmare.

Their distress doesn't come as a surprise to him, considering that grief has taken up residence at Hart House. Nine months ago, the twins' mother, Pippa, passed away suddenly, leaving Alfie to shoulder the responsibilities of raising his daughters on his own. Initially, when the girls mention a new imaginary friend, it appears to be a harmless mechanism for coping. However, the situation quickly takes a darker and more insidious turn. The girls begin setting an extra place at the table for their imaginary friend, whispering to him, and insisting that he plans to take them away.

The central characters of Hart House and Black Mamba cast a looming presence over this tale, infusing it with horror, grief, and family drama. Their ominous nature will send shivers down your spine and keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the story.

The narrative proves to be an addictive page-turner, with the enigmatic character of Black Mamba and the secrets of Hart House at its core. Friend's creative storytelling immediately captivates the reader from the very first page, offering a balance of terror and entertainment that keeps you engrossed from start to finish.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.