I really enjoyed most of this story. The pairing of grief & the supernatural really worked for me, personally. I felt like I had a good grasp on who the characters were and they reach had their own distinct voice. The story itself wasn't necessarily unique, but I really enjoyed the writing and the atmosphere the author created was fantastic. I feel like the ending was a bit of a let down. However, of definitely be interested in reading more from this author in the future.

Let Him In is a chilling and deeply atmospheric exploration of grief, the supernatural, and the emotional toll of parenthood. William Friend has crafted a story that sneaks under your skin, blending psychological horror with raw emotional depth.

The story follows a widowed father struggling to raise his twin daughters, who begin speaking to an invisible friend they call “Him.” What unfolds is not just a ghost story, but a tense unraveling of the father’s psyche, haunted not only by potential spirits but by his own grief, guilt, and confusion.

I found the writing elegant and restrained—Friend allows dread to build gradually, creating a persistent unease rather than relying on jump-scare-style horror. The relationship between father and daughters is tender yet strained, and their voices are written with believable emotion and nuance.

This is not a traditional horror novel. Readers expecting constant thrills may find the pacing slow in parts, but I appreciated the novel’s psychological depth. It’s the kind of story that lingers long after the final page, not because of what you see, but because of what you feel creeping just out of sight.

Final thoughts:
Let Him In is for readers who enjoy quiet horror—stories where grief, love, and fear bleed together. It’s unsettling, thoughtful, and emotionally haunting.

The creepy twins reeled me in but ultimately the book was kind of slow and I found myself skimming a lot.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of Let Him In in exchange for an honest review. To start, this cover is Everything! A mix between the shining twins with the whisper man already had me stoked to dive into this novel. A grieving father is left to raise his twin daughters whom start experiencing strange things around the house- are these nightmares or something more terrifying?

I recently had the pleasure of reading this, and I have to say, it exceeded my expectations in so many ways. From the very first page, I was hooked by the engaging style and the intriguing characters. The author does an excellent job of building a world that feels both immersive and believable, making it easy to get lost in the story. The plot was full of twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the story would surprise me with something unexpected. I highly recommend this and all their work.

This book started out strong and really creepy! It had me hooked! I didn’t know what was real or who to believe! The twins made me so uneasy at times. But they’ve all went through so much. Everyone deals with grief differently. And this story shows that. I definitely recommend if you want a quick and creepy read!

That cover though!

Alfie's wife has recently died, leaving him to raise their twin daughters on his own. When their imaginary friend makes his first appearance, Alfie writes it off as a combination of their grief, a nightmare and their imaginations. A search of their room turns up no shadowy figure, and that's that.

Things quickly take a turn for the unexpected though, when the girls begin whispering to their new friend all the time; they can see and hear him when no one else can. They set a place for him at the dinner table and announce that he's going to take them away.

Alfie turns to Julia, his wife's sister, for help. She is a psychiatrist and begins working with the girls, to better understand what is going on. Even then, Alfie begins experiencing things as well - startling visions and the feeling of being watched.

All of this combined with the dark history of their home sets the stage for a fantastic story, but it just does not quite meet my expectations.

There are a couple reasons for this, the main one being the ending. I can't tell if I missed something, or that was the author's intention. I felt like this was a solid four up until that. I even looked at others' reviews (something I do not normally do until I am done with my own) and found I was not the only one who still had questions. Yet others said it wrapped up enough for them. So, this may just be individual to each reader.

The author created a delicisouly creepy atmosphere, revolving around the not-so-imaginary friend and the house itself. I would've loved to know more about the history of the house and see how that played into what was happeing.

Overall, it's not the creepiest story I've ever read. However, if an ambiguous ending doesn't bother you, then I would still recommend it.

I finally got around to reading this, and I'm super sad that I didn't read it sooner. This was actually extremely captivating. I really liked the character work and the young children as part of the storyline. I thought that the ghosts were very honest real and I really enjoyed it overall.

I will definitely be looking into more books to see if this author has written more. I really enjoyed the writing style and it definitely gave a sense of dread and I like that about it.

This book had me SCARED. I felt like it's been awhile since a book truly scared me the way this one did. I couldn't read it if I were home alone! I've always been terrified of some of the things kids say, especially concerning imaginary friends, but this took it to a whole new level.

Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

This book was very captivating. I highly recommend this book. It's a very easy read and worth reading

I didn't enjoy this book. The cover made me feel like it would be a cool scary novel but it actually wasn't at all.

Great book! It had all the fears of growing up. Make a choice. Turn the page or close the book. Enter the darkness if you wish!

This had promise but it kind of drug on for a little while. It just wasn’t my type of book. I think others will enjoy it though.

1.5⭐️ (rounded up to 2⭐️ for rating purposes)

I was expecting way more from this book, and it left me underwhelmed. It was much too long, often boring & repetitive, and lacked the creepy gothic vibes it promised to deliver. I didn't find the ending satisfying at all.

Ultimately, I felt as though this was really just a long-winded story about grief and how it changes people. The cover, blurb, and title feel misleading, and I certainly don't agree with it being labeled as horror (or even horror-adjacent).

The cover of this book grabbed my attention immediately and the overall premise of the story was an interesting way to display how grief effects people differently. However, I was not a huge fan of the writing style and the pacing.

i did enjoy this book a very decent amount but at the same time i feel like this book was not for me. i feel like i found it flat at points and had a very hard time staying consistent with reading it, wanting to read it and staying immersed.

Let Him In by William Friend is a haunting blend of psychological horror and supernatural suspense that lingers long after the final page. Friend crafts tension with an eerie atmosphere, unsettling twists, and a creeping dread that keeps you questioning what is real. This is a must-read for fans of slow-burning, psychological horror that gets under your skin. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Okay yes. This is it my horror friends. Please pick this up but fair warning - don’t read at night.

Spectacularly creepy, vividly depicted this is absolutely one for the books.

Alfie Marvell is a newly single parent, as his wife Pippa died about a year earlier of a mysterious allergic reaction. He now has to raise seven-year-old twins Cassia and Sylvie by himself. He has little help between his mother-in-law Marian who brings only religious fervor to the house, and his sister-in-law Julia, who has separated herself from the family in her own grief.

I really wanted to like this book. It had a nice gothic premise, along with grief, which I usually love. The novel flips back and forth between Alfie and Julia's perspectives on what's happening with the twins. Alfie seems not really lost in his own grief, but numb to the entire situation, while Julia loses herself in her own work as a family psychologist. This seems like it would make for a good story, but I really couldn't connect with Alfie nor Julia. The girls were the only characters I was really interested in, and they didn't get as much page time as I would have hoped.

There's also this conspiracy around the house that I don't think was fully explained. There's a big reveal at the end of the book, but because there weren't really any stakes involved, it didn't feel like it meant anything. The girls had an imaginary friend called Black Mamba, and other than the house possibly being haunted or used for black magic, there's no real reason for Black Mamba. It's also brought up a few times that Black Mamba could be fake, a figment of their imagination, or he could actually be real. This is never really cleared up, along with a lot of loose ends in the story.

As this is a debut, I won't completely put this author out of my rotation, but I would like to see an improvement on how the story evolves.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.