Let the Right One In, book review. (John Ajvide Lindqvist)

I wanted to like this book, I wanted to love it because it looked intriguing, but it wasn't all plain sailing.

This book is about friendship, where one can't exist, love where there is none, and fear, fear of the unknown.

It has the sort of atmosphere I've begun to crave recently, fabulous characters, against a cold, distant, almost characterless setting, which make Oskar and Eli stand out even more, like Technicolor people against a monochromatic backdrop.

Oskar is bullied at school and this is handled well, the swimming pool scene in particular deserves merit, and his anxiety is believable and heartfelt. Eli, is both beautifully, weird and frightening, in equal measure.

Hakan, Eli's father/guardian, is a bit weak, he has lots of money but lives like a tramp, and I definitely think he should have died when he fell from the hospital window. (I know this is fiction, vampire fiction, but still, I thought it would have been more realistic if he'd died from the fall).

I thought the sex with the young boy at the beginning was too graphic. I understand that it sets up Hakan's character and what he is capable of, but still, it was a little unnecessary.

Also, I have the first edition in English, and I think a few things might have been lost in the translation.

At one point, Oskar is in his apartment, (having stashed Eli's money in the basement), contemplating how the bullies at school get him to squeal like a pig for their amusement, but then, the next minute, he's at the school, setting fire to his tormentors desks. I thought this was a dream at first, that he'd fallen asleep, because it seemed to jump, but in hindsight, I think there was a page-break missing, and it's not the only time this happened, which was somewhat frustrating.

All told, this book hits the spot in some areas, and is well worth a read, particularly if you like to be chilled and made to feel slightly uncomfortable, and on that basis alone I would have given this book four stars, but there's one thing I just can't forgive: why, in spite of the atmosphere, some truly excellent characters, the swimming pool scene and more, did the author chose to reveal that Eli was a boy!!! Maybe he thought it would be a cool twist? A curve ball? Whatever the reason, for me, it let the book down.

Call me conventional, call me boring, but I liked Eli as a girl. As soon as I found out her/his secret, I sort of stopped caring, which is the last thing an author would want, but, there it is.

Three stars.