Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Oskar is terribly bullied at school and this makes for some uncomfortable reading. Even Eli (the vampire) has a dreary existence, except that occasionally she gets to go out and kill someone for blood, but even this more of a chore than an exciting interlude for her. Every character seems to have a dreary existence, where the boredom is only alleviated by alcohol, drugs, glue-sniffing or shop lifting and petty theft depending on the characters' personal preference. Set in the early 1980s in a depressed suburb of Stockholm it makes for bleak, yet compelling, reading. Let The Right One In is an unusual blend of social novel and vampire horror. Confusingly the UK and US versions are published under two different titles, with the American version of this novel entitled “Let Me In” rather than “Let The Right One In.” John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel Let The Right One In, was a bestseller in his native Sweden, now translated (by Ebba Segerberg) into English it is available for readers in both the UK and the US. She is a 200 year old vampire, forever frozen in childhood, and condemned to live on a diet of fresh blood. She doesn’t go to school and never leaves the flat by day. He dreams about his absentee father, gets bullied at school, and wets himself when he’s frightened.Įli is the young girl who moves in next door. Oskar is a 12 year old boy living with his mother on a dreary housing estate at the city’s edge. Which is why, against the odds, they became friends.Īnd how they came to depend on one another, for life itself.

In very different ways, they were both victims.

Published 2007 513 pages Summary (from the book cover) Let The Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist