Let Him In

Alfie is suddenly widowed and left to raise his twin girls. As time start passing, he notices that his daughters have been talking to an imaginary friend. Alfie asks the girls about their friend and they tell him that they can hear and see him. Alfie decides to enlist the help of his sister-in-law Julia. She is a psychotherapist and starts to council them. As with all great horror, you’re never sure if the experiences are symptoms of grief and genuine sadness or the supernatural. I have to say I still wasn’t sure as I read the last page…

The characters are all excellent, developed and real. The creepiness of the twins is captured perfectly too.

The cover is eye-catching, it really drew me in. The story was good to read in the dark. I loved that this had an imaginary friend in their story which gave it the creepiness to it. A wonderful chilly read that left me with goosebumps.

I requested a copy of the ARC from the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, on NetGalley and was approved in exchange for consideration of a review. All opinions discussed are my own and are subjective to myself as a reader.

If you prefer reviews in a video format, I do have a non-spoiler dedicated review that can be found here: https://youtu.be/sq1kUy-QhXY?si=LBK4XuViLn88vZO0

"The supernatural, I know, does not exist. But Black Mamba and his intrusion into our lives--this poison flowing through our family's blood--can't be just a product of my daughters' minds.

Someone has gotten into this house."

William Friend combined some of the creepiest elements to create this haunting debut novel that centers around a recently widowed father and his twin daughters.

I don't know about you, but any type of horror or supernatural tale involving children always creeps me out. Kids in general can say things that make your skin crawl. Throw in the extra bonus of featuring twins and you really up the ante. I've been fascinated with twins ever since I was a youngster and I believe there is a phenomena surrounding them and the author really plays into that. To make things even more interesting, I could never decide if the house was haunted itself or it was being haunted. Or was it just the imagination of the characters? Perhaps a manifestation of their grief for the loss of the mother/wife? To really seal the deal, there were even religious/occult elements teased that added a bit of mystique.

Alfie and his daughters, Sylvie and Cassia, struggle to return to normalcy in the months following the death of their mother, Pippa. The twins wake Alfie up one night to tell him there's a man in their room, which sends a jolt of adrenalin through his veins and he searches the home. Night after night, this same thing happens until Alfie no longer even wakes up fully, just lifts the comforter for the girls to crawl into the safety of his bed.

The nightmares fade and give way to something else - an imaginary friend the girls call Black Mamba. Their aunt tells Alfie it's a coping mechanism, Black Mamba is filling the gap left by the death of their mother. I had an imaginary friend as a little girl - I bet you did too. Did yours ever physically hurt you? Refuse to leave? Say they were going to take you away from your home...permanently?

The author did a fantastic job of creating atmosphere and suspense. As I mentioned above, I could never put my finger on what was going on exactly, but I couldn't stop turning pages, trying to find out. This pacing combined with the easy flow of the writing style and its building dread made it possible to get lost in this book - I bet a lot of you will read it cover to cover in one sitting. (I tried, but I'm old and while I'd love to stay up late reading, my body takes that choice away, lol)

I really enjoyed my time spent with this one and look forward to what William Friend creates next!

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

You can find this review and many more on my website, https://thenerdynarrative.com or if you prefer video format, you can find those on my BookTube channel, https://youtube.com/thenerdynarrative

This book was an insane roller coaster. Just when I thought I had it possibly figured out, it went in another direction, and so much of it, especially the last couple chapters, left me with more questions. It was still an entertaining read. I want to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this.

I enjoyed this book! As an American, naming a character “Black Mamba” was a bit distracting, but overall this was a fun read with some interesting twists.

I liked this book, but didn’t love it. It didn’t start getting good until almost the very end. The vocabulary pulled me out of it quite a few times. I didn’t think it was scary/creepy/thrilling at all.