Book Review: John Ajvide Lindqvist - Let The Right One In (2004)

- - Contains Spoilers for the book, and possibly the film (I haven’t seen it yet) - -

My first introduction to Let The Right One In, came via Geekscape - back in Episode #93 when Jonathan reviewed it on the show - did a quick google search, and when I realised it was based on a book, I decided to read the book before seeing the film, if at all possible.

Roll on a few months later, and I finally got my hands on the book, and started reading it, on March 6th (I told y’all my internet connection had impacted on the ol’ reading time ). I finally finished reading it earlier on today, and I’ve gotta say, although it’s taken me a while to read, I really, really dug it.

It starts off a lil uncomfortable (I’m no prude, but I hardly recommend reading a book in which a central character talks about getting a blowjob from a pre-teen boy, while you’re on a crowded bus full of mostly drugged up chavs), but after that, although there are some other “akward” bits, the central story is the one that sticks out - the story of Eli and Oskar.

The book is mostly set in Blackeberg, a Stockholm subburb, in the 1980s, and revolves around Oskar, a perpetually bullied 12 year old boy, who befriends another child in the same housing block - Eli. Their friendship develops and evolves, whilst at the same time a series of grusome murders are taking place. At first Oskar thinks Eli is a lil bit weird, however he soon realises the truth - the girl across the hall is actually a boy, and a vampire to boot.

The revelation about Eli - specifically that she’s a vampire, and then that she’s actually a he, and how these factors influence the relationship between him and Eli, is actually a lot more interesting than the actual “vampire” element of the story. At the books heart, it’s actually a story of how two outsiders - Oskar due to his constant bullying, and Eli, an outsider due to his “illness”, condemed to rely on a paedophile for the blood he needs to survive (in the guise of Håkan, who represents the “horror” element of the book - not just because of the fact he’s a paedophile, but because of what happens to him during the course of the book) come to depend on each other, and draw strength from each other.

What I really, really loved about the book, is how the author seemed completely determined to ignore the cliches - yes Eli is a vampire, but not in a “stereotypical” way. He doesn’t kill for the sake of killing - indeed one scene details the lengths he’ll goto, in order to get blood without resorting to killing. I also loved how Oskar is at first worried about the fact that Eli is a vampire, but that goes out the window when he realises the girl he’s falling in love with is actually a boy

The book is violent, there’s no two ways about it. What happens to Håkan, and another character who is “turned” into a Vampire, are pretty graphic, but they work well, imo, to show how the violence that Elis illness causes, and further enhance why he tries to avoid killing. There are also some flashback sequences that show how Eli was turned, as well as a torture sequence that resulted in him looking like he does.

I loved the ending - it’s completely open-ended,and allows you to form your own opinion on what happens, once the book has finished, which is something that I think works really, really well.

So that’s the book - I’m actually gonna try and catch the film, either on Friday, or Tuesday next week. Based on the trailer, they seem to have ditched the gender ambiguity of Eli - it seems as if they’ve decided to make him a her - but that might be wrong, as it’s only based on a trailer. I’m also guessing they’re gonna have toned down Håkan quite a bit, but other than that, I’ll be interested to see how the film matches up against the book.

So yep, that’s Let The Right One In - I’ve actually started the next book I’m gonna read - I’m reading Crime Beat by Michael Connelly. Connelly is perhaps my favourite author, and Crime Beat is basically a collection of some of the stories he covered as reporter, that would influence him both as a writer, and which would influence his two most famous creations, Hieronomous “Harry” Bosh, and ‘The Poet’. So far I’m only 25 pages into it, but I’m really enjoying it, and it’ll hopefully serve well as a re-introduction to Connellys style of writing, in anticpation of his next novel, The Scarecrow which is released next month.