You Let Me In, Camilla Bruce

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (Adult) , Sci Fi & Fantasy

I loved this book, was blown away by it, transported to the magic world of good stories. It's fairies, but not as we know them Jim, to misquote Mr Spock ;-) These fairies are very different, made of nature, some are centuries old and have lost what humanity they ever had. They live off energy, human, animal, nature such as trees and rivers and take on those characteristics. That's if you believe they are real of course....

I guess that's what made it so great for me, there's a part of me that is convinced that just maybe there's more to this world than we know, that maybe we aren't the only inhabitants...after all think back to history, pre car, trains, electricity, mobile phones, PCs and TV. Talk to someone the other side of the world, see them? Listen to people who've now died? Travel faster than the fastest horse? That would have been scoffed at as impossible back then, but really it was always potential, always there, just not yet discovered.
You need that kind of openness to fully enjoy this I think, to believe that maybe, just maybe Cassie was telling the truth.

We start a year after she's disappeared at 74, no trace of her and before her nephew and niece can claim her considerable estate she insists they read her story, her memoir if you like. Tucked away in it is the password they'll need to claim. Like many gifts though this one may just have a hidden side.
I so felt for young Cassie, where her mum dotes on her golden sister and seems to dislike Cassie. It made me wonder, what was she like before she met Pepperman, did her mum dislike her even then, or was it the result of Cassie interaction with him? Were he and the others real or were they, as the doctor her mother insists she sees, products of a trauma induced psychosis?
What happened to Tommy Tipp if her story about him isn't true? The same holds for her father and brother, she gives us an explanation, her mother and sister as always blame her, but how could she have physically done those things without help, and she had no friends, no-one who would have helped her?
Its perfectly paced. I can remember thinking “ who IS Mara?” as she kept cropping up in conversation, and then just as I was about to flip through book to find more the next chapter opens with something like “You may be wondering about Mara”. If I'd known earlier it wouldn't have fitted as well, it needed that build up.

Its a complete story, but much like the book there's possibilities in the ending, its not neat and tidily wrapped up but leaves readers wondering. Its one of those stories where it seems impossible to believe what she's saying, and yet there are so many things that just don't add up it feels like maybe, just maybe the impossible is possible. Then at the end, where is she if not in the mound?
I like to think she's there, living happily with Pepperman and her friends, hard life though it may be. She had a tough enough “real” life, disliked by family, no human friends, always in trouble for things Pepperman did ( or was it her all along?). Mocked and ridiculed at school, dragged to doctors in the hope of making her “normal”. Did she just have a vivid imagination that took her way from the horrors she was living through, or was it all real? She deserves to be content now whichever.

Its one of those stories that stay with you, make you wonder, and I'll be looking out for Camilla's next work.

Stars: Five, amazing read, full of questions and possibilities, very realsitically written.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

I thought the synopsis sounded interesting and it is what made me want to read this book, unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought i would.
Let's start with what I liked about this book. It has dark faerie sin it which was a change from the normal faerie stories and some of the faerie character can be a little disturbing. I loved the imaginative story and I found the mystery of what happened to Cassandra Tipp to be interesting. I enjoyed the fantasy elements the most.
However I didn't enjoy the first person writing style and I found it took me awhile to get into the story because of the first person perspective. I'm coming to the conclusion that I don't really enjoy first person. I also didn't like the ambiguity of it, I know that the author was most likely leaving it up to the reader to decided what happened to Cassandra but I personally didn't like it. Also the multiple storylines didn't work for me, I just started to understand and get into one and it switched. It is a weird book which will divide readers.

This book completely threw me through a window into another universe-it was an unexpected, thrilling and darkly twisted take on the fairy tales most children are raised on.
For every beautiful princess who has a happy ending, there are the foundling children who do not fit in, who make bargains and deals with fae that are never quite as they seem, the lonely ones whose sadness acts as a beacon to otherworldly forces.
This is one of those tales-what starts out as a missing person tale with a deeply gothic backdrop, takes on a life of its own as it explores the painful childhood and adolescence of writer,. Cassandra, or Cassie, Tipp.
She has completely vanished, the book opens with her two remaining relatives -the children of her sister, Olivia-arriving at her writing room to read her final manuscript, where they can find the hidden password and claim their inheritence.
Her very strict provisors will not only provide an explanation of her presence in their lives but also determine both Janus and Penelope's futures...
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was cursed to always tell the truth whilst no one ever believed her, so this Cass is very aptly named. Beyond identifying the place where this story takes place as S-ville, this has a quintessentially European feel , with a timelessness that is both contemporary and could yet be set in any period.
This transferability of time and space gives the narrative a dreamlike quality that I loved, it totally swept me away whilst rooting me in the respect of presenting Cass as an unreliable narrator.
Alongside the tragedies which have beset Cass-the deaths of her husband/brother/father-these have given her the foundation for her writing career as a romance novelist, one who believes in the possibility of lasting love.
In sharp contrast, Cass relates an abandoned childhood where her existence was at best an embarrassment, at worst a dangerous cuckoo in the nest. The reader discovers her history at the same time as her relatives who have grown up under the impression that Cass is morally, if not actually legally proven to be, responsible for death, destruction and dishonour of the family name.
Following the death of her husband Thomas Tipp, for which she was aquitted, supposition and rumour have dogged her days adding to the impression that she was an ungainly child, often threatened with incarceration and doctors for her bizarre behaviour.
What Cass believes she experienced is the love and kinship of the fae who are unlike any other you will have read about or encountered-these are dangerous folk who, once invited, will claim ownership of you for life.
In the Pepper-man, the companion of childhood Cass, Camilla Bruce has created a dark, disturbing version of an imaginery friend who alternately takes as much as the gifts that he leaves.
A mystery, a gothic chiller, a study in psychosis mixed with a literary thriller, who will you believe when you let this unusual tale worm its way into your consciousness?

This book will divide readers - some will love its unsettling atmosphere and weirdness, others will DNF it after the first chapter. You Let Me In is weird and confusing. It doesn’t offer straight answers. It doesn’t have an unambiguous ending. It deliberately misleads the reader.



I found it dark and compelling. Will I recommend it to everyone willing to listen to me? No way. You have to know what you're getting into.


You can approach it as a study of human trauma, a supernatural thriller, or a family drama with a horror undercurrent. Cassandra Tipp, an infamous and eccentric novelist, has vanished. She has left a letter. Her heirs need to read it to discover a password to her testament. Hopefully, they'll be able to claim her estate.

The letter recounts two disturbing stories - one of an abused little girl coping with trauma, second of magical gifts and husbands made from twigs and leaves and sticks and stones. Both stories might be true. Both end in murder. Both show the same events but in a different light. The boundaries between reality (as we know it) and the supernatural blur and shift as we follow the story.

Cassandra has a faerie friend she calls a Pepper-Man. He feeds on her blood and influences her behavior and thoughts. With his help and in his company, she explores the unsettling and dark faerie world inhabited by twisted and broken beings caught in between the worlds.

Just when the reader starts to immerse in the supernatural, the story introduces another perspective on the events. Cassandra's therapist Dr. Martin has written a book about her case called “Away with the fairies: A study in trauma-induced psychosis.” What if the faeries are only a sort of coping mechanism that allowed Cassandra to survive in a dysfunctional family?

I admit I loved the ambiguity and lack of clear answers. It made me question both storylines and wonder which told the truth. Whichever you choose to believe, don't expect a happy ending. Both are disturbing and devastating.

An impressive debut.

You Let Me In is a captivating read. Part dark fairytale, part mystery, it treads an intriguing line that lets the reader decide for themselves which version of the story to believe. The story and characters caught my interest right from the start and held it throughout. As I was reading I thought I would love to see Guillermo del Toro make a movie based on this story. It would look stunning! Prose-wise, this was easy reading with a hint of fairytale style about it. I would certainly read more from this author in the future, especially works in a similar vein. 4.5 stars from me.

This was a very intriguing book. I read it in one sitting - it's gloriously short - which in itself is a commendation. And I found myself thinking about it for several days afterwards. It's a strange story & unexpected and I'm not entirely sure how to classify it but all in all a very good read. I adore the cover!