Let's start with the cover. It definitely gives creepy vibes to draw you in. Based on that alone, I was drawn and had high hopes for this short paranormal book. However, what I expected and what I was given was a bit of a stretch. The reading journey honestly felt forced and often disconnected or nonsensical. I mean I loved the characters, I could connect with each of them on an emotional level and their descriptions were great. But, I think the story could have been extended a bit to build a better world around the characters and the history behind the story. I don't want to give anything away so I will just say the shadowy entity, its name and storyline around the house regarding it didn't feel like it made sense compared to the cover photo and title once I finished the book. The creepy twin girls were haunting enough to carry me though. After-all, when twin daughters wake you in the middle of the night saying "there's a shadowy man in our room", you are bound to feel the heebie-jeebies and I did. I just feel there was so much more I wanted. I think this is a great short read and I would completely recommend it regardless of my dissatisfaction, because I could be wrong and others may absolutely enjoy it more than myself. If you are like me and love all things paranormal, I feel safe encouraging you to read it. I also would encourage this author to give it another go, as I bet there's a great darkness he could dive into and his imagination seems to beckon out for exploration. I'd welcome the opportunity to read more of his work. Overall, the book was an emotional rollercoaster that evoked the imagination. Without a doubt, I would have no regrets rating it a solid 4.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and William Friend for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Let Him In by William Friend is a thriller/horror novel that follows Alfie, a young, widowed father of twins, as he navigates life after losing his wife (and mother of their children) only to gain someone… something… far more sinister.

This book is told from our two main characters POV, switching each chapter which I personally enjoy! Everything flows nicely, and in my opinion, is well-written. Friend makes you think a bit harder than an “easy” read would, without being too challenging or complex.. There is religious talk, which was honesty confusing at times (especially if you don’t have prior knowledge) but it is essential to the storyline. Even if you don’t have a religious background I doubt you’d have a problem.

There was a couple times that the writing felt repetitive and dragged for a bit, but I was still eager to finish the story. It was a good spook. I had to put my kindle down a couple times because I was reading in the dark and got started getting scared lol!

The characters are nicely developed, I grew quite attached to them. They’re so well written too, especially Black Mamba. I thoroughly enjoyed their progression- most notably the twins. It feels like we got to see them mature/ find themselves in the midst of grieving their mother, while going normal pre-pubescent changes, & on top of that, dealing with a “friend” that refuses to leave.

I wish we were given more of a set-ending, I have so many questions! Where/ what’s the rattle from? Which daughter actually saw Black Mamba first? Did Alfie end up making the connection to Pippa’s painting? What happened next?! I would have liked if Friend went into more detail about the religious aspects/ connection to the house as well as a few other blurry details.. I also would have loved to know more about Pippa and Julia’s strange childhood.

All in all, this is novel worth reading! I would love to see a movie adaptation of this book, I could easily visualize it as I read! Don’t go into it thinking this is the type of horror to genuinely terrify you, but it is perfectly spooky. With the use of children (twins at that), and a threatening imaginary friend, it’s a very unsettling read! Amazing for Halloween!

Stay tuned, “Let Him In” releases October 3rd, 2023!

A big thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me access to an advance readers copy in exchange for my honest review!

Alfie and his twin girls are learning to navigate life after his wife/twins' mom, Pippa, has passed away. Alfie reaches out to his sister-in-law, Julia, who is a therapist to help the girls learn to cope. As Julia steps in to help the girls, it seems as though the past is repeating itself within the halls of the home.

The book was pretty slow and never sped up for me. I continued to read as I was interested in the characters and the story line, but it drug on. It leaves you questioning what actually happened, but I'm satisfied with the ending.

The author did an excellent job creating characters that you become invested in. The descriptions help to paint images in your mind of what the author intended characters to be like.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Let Him In by William Friend from Poisoned Pen Press/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

This book put me in mind of Aleister Crowley. (Not in _the_ mind of, though. Perish the thought.)

If you don’t know of whom I speak, then skip reading Let Him In by William Friend and instead spend some time reading about England’s Own Occultist. Here’s a link to a serviceable overview: https://allthatsinteresting.com/aleis...

If you are familiar with Himself to any degree past the whole Led Zeppelin/Boleskine House connection, then this book will probably feel to you like it did to me.

Derivative.

C'est la vie.

DESCRIPTION
“Great fun...the suspense slips its slow coils around you.” —Daily Mail

William Friend’s haunting debut Let Him In is a creeping, gothic psychological suspense about a young, newly widowed father struggling to raise twin daughters obsessed with an imaginary friend.

“Daddy, there’s a man in our room...”

Alfie wakes one night to find his twin daughters at the foot of his bed, claiming there’s a shadowy figure in their bedroom. When no such thing can be found, he assumes the girls had a nightmare.
He isn’t surprised that they’re troubled. Grief has made its home at Hart House: nine months ago, the twins’ mother Pippa died unexpectedly, leaving Alfie to raise them alone. And now, when the girls mention a new imaginary friend, it seems like a harmless coping mechanism. But the situation quickly develops into something more insidious. The girls set an extra place for him at the table. They whisper to him. They say he’s going to take them away…

Alfie calls upon Julia—Pippa’s sister and a psychiatrist—to oust the malignant tenant from their lives. But as Alfie himself is haunted by visions and someone watches him at night, he begins to question the true character of the force that has poisoned his daughters’ minds, with dark and violent consequences.

Whatever this “friend” is, he doesn’t want to leave. Alfie will have to confront his own shameful secrets, the dark past of Hart House, and even the bounds of reality—or risk taking part in an unspeakable tragedy.

After Alfie’s wife dies, he needs to raise his twin, seven-year-old girls. One night they appear at his bedside saying a man was in their room. After a thorough search, no one is found. Eventually, the girls no longer talk about the man in their room.

But then something far worse shows up. Black Mamba.

At first, he seems harmless but the twins' behavior starts to change and Alfie reaches out to his wife’s twin sister Julia, a family therapist, for help.
Friend nails the creepy twin vibe. The story switches between Alfie's and Julia’s points of view with many descriptions of the girls' behavior. There aren’t any big “jump scares” but a low level of anxiety weaved throughout.

Where this book falls short is in figuring out what type of story it is. The author wants to make it religious, supernatural, and psychological and it is too much. He touches on all three but never delves deep enough into any of them to make the ending satisfying. Instead, I was left with questions.

Overall, Let Him In is a decent horror book. There is an underlying creepiness throughout. It is a little slower moving than some but Friend really builds the anxiety. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a more slow burn or creepy twin story.

A very creepy slow burn and atmospheric story of a grieving widower and his sister-in-law trying to make sense of death, not only for themselves, but also for his young twin daughters. Have the children created an imaginary friend to help them cope, or is it something far more sinister? At the peak of the slow burn build that keeps you guessing and doesn't let you go, you spiral violently downward through absolute dread. The ending is not what it seems, but is family, loss, or love ever what they seem?

I highly recommend this book. I always hear reviewers say that a book scared them, but I've read a lot of horror and have yet to be outwardly scared. I finished this book late last night in bed in the dark. In the gripping spiral of dread towards the end, my dog sneezed and I absolutely jumped out of my skin. So, hats off to the author for giving me an actual jump scare.

Let Him In grabs your attention from the start with just the right amount of “spookiness” to it. Good read that plays with your mind and makes you keep guessing is “he” an imagination or is “he” real. A great debut for William Friend.

Thank you to Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and William Friend for my ARC I’m exchange for an honest review.

From the description to the cover, I was extremely excited to get my hands on an advanced copy of this book. This debut novel combines my absolute favorite things in the horror realm: spooky twins, imaginary friends, and haunted houses! It had me hooked in from the start and I felt drawn to the grief storyline as it unfolded. After all, being awoken in the middle of the night by a child is frightful enough... but if it's not your child... Highly recommend Let Him In and cannot wait for more from this author.

This book was a bit slow for me, but a pretty enjoyable throughout. There were questions that I had hoped were answered, but weren’t, and the religion the family practiced was a bit confusing. The twins were just as creepy as they needed to be, and I loved that!
I kinda knew what was going to happen with Black Mamba and Alfie at the end because of the foreshadowing, and that could have been written with a bit more clarity. Overall this was a pretty solid story, and would be a great read during the month of October for for some great creepiness!

Holy freaking shhhh. Let Him In starts strong, and you think you know where it’s going, but let me assure you-you do not. It twists, then twists some more, and drags you behind it as it goes, not taking care with what you’re pulled through. For fans of Naomi’s Room, and anyone obsessed with the unknown, this cleanly fits the bill.

I absolutely tore through this, in two sittings, and only bc I had to be an adult and go to work. I need more. I need backstory, a prequel. I am BEGGING MR. FRIEND. DO THE THING.

One of my top ten this year, and is absolutely one you need to read.

A great haunted house tale, that literally creeps up on you, that challenges your powers of deduction and provides a visceral atmosphere of the paranormal. What I love about this story, is that it doesn't neatly wrap everything up for you, which leads to a more satisfying read. Recommended.

The beginning of this book was great. It creeped me the eff out when I was reading it before bed. I'm already not a fan of the dark and this made it a little more scary, however; I was so disappointed with the end. I have so many questions. I feel like it could have been developed a little more to explain what the grandpa was doing when Pippa and Julie were young or how the adopted kids that used to live in the house play into it. Did it actually happen? Was it real? Did what happened in the cellar actually happened? Was it just some big prank? It's almost like there's one more piece that I can't put my finger on that would close all of this up.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to receive an ARC.

It begins ten months after the death of his wife Pippa. Twins Sylvie and Cassia wake Alfie to tell him there’s a man in their room. Only there isn’t. After several nights of confusion and terror, the man is a snake. A bird. A dark moth. And then a man again, sitting next to him at the table, eating dinner. But Alfie can’t see him. He enlists the help of his sister-in law Julie, a psychotherapist and Pippa’s twin. She thinks it may be the girls’ grief, manifesting as a folie à deux. Perhaps. But there is something wrong with the house, with the people who have lived there and maybe with the twins themselves. There’s danger in the cellar, in the attic noises and the open window.

You won’t want to look behind you when you read Let Him In. Don’t read it when you are alone. There are “things that go bump in the night” and the last few paragraphs are totally chilling. It’s hard to believe that this is William Friend’s first novel. I am excited and terrified to see what he writes next. 5 stars.

Thank yo to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and William Friend for this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of this title!

While this was originally published in Great Britain under the name Black Mamba, I will say i prefer the cover & title of this version.

As a debut writer Friend knows how to tell a fantastic story. While reading this book I felt so many different emotions right along side the characters & felt like I was truly there. It was definitely creepy but in all the right ways.

This book was not exactly for me. I didn’t love the religious undertones as I am not religious myself. It seemed to be a bit disjointed and like there were too many plot lines in the book. It was a frightening topic but I didn’t get the sense of fear or dread that I would have liked from a book called “Let Him In”. While it wasn’t for me, I do think others might enjoy it more.

I had trouble keeping up with the book in some parts, but some parts were really good. I just wish that it wouldn’t have jumped all over the place. I think the plot was actually really good but I feel for myself that it was too scattered all over the book.

The built up tension throughout the entirety of this book frightened me, but in the BEST way. The disturbing atmosphere grabs your attention right at the beginning. It was very hard for me to put this book down! I’m normally not a gothic setting reader, but this book has hooked me. I cannot wait to read more from William Friend. Thank you so much William Friend, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this great digital review copy!

Thank you so much NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read Let Him In before the official release. I really got into this book. It's such a creative way to write about grief involving children. The family dynamic was very interesting also. The entire time I was reading it I was questioning my own thoughts wondering if Black Mamba was real, if they were lying, who really caused the bruises, and what on earth was going on with Julia and Pippa in their childhood. I highly recommend this read to any interested in it because it really makes the reader think and try to solve the truth. I thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you again!

Jeepers, creepers! I am still not 100% sure what really happened in this book — which makes it even more devilishly creepy. Friend does a good job capturing this family haunted by grief, especially the way children have of saying and doing the most unsettling things in such a supposedly innocent way.

It has been a long time since a book has gotten to me like this, and I’m sure I’ll be trying not to look too closely at the shadows for awhile.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC!

Wow—what a creepy and disturbing read! Yet, I really enjoyed it. We follow Archie, a single father to twins, and the twins’ aunt, Julia, as they work together to cope with loss and figure out the story behind the twins’ imaginary friend named Black Mamba. This book had such a creepy vibe and I found myself unable to read at nighttime! It reminded me a lot of the movie Hide and Seek, which I find particularly scary for many reasons…

I will say though, I was a little bit confused at the ending. I think the story ended a bit abruptly and didn’t fully explain what happened and how things were wrapped up. Overall though, I really enjoyed this one!