In which I read fiction

Let the Right One In: A Novel

John Ajvide Lindqvist

I came to read Let The Right One In
at the recommendation of a friend whose opinion I hold in high regard. 
I am going to admit right here that in high school the two of us read
vampire books.  Then we quit reading vampire books around the same
time for about the same reasons.  But that is perhaps another post. 

Let The Right One In is set in the Stockholm suburbs in 1981. I
kept thinking, "This seems anachronistic," and then immediately
thereafter thinking, "Oh, yeah.  It's 1981!"  Every time they talked
about the new Kiss album, or described the apartments.   I finally got
temporally oriented, but I never got a real sense of Sweden.  I'm
comparing this to the sense of Iceland that I got very strongly from
Last Rituals, which actually suffered from a flatter plot.  Maybe the point is that Sweden is does not leave an impression on you.  The characters, however, were more textural and detailed.

Anyway… it's the coming of age story of a likable-enough adolescent
boy-doofus complete with bullies and elaborate revenge fantasies. There
is a manhunt for a mysterious serial killer, a smattering of dead-end kids, and a
cadre of hapless neighborhood alcoholics.  It sounds like the feel good
hit of the season, doesn't it?  But for once the vampire
isn't some sensitive guy with dreamy eyes!  In all, John Ajvide Lindqvist
does a good job of maintaining my interest for the long haul and I was
rewarded with, if not a twist, then a flourish at the end.

So, it wasn't the greatest piece of literature in the world, but it was
meaty, creepy, supernatural mystery, and– best of all– it was
different.

So now let's all listen to Morrissey.

Let the Right One Slip In

Morrissey