THIS is a vampire novel. A modern, terrifying, gothic vampire story. Disturbing yet brilliant. The parts with Hakan were a little too gruesome for me. Overall loved the story of the morally grey Oskar and Eli!

Having seen the film first, I expected a lot of this book and it certainly delivered, This is an example of what every book to film conversion should be. The film captured the feeling and the majority of the story was covered, but the book goes into much greater detail and is aloud to be a little more on the edgy side. It was actually a little on the shocking side, and the best part was getting to see the story from more than one point of view in great depth. The violent bits were more violent, and the character of Hakan was really amazing when you actually know what he's about. The film doesn't explain at all. Perfect for the time of year when everything is getting colder, though nothing is as cold as this book. Read please!

OK, more like 3.5.

I saw Let the Right One In (the original Swedish version, thank you very much) several years ago, and I honestly think that it is one of the best vampire movies ever made. At the same time, the common wisdom is that the book is always better than the film, so does that hold true in this case?

Interestingly, no. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist is a more bloated, less well paced version of the story. The book contains characters and entire story arcs that were cut out from the film adaptation, and you really find out why upon reading the book.

Lindqvist is obviously heavily influenced by Stephen King's Salem's Lot here (Oskar is even reading King's Firestarter), and he makes a good effort to (like King) feature a large cast of character in a small town. And while the central characters of Oskar and Eli are well depicted, the supporting characters tend to blend into one another. For example, in the B plot, there is a set of characters called Morgan, Jocke, Larry and Gösta. They are friends with the protagonists of the B plot, Lacke and Virginia. However, aside from Gosta (who is basically a crazy cat person), Morgan, Jocke and Larry might as well be the exact same character. The C plot involving Oskar's neighbour, Tommy, is also given way more pages than necessary. The entirety of Tommy's prank in the church could have been cut out of the book, and the reader wouldn't have noticed anything amiss. Interestingly, because this book borrows so much of Salem's Lot's DNA, it also adopted many of King's worst writing habits — that is, overwriting.

The book also drags where in many sections. I did find myself drifting away from the book many times while reading it. It's hard to pin point pacing issues when it comes to books, but I suspect it has to do with many extended plot lines of characters that don't really matter to the overall story. There's even a victim that receives at least 20 pages of 'screen time' just to be killed off in a morgue. Again, that's exactly the kind of thing that King likes to pull in his book. And because the portions of the book that the film kept intact are so close to the source material, there were little to no surprises throughout the book, and I found myself just sort of checking off the boxes and recalling certain scenes from the film adaptation.

Now, with that said, the story still came out of Lindqvist's mind, so credit where credit's due. This is certainly one of the best vampire stories in literature, and I actually love how balls-to-the-wall the violence and horror are. It feels like Lindqvist had a dark vampire story in mind, and he's unafraid to go there — and I mean, GO THERE — even if it leads to grim, uncomfortable places. The ending of this book takes on a very similar vibe of Salem's Lot, and I really like both endings — a rare case of King ending a book well, by the way.

Speaking of endings, this book is sometimes classified as being a supernatural horror, and I remember reading reviews on how the film and the book are about this innocent love story between Oskar and Eli. Now, here's the thing, if by the end of the book and the film, you somehow think that this is a bittersweet ending for the characters, you obviously haven't been paying attention. Even though things are left on an ambiguous note, I think the conclusion to Hakan's storyline and the conversation about Shakespear's Romeo & Juliet is more than enough to foreshadow Oskar and Eli's fates beyond the book's pages. And I love the ballsy direction the book decides to take in the midst of the Twilight hype in the mid 2000s.

I also want to say that the book didn't actually need to feature, spoiler alert, a same-sex (or same-gender) relationship in the end. The book would've worked anyway without that extra storyline, but I think it is extra refreshing that the book — not the film — decides to go in that direction. I think it adds another interesting layer to the romance between the two main characters, and it really does challenge the reader's comfort zone.

Overall, a flawed execution to a brilliant vampire story. I know I've said before that I don't read anything with vampires in them. However, for this, maybe exceptions can be made.

4.5/5

this book does what salem's lot thought it was doing