'LET HIM IN'....IMAGINARY FRIEND? OR REAL SCARY FIEND?

 Let Him In by William Friend (2023)

                  Unquestionably one of the best, most evocative front covers for a scary book this year. In many ways the book more than fulfills the promise of that cover - to take you on a creepy tour of a cursed, possibly haunted house and keep you in a state of unease, dread and worry for its occupants throughout the story.

                  But any reader who thinks they're in store for decaying corpses, floating sprits and gallons of flowing gore.......this is not that book.

               Despite all its traditional supernatural trappings, "Let Him In" tends to veer more in the direction of psychological horror, of psychosis spawned by grief, tragedy and all too human frailty. The Victorian style Hart House, as it's called, bears a reputation every bit as forbidding as Shirley Jackson's Hill House. The history of the first family who inhabited Hart House is filled with murderous calamities. And the current family who've taken up residence there suffer through their own particular miseries - including a background of religious fanaticism and some freakish, tragic fatal accidents. 

               One of those bizarre deaths widowed Archie and left Sylvie and Cassia, his 8 year old twin daughters without their loving, vibrant mother Pippa. And adding to Archie and the girls' dysfunction as they work their way through their grief, a new presence comes to live among them. . From the twins' synchronized imaginations (or so it seems) springs "Black Mamba, an unseen shape-shifting friend whom they treat as all too real. Uncomfortably, creepily so.. 

               To Archie's growing horror, this invisible entity, who manifests himself as either a man or various beasts evolves from a therapeutic playmate to a sinister evil force......and maybe, just maybe something more than imaginary. Even to the point of unleashing violence.

                I should point out here that none of this transpires at any kind of breathless pace, it that's what you're hoping for. "Let Him In" functions as a slow burn, steadily building up its increasing levels of frightening moments to keep a reader shuddering.

                 Personally, I couldn't think of a better book to curl up with under a comfy blanket on a cold dark night. It's clear that author William Friend wanted a cumulative growing sense of anxiety rather than "gotcha" jumps. And I thought he pulled off that difficult, risky task of straddling the line between what's other-worldly and what derives from the dark recesses of the mind.

                 While I fully embraced and enjoyed what the author accomplished here, I'm aware that hardcore fans may find the wrap-up mild, abrupt and inconclusive. For sure, this is no carnival funhouse ride.....but a more of an unsettling trip through the wounded hearts of a damaged family. And that itself, fellow readers, can be plenty scary.  4 stars (****)