The Best Horror Literature: Let the Right One In

I know this post is late--I've been absent a few days, but I promise I'm back to stay. What inspired me to post this today is that I went and saw Let Me In. I was reminded, while I sat there spellbound, that the novel the movie is based on is one of the best books I have ever read, and I doubt I will ever read anything as inventive, emotional, or well-written ever again. Unless it's a new Clive Barker novel, of course.

Please don't talk to me about the Swedish film: it's just OK. It's not the most brilliant film of all time and no, I don't mind reading subtitles. I'm not lazy. I am, however, a fan of clear and entertaining storytelling, which the original film did not have. Matt Reeves' remake does. It also incorporated almost every interesting aspect of the novel and put it on the screen... except for the best part of the entire book, which is the most original thing I have ever read in any horror novel. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say: go read the book.


Anyway, on to why this novel is groundbreaking. I have always held the belief that horror is more entertaining when, at its core, the story being told is not a horrific one. This goes for novels, short stories, and films. John Ajvide Lindqvist's Let the Right One In is not really a vampire novel. It's a book about childhood loneliness and the awkwardness of teenage love that happens to feature vampires. The novel is almost a coming-of-age book, with Oskar finding out more about love, himself, and the ways of the world than he would ever have liked. There has never been a more poignant portrayal of the bullied, isolated, angry preteen than in this book. And then to top it all off, we have some child-vampire carnage, we get a first-hand account of what it feels like to become a vampire (that is, what the internal process entails, emotionally and physically), and the all-too-human vulnerability of being confronted by a predator.

If you want to read the three best vampire novels of all time, go check out and Dracula, 'Salem's Lot, and Let the Right One In. You will not be disappointed.