I throw my hands up... I admit it. The last three years I have severely neglected my first love: reading. However, she took me back with open arms and, recently, I have fallen straight back into old habits. During a trip to Waterstones a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a thousand titles that caught my eye - and I told myself I'd add them to my wishlist for after payday. But that very same evening I sat at home, thinking about the books I'd left behind, and I somehow accidentally made an online Waterstones order instead...
Among those that I ordered, and the first of the bunch I decided to give a read, was Lucy Clarke's You Let Me In. Here's what I thought of it...
If you weren't already aware, I'm a huge fan of psychological thrillers. It's what I love to write and it's what I love to read. So, when I read the blurb of You Let Me In I was ready for great, terrifying things.
The 406-page thriller follows best-selling author, Elle, on her downward spiral into insomnia and paranoia as things in her life slowly deteriorate. She's suffering from severe writer's block and has the deadline for her second book approaching, her and her husband are recently separated, she's in financial difficulty and at risk of losing her beautiful Cornwall cliff-top house, and she believes she's being stalked by somebody who has delved into the dirty details of her past.
In the wake of her mother's passing and her separation from Flynn, her husband, Elle's only source of support is her sister, Fiona, her brother-in-law, Bill, and her young nephew, Drake. She feels like an invader in the Cornish town and neighbours look at the huge modern rebuild of her house with disdain. The locals who do appreciate her seem to all be intense fans, and everywhere Elle turns there is a different suspect for who exactly is stalking her. Up until the very end of the novel, readers are left biting their nails with apprehension and an array of potential culprits coming to light in each chapter.
Elle's stalking situation all began after she rented her home out on Airbnb whilst she was away at a writer's retreat. When she returns, she is all too aware that a stranger has been living in her home, and she discovers more and more indicators that perhaps the stranger never left.
Now, normally, I am not the biggest fans of novels that have chapters jumping through time and perspectives - but in You Let Me In, it all worked pretty cohesively and definitely added more to the tale. I particularly enjoyed the snippets told from the point of view of the anonymous stalker, which really heightened the tension and kept me with my finger tucked under the next page ready to read on.
I found that there were so many carefully woven plants that I merely looked over upon initially reading (as a reader should do with subtle plants) - but they all paid off to great effect in the end. To me, the book was an immersive game of Whodunnit right up until the final chapters.
Within 48 hours of starting the book, I'd turned the final page. As the pages left to read clasped in my right hand became fewer, I found myself not ready for the book to end. Perhaps the only thing I would've liked more of from the story would've been an expanded epilogue - as the final chapter of the action was incredibly quick and a lot to take in.
That being said, I don't have too much else in terms of criticism of the book. You Let Me In has to be one of the best psychological thrillers that I've read in a long while. It really was the perfect way for me to fall back in love with binge reading.
Have you read anything thrilling lately? Let me know!
Rachel x
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