Fantasy Book Critic: You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce (reviewed by Łukasz Przywóski)

Official Author Website
Order You Let Me In over HERE(USA) or HERE (UK)

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Camilla Bruce was born in central Norway and grew up in an old forest, next to an Iron Age burial mound. She has a master's degree in comparative literature, and have co-run a small press that published dark fairy tales. Camilla currently lives in Trondheim with her son and cat.

FORMAT/INFO: You Let Me In is 256 pages long and is a standalone book. The book is currently available in all formats. It was published in March 2020 in UK by Bantam Press and in April 2020 in USA by Tor.

OVERVIEW: This book will divide readers - some will love its unsettling atmosphere and weirdness, others will DNF it after the first chapter. You Let Me In is weird and confusing. It doesn’t offer straight answers. It doesn’t have an unambiguous ending. It deliberately misleads the reader.

I found it dark and compelling. Will I recommend it to everyone willing to listen to me? No way. You have to know what you're getting into.

You can approach it as a study of human trauma, a supernatural thriller, or a family drama with a horror undercurrent. Cassandra Tipp, an infamous and eccentric novelist, has vanished. She has left a letter. Her heirs need to read it to discover a password to her testament. Hopefully, they'll be able to claim her estate.

The letter recounts two disturbing stories - one of an abused little girl coping with trauma, second of magical gifts and husbands made from twigs and leaves and sticks and stones. Both stories might be true. Both end in murder. Both show the same events but in a different light. The boundaries between reality (as we know it) and the supernatural blur and shift as we follow the story.

Cassandra has a faerie friend she calls a Pepper-Man. He feeds on her blood and influences her behavior and thoughts. With his help and in his company, she explores the unsettling and dark faerie world inhabited by twisted and broken beings caught in between the worlds.

Just when the reader starts to immerse in the supernatural, the story introduces another perspective on the events. Cassandra's therapist Dr. Martin has written a book about her case called “Away with the fairies: A study in trauma-induced psychosis.” What if the faeries are only a sort of coping mechanism that allowed Cassandra to survive in a dysfunctional family?

I admit I loved the ambiguity and lack of clear answers. It made me question both storylines and wonder which told the truth. Whichever you choose to believe, don't expect a happy ending. Both are disturbing and devastating.

An impressive debut.