My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Many thanks to Sriya Varadharajan at Michael Joseph Penguin Random House, UK for this chance in the BLOG TOUR of DON’T LET HIM IN by Howard Linskey. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

Eriston is a long-dead tourist town. The vicious cycle of lack of tourists and thereby income for all the shops and hotels and thus everything reduced to shambles and disrepair has been going on for years and Rebecca had escaped from this ‘there’s nothing to do here’ place a long time ago. Her father’s death however calls her back from the traveling spree that she had undertaken to overcome a job and love failure. But Eriston is not a welcoming town as there’s no other place that has seen more deaths or suicides or murders than this corner of the earth.

As Rebecca discovers that her father Sean was on the trail of a particular story that might have caused his death and the local police have no interest in pursuing the truth, Rebecca with help from a local beat bobby follows the breadcrumbs left by her reporter father.

There is a dark atmosphere at the beginning of the story with the setting of the place, a town with a foreboding feel, with evil lurking around the corner, whispers of the legend and rumors of the Chameleon hunting for young women, a peeping tom’s voice and thoughts that add to the creepy intensity in the story. I simply loved the gothic vibe in the first part of the story and the romance that develops between Alan and Rebecca adds a subtle charm to this chilling tale of a serial killer who has remained undetected for years altogether. The chapters that describe the killer’s thoughts were scary, to know that we are so helpless and unaware of the invasion of the privacy of one’s own home was terrifying to read.

The author does emphasize the point of the lack of newspaper reading crowd and the massive inclusion of smartphones in our daily life, a particular lament by Rebecca about having quit social media coz of the glitz and blitz of her friends making her feel like a failure was a true reflection of most people’s lives. The mystery unveils slowly with everyone becoming a suspect and the unmasking when it happened was not a total shocker, at least for me. The ending however raises the tension to a peak as the killer gives a hair-raising explanation to his gruesome acts.

A thriller that grows on you, Howard Linskey’s Don’t Let Him In is utterly compelling and captivating!

THE SPINE-TINGLING NEW THRILLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF ALICE TEALE IS MISSING

‘Dark, creepy and compelling, with the claustrophobic sense of a killer waiting around every corner’ T.M. LOGAN
________

Eriston is a small town.

Where everyone knows your name – and your secrets.

Rebecca hasn’t been back in years, but she grew up in the shadow of a dark local legend: the countless unexplained deaths.

Her father Sean had always warned her of the dangers.

And when Rebecca returns, she discovers that her father wasn’t willing to let the legend lie.

He was on the verge of uncovering the town’s darkest truth.

He thought he was on the trail of a killer.
Sean knew too much. Now he’s dead.

Rebecca could accept her father’s death.
Or she could risk her life by carrying on his work . . .
________

‘Dark, sinister, clever and creepy. Keeps you guessing right to the very end’ Neil Lancaster

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