Rachel (not currently receiving notifications) Hall's Reviews > You Let Me In

Supremely chilling and brilliantly atmospheric, Lucy Clarke’s fifth psychological thriller is an absolute powerhouse read that utterly consumed me and takes a seemingly innocuous experience - an Airbnb rental - and overlays it with paranoia, suspicion and menace. When author, Elle Fielding, returns home after two weeks in France to her spectacular clifftop home overlooking the sea in Cornwall the whole atmosphere feels off; objects moved slightly out of place, a broken ornament and her treasured writing room unlocked. As Elle’s unease mounts she starts to wonder just who she has let into her home and what parts of themselves they might have left behind.. Her practical older sister, Fiona, tells her that’s it her vivid imagination and a product of her craft as a creative writer and Elle herself is only too aware of staring down the barrel of a deadline for delivering her second book on which the house, her livelihood and finances are hanging. Unravelling under the weight of expectation after her bestselling debut and ravaged by insomnia further exacerbate Elle’s paranoia.

Taunted by the knowledge that her life as portrayed through the medium of Facebook filters is a fiction, a second occasional timeline offering all too brief glimpses into Elle’s backstory with a third narrative telling of a shadowy figure prying into every corner of her dream home in chapters entitled ‘previously’. But where is this real or imagined threat coming from and what are the perpetrators intentions? A cast of viable contenders emerge with figures from Elle’s past, locals who resent the blow-ins who have priced natives out of the property market through to the obsessive social media followers offered access all areas glimpses into Elle’s perfect life. Forced to reevaluate her acrimonious divorce and fraught relationship with ex-husband, Flynn, and the solidity of her sister’s marriage to brother-in-law, Bill, she must also contend with the fan-girl young librarian and the indignant son of a neighbour. Refreshingly unpredictable, the spotlight of suspicion switches multiple times as the clock ticks down to Elle’s impending deadline..

With a fully realised protagonist who is easy to empathise with, a vast house echoing with silence that readers can visualise and steadily mounting tension, a stunning denouement delivers not one, but two, staggering surprises. A smart, meticulously plotted psychological thriller which is grounded in reality! You Let Me In is a novel within a novel, with a second parallel narrative that reveals itself before the reader’s eye!


With thanks to LoveReading who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.