Let the Right One In

by John Ajvide Lindqvist



In 1981 Blackeberg, Stockholm, Oskar is a 12-year-old boy who lives with his mother, who is loving and with whom he initially seems to have a close connection. His father, whom Oskar visits occasionally, is an alcoholic living in the countryside. Because the boy is the victim of merciless bullying, Oskar has gained morbid interests, which include crime and forensics, and he keeps a scrapbook filled with newspaper articles about murders.

One day, he befriends Eli, a girl of about the same age, who just moved in next door. She lives with an older man named Håkan, a former teacher who was fired when caught in possession of child pornography. She's revealed to be a vampire who was turned as a child and is therefore stuck forever in a young body and mind. Oskar and Eli develop a close relationship, and she helps him fight back against his tormentors. Throughout the book their relationship gradually becomes closer, and they reveal more of themselves, including fragments of Eli's human life. Among the details revealed is that Eli is a boy named Elias who was castrated when she was turned into a vampire over 200 years ago. However, she dresses in female clothing and is perceived by outsiders as a young girl.

Håkan serves Eli, whom he loves, by procuring blood from the living, fighting against his conscience and choosing victims whom he can physically trap, but who are not too young. Eli gives him money for doing this, though Håkan makes it clear he would do it for nothing if she allowed them to be physically intimate. Håkan offers to go out one last time under the condition that he spends a night with Eli after she gets the blood, but with the caveat that he may only touch Eli.

Håkan's last attempt to get blood fails and he's caught. Just before capture, however, he intentionally disfigures himself with acid so that the police will not be able to trace Eli through him. When Eli finds him in the hospital, Håkan offers his blood and is drunk dry while sitting on the window ledge, but a guard interrupts them and Eli fails to kill him. So that he won't also end up becoming a vampire, Håkan throws himself out of the window to the ground below. Despite this, he reanimates as a mindless vampire driven only by his desire for Eli. Håkan then relentlessly pursues Eli, managing to trap her in a basement before trying to rape her, but she fights him off and escapes. Later, the wounded Håkan is destroyed by Tommy who accidentally gets locked in the basement with him.

Meanwhile, Blackeberg local alcoholic Lacke suspects a child is responsible for the murder of his best friend, Jocke (whom Eli has killed for blood). Later, Lacke witnesses Eli attack on his sometime-girlfriend, Virginia. She attempts to drink her blood, but is fought off by Lacke. Virginia survives, but starts turning into a vampire. She does not realize her "infection" until she tries to prolong her life by drinking her own blood, and finds that exposure to the sun causes boils on her skin. Upon being hospitalized, Virginia realizes what she has turned into and kills herself in her bed by deliberately exposing herself to daylight. Lacke, while attempting to avenge Virginia, is thwarted by Oskar and Eli.

Oskar eventually fights back and injures his tormentor, Jonny, for which the boy's older brother Jimmy hunts down and attempts to hurt Oskar in retaliation. Oskar further incurs their wrath when he sets fire to their desks, destroying a treasured photo album belonging to their father. They corner Oskar at night at the local swimming pool and attempt to drown him. However, Eli rescues Oskar and decapitates the two brothers; together they flee the city with Eli's money and possessions.