You Let Me In: The No. 1 ebook bestseller, a chilling, unputdownable page-turner

Imagine the subtle intrusion of someone into your life, your home, your mind. This is the deliciously creepy premise of Clarke’s novel, “You Let Me In.” The book masterfully plays on the very primal fear that someone has invaded our most private spaces. Anyone even mildly territorial and protective of their property will be unnerved by this story. If it’s read at night alone, you may find yourself turning on more lights and double checking the locks. Truly an unsettling tale.The book opens when Elle, a bestselling-author, takes a trip to France. She’s newly-separated from her husband, Flynn, and overwhelmed with work. She reluctantly agrees to list her home as an Airbnb rental while she’s away.She needs the money to offset the staggering renovation costs, but worries about the prospect of strangers living in her beautiful, cliff-top gem by-the-sea. It’s meticulously refurbished and decorated with artful, painstaking care, and Elle can’t shake her unease about unknown people inside her beloved hideaway. Elle’s sister, Fiona, assures her that her fears are unfounded, and offers to meet with the renters to ensure that everything goes smoothly.Elle is visibly relieved when she returns from her trip to find that all appears to be as she left it. She tries to relax, acutely aware of the looming deadline for her second book. She needs to laser-focus, but somehow, the atmosphere of the house has changed.Elle moves from room to room, conscious of an unseen interloper in her surroundings.Anxiety and insomnia pervade the once sun-filled home. Treasured possessions are suddenly missing or damaged. Elle can’t remember appointments and commitments with colleagues, friends and acquaintances. Odd events and circumstances make her question her every action and decision. Elle’s convinced that she’s being watched. Did the renter have a duplicate key made? Is someone inside or lurking about? She’s sleep-starved and haunted by disturbing dream fragments that she can’t decipher. Concerned family members speculate whether she’s unstable. Gradually, Elle’s carefully-constructed life of privacy and guarded secrets starts to unravel. She ruminates on writing stress and her floundering marriage, drowning under the weight of too much emotional pressure. Her cherished home was once a solitary sanctuary, but now it feels foreboding, distorted and unsafe. Elle’s plagued by doubts and fears that multiply at night. Everything seems to be closing in around her. Is someone out there waiting in the shadows, and if so, why?Clarke does an excellent job of spinning this chilling tale. The reader feels Elle’s palpable panic and dread as she struggles to determine what’s real and what’s not, what she knows, and what, if anything, she can trust.The seaside backdrop also offers up the perfect ominous and volatile environment for this dark offering. The story takes several hairpin twists and turns that move the narrative in unexpected directions. Pacing is superb as well.The book is a taut thriller with ratcheting suspense, but there are surprising moments of introspection, too. I found myself contemplating if I were in these situations, what would I do? It was gratifying to see that when several complicated truths were finally revealed, there was shading and nuance involved, and not just predictable black and white conclusions. I guessed the perpetrator early on, but that didn’t detract from the story at all, which is a testament to Clarke’s writing skill. Perhaps it is more important for Elle to uncover the source of her torment, and for the reader to witness that dawning realization. Even suspecting it as a reader, it’s still shocking.If you’re looking for a satisfying read for a dark and stormy night, this is it.

Overall it's a great mystery thriller. The Plot is somewhat slow. But the climax settles for that. Worth buying

The author is a master of suspense – and more. While you are quickly turning pages trying to figure out, along with the protagonist, who is invading her space (her sanctuary), while taunting and demoralizing her, you are also trying to figure out why. And while the author offers up a cast of possible culprits – all with motives believable enough to put an Agatha Christie novel to shame, you take the protagonist's journey with her – to learn not just who and why, but most importantly, what’s next. After all, unlike an Agatha Christie novel, no one has been murdered—at least not yet. The cat and mouse suspense flies through three hundred pages, but then, there is a sagging point – almost a sudden halt or at least a brief stretch where you think, okay, enough already, let’s get on with it. But soon she does, by taking the plot to a place you never dreamed of with a character you might not have suspected – at least not as much as others. And then - (possible plot spoiler here) - this novel of suspense morphs itself into the literary novel it was all along – a family drama of secrets, betrayal, vengeance, and acceptance.

I found the book extremely dragged. This whole idea of unreliable protagonist is very old ...and the reasoning of antagonist's hatred is too far fetched.. Writer could have worked more on character building of main characters . Overall a disappointing read..

Good story, but I like her others better.