Let the Right One In

Oskar lives with his mum in a high-rise building in the western suburbs of Stockholm. It's the early eighties and he likes listening to Kiss on his Walkman, solving puzzles - including the Rubik's cube - and pasting grisly murder stories from the newspaper into his scrapbook.

A victim of bullying, Oskar doesn't have many school friends, but is interested in the strange new neighbour next door. Eli introduces herself but she's a little strange - she smells bad, doesn't feel the cold at all, even in November, and from time to time her hair has a lot of grey.

Soon after Eli's move to Blackeberg, a child's body is found hanging from a tree. The media think a serial killer is wreaking havoc in the town and affecting everyone's lives, but they're wrong - it's a vampire.

This extraordinary and powerful novel is part horror, part comedy, and mostly love story. A moving, affectionate and, at times, grisly portrait of the agony of growing up and finding love, Let the Right One In may be the most satisfying novel of the year.