"Let the Right One In," John Ajvide Lindqvist

I loved "Let the Right One In"--it's a Swedish movie about vampires and the title is also the title of a Smiths song, joy!--so I decided to try the book, too.

I thought I was going to be getting a story about a young bullied boy and his love for a vampire--which is the focus of the film--but I also got the story of a PEDOPHILE WHO TURNS INTO A ZOMBIE WITH A PERMANENT ERECTION. Yeah, the book is much more horror-centric, with blood and skin and poop flying everywhere, and cops chasing down serial killers. There's a scene where a vampire is attacked by cats (they sense EVIL, apparently), but it's not only a mass cat attack, the cats are all gross and genetically deformed and full of dead kittens, and yeah, it's a tribute to Lindqvist's writing that I felt nauseated instead of just cracking the fuck up. Swedish people are very good at writing about horrible, over-the-top things happening while avoiding unintentional humor or really, any humor at all (I base this generalization entirely on this book and managing to get through the first two "Girl With a Dragon Whatever" books).

The romantic in me enjoys the whole "twisted love" angle more than the "zombie rape" angle, so I'd much rather re-watch the movie than re-read the book. Then again, Lindqvist is very good at evoking the kind of shitty suburban lifestyle that makes fighting a zombie pedo-rapist sound like a cool thing to do with your day.