I Always Find You

Platserna #2

by John Ajvide Lindqvist

In September 1985, nineteen-year-old John Lindqvist moved into a dilapidated old building in Stockholm, planning to make his living as a magician. Something strange was going on in the locked shower room in the building’s basement—and the price of entry was just a little blood.

I Always Find You is a horror story—as bizarre and macabre as any of Lindqvist’s earlier novels—but it’s also a melancholy meditation on being young and lonely, on making friends and growing up. It’s about magic, and the intensity of human connection—and the evil we carry inside.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Swedish Literature, Fiction, Mystery, Sweden, Supernatural

274 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

John Ajvide Lindqvist (John Erik Ajvide Lindqvist) is a Swedish author who grew up in Blackeberg, the setting for Let the Right One In . Wanting to become something awful and fantastic, he first became a conjurer, and then was a stand-up comedian for twelve years. He has also written for Swedish television.

His Let the Right One In was a bestseller in Sweden and was named Best Novel in Translation 2005 in Norway. He also is the author of Handling the Undead and Harbor .

http://us.macmillan.com/author/johnaj...

Russian profile can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

2021 review: John Lindqvist relates what appears to be a an at time shocking personal and revealing look at his days as an aspiring comic whilst in his early 20s in urban (Stockholm) Sweden in the 1980s. John recounts living in a sparse and limited reality; a world limited by his environment, by his street magic performances and by his own fiction(?) writing. A sense of foreboding grows in his neighbourhood and evolves to become something tangible, and as the story, although still set in a sparse, lightly populated world, begins to take roads down really dark paths, you/I start checking the blurb, to check if this is a real biography? OK, so maybe it's horror fiction? But hang on a minute, the writer was also an aspiring magician called John Lindqvist in the 1980s! What's going on?

A story of isolation, loneliness and grief, a story of street magic, skinheads and neighbours; a story of shared national grief, looking for answers and escaping one's directionless and/or downward spiralling reality. From the writer, for whom, some critics have conferred the title 'Swedish Stephen King' comes a truly modern and intriguing horror story that is slightly ruined for me, when conventional horror rears its trite head. I feel that there is so much horror to be found in the human existence that there is no real need for paranormal or other imagined horrors, and hence hopefully believe, that one day Lindquist will focus on what he appears (to me) to be very good at, delving into the intricacies and minutiae of the darker sides of modern urban life. Translated by Marlaine Delargy. 7.5 out of 12.

[Madeleine Knutsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

what
the
hell
was
this

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5★s
“… spent some time staring at myself in the mirror. After all, there was an alternative way to explain everything that was happening to me, and I searched for something in my eyes, a sign that I was losing my mind. But what does such a sign look like, and can it even be spotted by a person who is losing the plot?”

I Always Find You is the second book in the Locations trilogy by Swedish author, John Ajvide Lindqvist. It is flawlessly translated from the original Swedish by Marlaine Delargy. As a young man, John moves out of his mother’s place to a cramped hovel in the courtyard at Luntmakargatan 14 in Stockholm, intending to earn a living as a magician. It’s a block built against the Brunkeberg tunnel and his accommodation has no bathroom, so he has to use the shower room attached to the block’s laundry.

But there is something strange going on in the block of apartments: he’s getting bizarre phone calls asking for a Sigge; his record player skips strangely; the residents seem secretive; and the shower room is oddly both repulsive and attracting at the same time. Walking through the tunnel adjacent to the shower room also produces an unsettling feeling. The crack in the shower room ceiling begins to ooze a black substance that instantly reminds John of an incident in his past, and things start to get really weird.

Is this a semi-autobiographical story? Or is it a novel about a writer who happens to have the same name as the author, and happens to have aspired to be a magician as a young man, and writes a narrative about a twelve-year-old boy’s encounter with an abused child in a forest? It doesn’t really matter because, either way, it’s an engrossing tale.

Lindqvist definitely captures the mid-eighties well, embedding certain songs and artists into the story, as well as referring to political events and fashions and social trends. Lindqvist has been described as Sweden’s answer to Stephen King, and that descriptor is certainly apt, although he might be a little bleaker than King to begin with. There’s a bit of violence and sex, and expletives are freely used, but are appropriate to the context. Like King, Lindqvist manages a near-perfect blend of moving and macabre. Fans of horror will appreciate this excellent Swedish contribution to the genre.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Touted as Sweden's answer to Stephen King, I was eager to get my hands on a copy of this. I have always been a fan of the horror genre, and have been trying to read more from this array of pieces to choose from. While I did enjoy this, I found it more than a little odd, which is no bad thing for a horror novel. I would catergorise it as avant'garde horror as it really is out there!

Odd? Creepy? Very strange? Yes, please! It sounds right up my reading street! The writing was sparse and flowed well, and there were many different themes explored yet still not a lot of action happening. This is one of those novels that is essentially plotless. We have all read one of those books before where everything comes together, and it's labelled as a contempory masterpiece, but, in my opinion, this was lacking something special to make it work. The book does emanate authennticity and also creates a classic foreboding atmosphere that stays for the duration of the story. This is not what we would class as classic horror, it's a thought-provoking, disturbing read. Recommended.

Many thanks to riverrun for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

[Lucy Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Visceral, ambiguous and creepy - I liked it!

I really like this author. His writing reminds me of a hybrid of Stephen King (eerie, gory, wildly inventive) and David Mitchell / Haruki Murakami (weird, inconclusive, otherworldly). It's a good combination!

This one is supposedly 'semi-autobiographical' in that the main character is the author himself, aged 19, or something like that. He's a down-on-his luck magician who moves into a pokey little flat, only to find that it's a weirder place than he first imagined. For starters, there's the feeling of pressure that pervades the place. Then, there's the strange shower-room downstairs; and let's not even get started about the stuff that oozes out of the cracks in there...

This is broken up with flashbacks / storytellings of John's past, when he found a boy in the woods and looked after him. Except, this wasn't any normal boy; this kid could hardly speak (and when he did, mainly conversed in swearing), had broken, deformed fingers and black stuff seeping from his nose.

The two tales, as you might imagine, connect - though not on this plane of existence. Yep, it's pretty weird stuff, but that's just the way I like it!

In terms of what works really well in this book - for me, one of the outstanding aspects is the mood of it. There's this pervasive atmosphere of bleakness, which from having read two of the author's previous books, seems to be his signature style. I really like it - it works wonderfully for this sort of subject matter.

I personally love the ambiguity of it too - I always appreciate an author who doesn't have to deliver all the answers to the reader; sometimes it's fun to leave it open-ended and let us do the work instead.

Make no mistakes, this is quite a gory read (especially towards the end). I don't like gratuitous violence, but in this instance, I felt it was necessary to get the weirdness of the story across. It's a creepy, unsettling read and I really, really enjoyed it. Next one please!

[Maria Hill AKA MH Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five-star beginning and three-star ending. Will review soon!

Ha Ha. It is the 25th May 2020 - nearly a year and a half later and I never did write this review. So after such a long time my memory of this book is that it is cold, strange and vaguely unsettling as the author appears in the story as himself - and it is a horror novel after all...

I will definitely be rereading this with the first book and maybe just maybe I will have more coherent thoughts on it next time.

[Ends of the Word · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some years back I had enjoyed - with some reservations - Lindqvist's first and best novel "Let the Right One In". It was that which led me to try his latest book to be published in English (in a translation by Marlaine Delargy) - I Always Find You - the second instalment in the "Places" trilogy. Unfortunately, it left me with a sour taste, a reminder that in-your-face horror is, alas, not for me... Which, of course, does not mean that there's not much for others to enjoy in this book.

Lindqvist has often been compared to Stephen King and one can see certain parallels with the American master of horror. Lindqvist is as much concerned with the realist/social aspects of his story as with the supernatural ones. In this case, the protagonist-narrator is a fictionalised version of the author himself, who is recalling events which occurred in 1985, as well as a disturbing incident from some years before that. In the mid-80s, the narrator/author was just 19 years old and starting out as a young showman/magician. He moves into a small and decrepit flat in a run-down apartment complex in Stockholm and the 'horrors' he has to face are the very real daily challenges faced as a teenager coming to terms with adult life. A novel does not need to go far back to count as convincing historical fiction and, in this case, judiciously-placed cultural and historical references (Depeche Mode, skinheads, the assassination of Olof Palme) take us, very effectively, back to 80s Stockholm. One also gets the impression that mixed with the distaste for the sordidness which city life could bring, there's also a vague sense of nostalgia.

The supernatural elements start, literally, with drainage problems. The apartment condomini share a communal laundry and bathroom and, out of the blue, an out-of-order sign appears on the bathroom door. Soon after, cataclysmic and ominous signs manifest themselves - birds fall out of the sky, John suffers from a constant claustrophobic feeling and the neighbours start behaving strangely. And the bathroom seems to beckon.

What follows is hard to describe without giving away much of the plot. And so I will leave any intrigued readers to discover for themselves the strangeness which lurks in the cover's bathtub. Suffice it to say that it is both splendid and bizarre, and evidence of the author's wild flights of the imagination. However, it also leads to some bloody and, at least to me, repulsive scenes and it is here that the book started to lose me.

Lindqvist manages to give even the more outlandish aspects of his book a social and political underpinning. It is an interesting approach even it sometimes gives rise to rather preachy monologues.

Overall, a mixed bag, which gives a horror twist to the "autofiction" genre.

[Maja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly listened to audiobook even though I own it in hardcover. Thankfully this time narrated by Ajvide himself. I actually really like listening to his book even though I'm not a fan of audiobooks in general.
-

Solid continuation to the trilogy. Though it only gives a teeny tiny bit answers to the questions from last book, and leaves you with more questions. We still know little to nothing about the field and the creatures from it.

The writing is still as good as ever. Ajvide has a way with decribing certain macabre and straight up fucked shit that makes you just stop and go, "Wait, did that just happen?". It's amazing.

This book is a prequel to Himmelstrand (I am Behind You) and it's written as a "magical biography" by the author himself and describes a few months in his 19-20th years when he moved to a small house at Luntmakargatan, which so happens to be wall-to-wall with Brunkebergstunneln, something that played a small but important role in the first book and even bigger one now. Strange and dark things are happening, that John at first tries to escape, but is eventually dragged into.

I hope the last book will at least give something to understand what is going on. I doubt it though.

[The Tattooed Book Geek (Drew). · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...

I Always Find You is a slow-burning read that is told from the first person perspective. The first person narration gives a personal account of the story as an older Lindqvist recounts the events that transpired during a six month period over thirty years ago in 1985.

In September 1985 nineteen-year-old John Lindqvist moves from Ibsengatan in Blackeberg to a run-down apartment block in Luntmakargatan in Stockholm, Sweden with dreams of earning a living as a magician.

The block that John lives in is dilapidated and in disrepair with one wall backing onto the Brunkeberg tunnel. There are a courtyard and a separate laundry building that features a bath and shower room for the residents to use, as some apartments, like John’s don’t have those amenities.

There are reclusive and secretive neighbours and strange occurrences taking place in the apartment block. John is plagued by anonymous late-night phone calls that keep asking him for the mysterious Sigge. John also feels a building pressure in his head, an unsettling force from the apartment block that pulls him towards the shower room. The force also flows over into adjoining Brunkeberg tunnel whenever he walks through it and he can sense the same strangeness inside the tunnel as in the apartment block.

On investigating the shower room, John sees black slime seeping in through a crack in the ceiling and inhabiting the bathtub. Disgusted by what he sees John refuses to use the shower room but the black substance jogs his memory and reminds him of something similar that he saw in his childhood and locked away.

John starts to write a story about the event from his past, to come to terms with and try and make sense of it. John was a twelve-year-old child and he met an abused younger child near his home in the forest of Blackeberg. It’s an eerie tale and he calls it ‘The Other Place‘.

John tries to escape the pull of the slime but finds his personality changing and becoming darker. After initially being repulsed by the slime he finds himself drawn back towards it, the pull stronger and he is unable to fight its call. Many of the other residents have already succumbed to the slime and what it can offer them and so, John joins them and their group.

The slime is a portal/doorway and all it costs to enter is some blood. The slime transports John (and the others) to a place that is depicted as a field, that allows them to be whoever they want, reveals their innermost desires, shows their true selves and fills the various holes that are present in their everyday lives.

The field, however, is an addiction that bleeds over into reality. John and the others try to replicate the contentment and euphoria that they feel when they are there in the real world but can’t. They spend longer and longer in the field at the cost of more and more blood and at the cost of their sanity as the field consumes their everyday thoughts and lives.

I like answers and explanations in my books and neither are forthcoming in I Always Find You with many questions regarding the slime and its origin being left unanswered. Of course, answers and explanations aren’t always necessary, you can come to your own conclusion, use your imagination and there’s nothing wrong with a sense of mystery either. But, at times, they can be beneficial to a story and, for me, this was one of those times where answers and explanations by the author over certain things would have been appreciated and would have added extra depth to the story.

Disappointingly, I didn’t find I Always Find You scary, at all. It is a solid read that is both atmospheric and dark, I’ll admit that but, for me, it lacked in tension and apart from a couple of disturbingly macabre scenes there was nothing included that made me feel really uncomfortable.

I did find the mid-eighties setting (the politics, the music and the attitudes of the time) to be well-realised by Lindqvist. I enjoyed The Other Place, the macabre tale that John writes as part of the overall story. As a writer, Lindqvist is able to evoke a strong sense of being alone, the feeling of loneliness and the lack of community that draws the group together and makes the field and what it offers so appealing to them all. But, ultimately, I failed to be gripped by I Always Find You.

[Tez · Rating 3 out of 5]

WARNINGS: Child neglect, police brutality towards children, antisemitism, skinhead assaulting a black man, suicide, assassination.

There may be more, but these are just the ones I remember right now.

[Jenny, havens skräck · Rating 5 out of 5]

En favorit bland Ajvides verk.

[Mircalla · Rating 3 out of 5]

l'altro Lindqvist

John Lindqvist nel 1985 si trasferisce da Blackberg a Stoccolma coltivando il sogno di diventare un mago, nel mentre che si prepara alla competizione che di lì a poco si terrà a Copenaghen, però si fa prendere la mano dalle cattive abitudini e viene arrestato per aver rubato in un negozio, al ritorno a casa si accorge che qualcosa nel condominio è cambiato e poco dopo scopre quello che chiamerà "l'altro posto" un luogo in cui essere un altro da se, quasi la sua ombra, la parte in cui vince la versione peggiore di lui...

fantasiosa autobiografia che culmina con il momento più traumatico della storia recente della Svezia: l'omicidio del Primo Ministro Olaf Palme, cui Lindqvist cerca di dare un senso inventandone un significato simbolico

dopo il successo della trilogia del Primo Ministro di Leif G. W. Persson, che in realtà mantiene un approccio realistico anche se fantapolitico alla faccenda, Lindqvist sceglie per il suo tentativo di decodifica un tono volutamente surreale, con ricordi di infanzia mescolati a fantasie dark, il tutto avvolto da un tono di tristezza per la fine del sogno comunitario della sua generazione,
non male, certo è scritto bene e incuriosisce, ma il tutto ha un tocco troppo personale perchè se ne possa ricavare un vero senso di condivisione per quella che alla fine è una crisi identitaria sociale su scala nazionale

[Text Publishing]

‘Lindqvist manages a near-perfect blend of moving and macabre.’
BookMooch

‘[A] tale of a strange evil force.’
Age

‘A bizarre read, seriously inventive and wildly different.’
Weekend West

[Майя Ставитская · Rating 4 out of 5]

"11.22.63" от шведского Кинга
Если мы не можем собраться вокруг света, то собираемся вокруг тьмы.
Смерть Улофа Пальме не стала для мира таким резонансным событием, как убийство Джона Кеннеди двадцатью тремя годами раньше: там молодой красавец, президент сверхдержавы, тут дядька под шестьдесят, премьер маленькой скандинавской страны. Но шведы помнят, воспринимают как трагедию и национальный позор.

Я не могу назвать вторую часть "Трилогии места" посвященной этому событию в той мере, в какой кингов "11.22.63" - роман об убийстве Кеннеди. Однако, в немалой степени "Движение. Второе место" Rörelsen: Den andra platsen - вариант ответа на загадку убийства Пальме. Дело в том, что окончательной ясности, как и в деле Кеннеди, нет. Был Петтерсон, его сначала посадили, потом отпустили за недоказанностью, теперь убийцей считают Энгстрома, который покончил с собой двадцать лет назад.

Айвиде Линдквист, которого нередко сравнивают с Кингом, вторым романом "Трилогии места" предлагает свою версию развития событий. В строгом смысле "Движение" нельзя назвать продолжением "Химмельстранда". Сквозных героев и разрешения загадок первой книги в этом романе не будет. Время действия - конец восемьдесят пятого, начало восемьдесят шестого и небольшой флэшбэк в конец семидесятых. Свяжет оба романа место действия.

Вернее два: тот бесконечный луг с идеально постриженной изумрудной травой, что так пугал героев первой части, для здешних персонажей станет магнетически притягательным, прямо-таки образом потерянного рая; и туннель на улице Туннельгатан в Стокгольме, с ним так или иначе связаны были все истории первого романа. Так вот, это место для шведов знаковое, там был убит Улоф Пальме, а действие разворачивается в непосредственной близости.

Книга мрачная, пугающая, часто отталкивающая (как всегда у Линдквиста), в значительной степени автобиографическая и в этой ипостаси шокирующе откровенная. Полная подробностей, в которые не хочешь верить, и не можешь не верить. Потому что ее отголоски не раз звучали в других его книгах, включая лучшие, "Впусти меня" и "Блаженны мертвые".

Таки да, Линдквист, на самом деле двадцать лет работал фокусником и стендапером, а от его книг нередко возникает ощущение, что со страниц, на манер ницшеанской бездны, на тебя смотрит монстр. Но он чертовски талантлив, и я буду ждать завершающего романа трилогии "Х. Шестое место" X: Den sista platsen которое непременно переведут.
С одной стороны, мир и наше существование в нем – это чудо. С другой стороны – оскорбление. Как будто тебе пообещали шведский стол, а получил ты всего-навсего две холодные картофелины.

[Dimitris Passas (TapTheLine) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that I was initially reluctant to try reading a novel written by the so-called "Stephen King of Sweden" as I'm not an avid fan of supernatural/horror stories. I've seen the cinema adaptation of "Let the Right One In" and I found it rather dull, never mind the hype surrounding its release. Nevertheless, when I read the synopsis for "I Will Always Find You", I thought that this would be a kind of novel with a special literary quality, as the protagonist is the author himself, John Lindqvist, in the age of around 20 recently moving to Stockholm from Blackeberg. Of course, this is a fictional novel and the events described are just figments of Lindqvist's rich imagination, but there is a weird sense as in some parts this book has a sense of memoir or autobiography, especially where the author expresses his inner thought process, often with references to other books written by him.

The story revolves around John who is recently established in a small apartment in the center of Stockholm and he intends to earn his living performing magic acts in the street or in restaurants/bars etc. John will soon find out that something sinister is happening in his block as his neighbors seem to adopt a dodgy behavior which unsettles the newcomer. And what is the deal with the laundry room? why everyone seems to be so immersed in this specific room?

John will finally discover the truth and begins to experiment with an alternate reality which ultimately helps him to heal old wounds that tormented him for all of his life. As you can conclude there is a rather heavy supernatural dimension to this novel and it can be categorized safely in the horror genre. Lindqvist's prose is flowing smoothly and indeed is reminiscent, at least in parts, of the great Stephen King. Unfortunately, my distaste for all stories incorporating hyper-reality themes made me skip quickly the pages of the last part and I cannot claim that I was all that interested in the plot's outcome. The only reason I would recommend "I Will Always Find You" to a non-horror fiction fan is the aspect that involves the author himself in an otherwise fictional story.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Strongest pro: epic body horror scenes
Strongest con: daily life of a street magician

[Maeve Muir · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very much not for me goodbye x

[Britt-Marie Kullin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Betyg: 5 av 5.

Oj! Vilken bok! Helt klart en av John Ajvide Lindqvists bästa, tycker jag. Jag känner mig helt tom nu, när jag har läst ut den. Känner en saknad efter att läsa boken, och längtar redan till den tredje och avslutande boken i den planerade trilogin. Trodde att den skulle komma om cirka ett år, men tydligen så är den inte planerad förrän om två år, tyvärr.

Jag har alltid älskat John Ajvides böcker, ända sedan jag läste hans första bok, ”Låt den rätte komma in”, som kom ut 2004. Visst älskar jag skräcken och det övernaturliga i hans böcker. Men det är ändå inte det som är det viktigaste och det bästa i hans böcker, tycker jag. Utan det är porträtteringarna av människorna och beskrivningarna av relationerna. Precis som i böckerna av en annan av mina favoritförfattare, Stephen King.

Det är mycket skräck i den här boken, och mycket övernaturlighet. Och det är även en hel del blod, död, och makabra scener. Så man ska definitivt inte vara alltför känslig och kräsmagad om man ska läsa boken.

Men det handlar också om kärlek, vänskap, utanförskap, mobbning, och samhörighet.

Boken utspelar sig i slutet av 1985 och början av 1986, och är ett oerhört fint tidsdokument över Stockholm vid den tiden.

Boken är ju också delvis självbiografisk, och jag tycker att John mycket skickligt har vävt in sina egna upplevelser och erfarenheter med dom påhittade delarna i boken. Jag lyssnade på en författarintervju med honom på Bokmässan i Göteborg, när han pratade om det självbiografiska i boken.

Och författaren ger ju också sin bild av hur mordet på Olof Palme gick till, och vem/vilka/vad som är mördaren.

”Rörelsen: Den andra platsen” är en fristående fortsättning på boken ”Himmelstrand: Den första platsen”. Men boken är en prequel och utspelar sig alltså före den förra boken. Visst är det väl alltid bäst att läsa alla böcker i en serie, men jag tror att den här boken helt klart också kan läsas helt fristående.

Jag älskade ”Himmelstrand”, och här är en länk till min recension av den. I det blogginlägget så finns det också länkar till mina tidigare bokrecensioner av John Ajvides böcker.

Självklart rekommenderar jag den här boken. Helt klart en av årets bästa, enligt mig. Fanns det ett högre betyg än fem av fem, så skulle den få det.

Och boken är ju verkligen så mycket mer än ”bara” en skräckhistoria. Det är en bok om en pojkes svåra uppväxt. Det är en bok om en ung mans väg till att bli vuxen. Den är en bok om Stockholm. Det är en bok om mitten av åttiotalet. Det är en bok om författarens barndom, ungdom, och en bit in i hans vuxenliv. Det är en bok om Palmemordet. Det är en bok om några människors sökande efter mening i livet. Ja, det är verkligen en bok som innehåller hur mycket som helst! Läs den!

[Abmost Fiction · Rating 2 out of 5]

For more reviews, please feel free to check out: abmostfiction.wordpress.com

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book in the Places trilogy, the first being "I Am Behind You" which I really enjoyed - Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one as much.

"In September 1985, nineteen-year-old John Lindqvist moves into a dilapidated old building in Stockholm, planning to make his living as a magician. Something strange is going on in the building's basement - and the price of entry is just a little blood."

Initially I was taken in by this fictionalised memoir of Lindqvist growing up in Swedan and moving into a small and dingy apartment. I found the small nods to his other novels added to the realism of the piece and helped suck me into the story.

I enjoyed the simplicity of the writing, unlike the multiple characters in "I Am Behind You", this one is told straight from 19 year old Lindqvist's point of view. This style added to the factual feel of the narrative, which helped create a deep sense of unease and made me feel that whatever horror growing behind the scenes would soon grab and shake me.

Unfortunately as the story progressed I felt my interest slip, the indications of the strange and the weird soon felt like scraps being dropped from a dinner table with no certainty I was ever going to get invited to enjoy the full meal.

Whereas "I Am Behind You" felt like a slow moving dream that spiralled out of control, I Always Find You, despite starting at a faster pace, felt like it quickly looses momentum and stalls in the middle. Eventually the narrative snaps back on track and there are some creepy and macabre scenes to be enjoyed, but unfortunately I had already become disconnected. I am still curious to read the next novel in this series...

TL;DR - I Always Find You is for fans of Lindqvist's other works and slow (really slow) burn horror novels.

2.5** (out of 5*****)

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Ajvide Lindqvist plays with different ways of writing. He assimilates different dimensions in time and space. In the book, he makes himself the main character, as a young man living in Stockholm and working as a magician. Something is going on i the laundry room in the house where John rents an apartment, and he notices that his neighbors spend much time there, and begin to look exhausted and gloomy.

The characters are mostly outsiders, broken in different ways, and searching meaning in their lives. As most people, they sometimes want to flee form the pain in their lives. John Ajvide Lindqvist creates a supernatural concept, like a safety valve, for the characters, which is interesting and special. However, the disturbing parts made me really sick. The author tries to show a connection between the beautiful and the appalling. The ending is an interesting concept, but didn't really work for me. I think some parts of the book, including the ending, feels far-fetched, even for a book with supernatural elements.

The book is strange and rather uneven. Sometimes it is a ordinary novel, but, then somethings happens and it turns into a real horror story. Then, there is a long explanation of John's work as a magician, or when he meets a woman. It is definitely not an out-right horror novel. The other parts serve to build up the characters and make them believable, which benefits the book.

The author is really good at portraying characters, and when they are vulnerable it really hurts, as the memories of the little boy. The mixture of the horrible and the vulnerable makes John Ajvide Lindqvist a good author. He resembles Stephen King in many ways. However, it is not a book for everyone, certainly not if you don't like the macabre and bizarre.

[Kay Parker]

I can’t rate this and I can’t write a full review because the book did not sit well with me and I DNF’ed it at 49 pages. Something about this book filled me with a dull, heavy gloom and feeling of panic. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was completely horrible and worrying. I love Lindqvist’s writing usually so I’m disappointed I can’t enjoy this one at all, but you win some you lose some.

[Stu Corner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping this would be a continuation of the previous book. Unfortunately not.
Very weird, and quite funny in some places, but overall a bit of a letdown. No way near as good as the previous book. 2.5* rounded up, as it made me laugh out loud a couple of times.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 always wondered where he got his ideas from as usual pretty out there enjoyed it ready for the next one

[Horror Sickness · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5*

Since I read Let The Right One In and it quickly became one of my favorite vampire stories, I was excited to read something else by the author.

Perhaps this was not the best choice since this story felt more like a weird fiction book mixed with an autobiography and it just didn't quite work for me.

At the beginning I was really invested in learning a little bit about the author when he was 19 and was working as a magician. He also moved to an apartment complex that seemed to have something really dark, something lurking in the laundry room.

However as the novel wentone I started to feel less and less interested. The book started to be a bit repetitive and it dragged.

Mostly I believe this book was just not for me or maybe this particular type of horror just did not work for me.

But I am still very much looking forward to trying something else by the author, hoping that Let The Right One In was not just a one hit wonder for me.

[Jenni DaVinCat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not entirely sure how to review this book. Forgive me if this review seems like a jumbled mess, but if you choose to read this book, my 'jumbled mess' review might make sense.

This book is more like an experience, rather than just an entertaining read. It's making me question whether Lindqvist writes fiction at all. I'm starting to suspect he just embellishes on truths that people just write off as being fiction. The feeling of unease this book caused me to feel throughout is something that I don't often feel when reading. This either makes him a brilliant author, or he knows things about the world that we just don't.

I know what you may be thinking. His most famous book is about a vampire, and those aren't real.

But...what if?

This is book 2 of a trilogy. Although I enjoyed the first book (I Am Behind You), I don't think I understood any of it. It makes a lot more sense after having read this book. In this book, however, the main character IS John Lindqvist and I'm not certain that it's a fictional version of himself. I don't know where the line between fiction and reality is in this book. I don't even know if there IS a line. Like I said, this either makes him a brilliant author, or he knows something about the world that I don't know. That kind of thing shakes you and makes you feel a sense of unease that is not common in reading.

I know he is often called the Swedish Stephen King, and while I understand why people say that, it's not a good comparison. No disrespect to King (I love reading King books), because he has had a HUGE influence on modern horror but what he writes and what Lindqvist writes are horrors of a different kind. One thing they have in common that I've learned after reading this book, is that they would both be incredibly dangerous men if they didn't have the ability to write. King has speculated that in interviews, and Lindqvist stated it in this book.

While I still don't completely understand what the books in this trilogy are about. I still give it 5 stars for making me feel it, rather than just read it. I don't know if we're meant to understand it fully. Maybe we can only know as much as Lindqvist himself knows.

[Parul · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is about a struggling-yet-to-realise-author (the writer himself) who is trying to earn his living as a magician.
But something unexplainable from his childhood had come to haunt him again.

'What on Earth did I just read?'; was what I thought after reading the novel.
I don't want to spoil the book for you guys because the story works best when you don't know what to expect next.
John Ajvide Lindquist is a Swedish author and this is one of his translated work.
In my defence I had no knowledge that he is the one who wrote the infamous 'Let the Right One In' nor have I read the same. Hence I was flying completely blind.
There isn't much interaction or dailogues happening between the characters. The story is told more from the point of view of the protagonist, how he feels, thinks, and sees world from his point of view.
I started the book with the only knowledge that the story would have a certain supernatural element to it.
The entire atmosphere of the book developed into something gothic and eerie that I could not fathom what was going to hit me next. And boy did it hit!
There was just one scene that was so gory and was described in such specific details that I had to stop myself from reading. I took a moment to gather my thoughts in order to move further. It actually made me nauseous.
But despite the nauseating feeling, I couldn't help but admire, and eventually love, the writing of the author. Because in order for something to affect your mind so much that you still think about it weeks later, is rare and magical in its own way!
There are certain parts in the story that might be triggering for some of the readers; like hate crime, gory details, child brutality.
But the beauty of the words made me appreciate the writing more than I was affected by some of the scenes, so read at you own risk!
All in all, this is a captivating, weird little book, that slowly creeps and settled in your bones and you won't even realise it! It's been ages that read a book like this!
I'll definitely read more of his work.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man moves to the city to make his way in the world. He's an aspiring magician but also wishes to write. The apartment block he moves into has something strange in the shower block, something that brings the residents together but causes some consternation. This is sort of semi-autobiographical about Lindqvist's burgeoning career and his move into adulthood with his usual subtle horror twist. It was creepy and chilling and a book to read on a dark autumn evening.

[Fredrik Adolvsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Att använda en självbiografisk grund för att berätta en övernaturlig historia. Att skildra ett Stockholm som verkligen fanns och bosätta det med monster som (för det mesta) bara är hämtade från fantasin. Blotta upplägget tilltalar mig på ett väldigt grundläggande sätt, och glädjande nog är den färdiga berättelsen effektivt stämningsfull. Bra skit, helt enkelt.

[Owain Talfryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really quite disgusting. I enjoyed it.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

прям очень понравилось. вот есть книжки, в которых загадка дыры нифига не объясняется до конца, и это жутко бесит (для меня это тана френч, например), а есть такие, где ровно также нифига не объясняется, но все равно очень хорошо. эта - из последних)