I AM BEHIND YOU
John Ajvide Lindqvist returns with another tale to be read with the lights on. Like all books, really.
When you think about it, it’s a wonder no one has tapped the spine-chilling potential of the caravan holiday before: being trapped in close quarters with your nearest and dearest; becoming temporary neighbours with annoying strangers; having to poo in a chemical toilet. But the holidaymakers in Let The Right One In author John Ajvide Lindqvist’s latest have far worse to contend with.
Waking one morning, they discover that everything except their four caravans and cars has disappeared – or rather, that their vehicles have been relocated. Stretching in every direction is neatly trimmed grass. Most disquieting of all: though the sky is bright, the sun is nowhere to be seen… Will the camera pull back to reveal the bars of an alien zoo? Are they in some kind of alternate universe? Could this be... Hell?
It’s an affectingly eerie scenario, and one which grows more and more menacingly surreal as our heroes explore the landscape, eventually discovering that they are not alone. There are entities traversing this featureless plain – creatures who look different to every person who observes them, assuming the shapes of figures from their memories, daydreams or nightmares. And they’re not the only threat.
Lindqvist is often compared in reviews to Stephen King – generally, one suspects, because he’s a popular horror writer. Here he seems to have embraced the “new Stephen King” tag. The set-up is highly reminiscent of the Maine author – the likes of Under The Dome and The Mist immediately spring to mind. So is the way that Lindqvist brings together a disparate set of characters, sets them at loggerheads (understandably, given the sanity-straining circumstances, it’s not long before people come to blows), and gradually peels away the layers of their personalities – uncovering dark secrets and revisiting moments of personal crisis.
But what I Am Behind You recalls even more strongly, with its baffling environment and flashback-heavy structure, is Lost – and not necessarily in a good way. We’re thrown in at the deep end of the premise from the very start, but by the time page 400 arrives we’re not really any the wiser. In classic Lost style, for every answer supplied, another question is posed. Lindqvist’s approach seems to be summed up near the end, when a character is asked “Why?” and replies, “Good luck with working that one out.” This is just the first book in a series of three, and perhaps forthcoming volumes will provide some closure, but anyone who spent the closing moments of Lost’s finale turning the air blue may find themselves experiencing a familiar sinking feeling.
Still, if you can suppress twinges of cynicism about the road ahead, there’s plenty to enjoy here. There’s something haunting about the way the book confronts its characters with the void. There are some memorably gruesome sequences. And the cast of characters is well worth getting to know. It includes alienated, self-loathing model Isabelle; Donald, a septuagenarian Americophile with serious anger management issues; and Olf and Lannart, 50-something farmers who share a bed but have never kissed. Then there’s Star Wars-mad lad Emil, whose childish perspective Lindqvist does a convincing job of conveying. Amusingly, the author also presents events from the POV of a beagle called Benny – great fun, although this does rather come across like padding.
The standout character, however, is Molly, a seriously creepy six year old with preternatural insight and a habit of making unnervingly grown-up pronouncements. Simple questions like “What the hell is she?” keep you reading. Whether they’ll keep you hooked for the duration of a trilogy set in this mystifying world… well, that remains to be seen. Ian Berriman
The original Swedish edition was titled Himmelstrand, after songwriter Peter Himmelstrand – whose songs are featured.