I Am Behind You
John Ajvide Lindqvist
Translated by Marlaine Delargy
Four families wake up one morning in their caravans, next to their cars, on an ordinary campsite in southern Sweden. However, during the night something strange has happened. Everything else has disappeared, and the world has been transformed into an endless expanse of grass. The sky is blue, but there is no sign of the sun; there are no trees, no flowers, no birds. And every radio plays nothing but the songs of sixties pop icon Peter Himmelstrand.
As the holiday-makers try to come to terms with what has happened, they are forced to confront their deepest fears and secret desires, and in many cases expose the less appealing aspects of their character. Past events that they have tried to bury rise to the surface and take on a terrifying physical form.
Can any of them find a way back to reality?
I Am Behind You is a compelling, eerie new novel from the internationally bestselling author of Let the Right One In.
andI Am Behind You
‘A smart, sprawling romp that’s all about love and courage and loyalty…I haven’t read such a bold, free-wheeling novel in years. I loved every word of it.’
‘An unsettling and durable horror tale from the mind of a dangerously imaginative man.’
‘Lindqvist, like Stephen King, with whom he has often been compared, offers finely crafted and psychologically sharp parables of a cracked society.’
‘Can a horror thriller be truly enjoyable? Certainly in the hands of Swedish author Lindqvist…Intelligent writing, poetic imagery, a deft turn of phrase.’
‘Brilliant and unexpected.’
‘A delicate balance between macabre and moving.’
‘Lindqvist is Sweden’s answer to Stephen King.’
‘Fabulously creepy.’
‘As imaginative and brilliant as any of [Stephen] King’s famous stories…Eerie and compelling.’
‘A genuine skin-crawler of a book.’
‘Every character — even the animals — is finely drawn in a surreal tale that is simply extraordinary.’
‘[Lindqvist’s] talent for psychological horror takes a new twist in his latest novel…A slow-burner with a few intense thrills up its sleeve.’
‘Things end badly, with throat-cutting, melting flesh and a gruesome motoring accident, all timed impeccably and reported with unblinking clarity.‘
‘[Lindquist] is willing to take it to the edge and then some. But weirdly, disturbingly it all hangs together, perhaps a metaphor, perhaps a meditation on some of the less attractive aspects of what it means to be human, perhaps just creepy entertainment.’
