Reviews

I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist

etwasinspired's review

Tried the audio. It was gimmicky and often with stories like this, it just annoys me as a reader, dragging on and not letting us in on the secret. 

chrsandrade's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

emmaahlerup's review against another edition

1.0

Tråkig bok, ingenting händer och det värsta var att den inte ens var läskig! Jag läste klart hela för jag hoppades in i det sista på en otäck twist på slutet. Men det kom ingen.

kuranes's review

4.0

Very disturbing.

windsorgrace's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I Am Behind You is all over the place. There are so many ideas happening it’s a little hard to keep track of the plot. The concept drew me in but story didn’t do much for me. 

It begins with four families, who are staying at a caravan park, waking up to find themselves moved into the middle of a giant field. There is no sun, no beginning and no end as far as the eye can see or as far as they’re willing to drive away from the others. Each one sees their worst nightmare coming towards them from the distance. Things digress from there. 

We never get answers to what is going on with these characters. I’d love to know more about where they find themselves, what the nightmare things really are, how they got to this world, and who marked them. There’s many questions and very few answers to be found. The entire story is extremely bleak with no breaks from the devastation. While I’m a huge fan of weird, I felt like the author also didn’t know what was going on because nothing made sense or came together. The characters didn’t relate to each other, they may as well have been on four different fields without the caravans. I suggest you skip this one and read one of the other books the author is so well known for.

Trigger warnings: There is violence, violence against children, evil children, and disparagement of women

breadandmushrooms's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

rickardperkonrad's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

squidgesmum's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

dauid's review against another edition

2.0

"I Am Behind You" by John Ajvide Lindqvist had me on a real emotional rollercoaster. Some characters really grabbed my interest, but most of them turned out to be either wholly or partially unlikable, except for a couple of clear exceptions. The persistent lack of stakes throughout the narrative was quite a letdown. What kept bugging me was the storytelling approach, heavily reliant on memories and dreams, which got annoying after a while. I'm giving it a disappointed 2 out of 5. There were glimpses of promise, but the overall execution left me wanting more.

vaudevillianveteran's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0