I Am Behind You

Yesterday they feel asleep in their caravans on an ordinary Swedish campsite. Today they wake up somewhere completely different. Four caravans and four cars, ten people, two pets, tossed out on a seemingly endless field of impossible lush grass. Above them a clear blue sky, but there is no sun. The radio only plays golden oldies on all stations. According to the GPS they haven’t moved. Before long someone discovers the bloody X:s smeared on the back of their trailers, marking them. And the expeditions by car out into the green forever show no end to the giant lawn. But it shows something else. Walking in strangely straight lines out there are people they remember. An abusive father. A psychotic hallucination. An impossibly thin white show more figure, missing too many parts to be called human. Shapes from the past, reminding all of them of things they’d rather keep hidden. It isn’t long before the group starts getting on each other’s nerves. Very seriously so.

The basic setup, with people being shielded off from the world around, and realising they might not be grouped by coincidence, is an old one in horror. But Ajvide’s strange grass plains is still a memorable location, and his cast is interesting. Not really drawing inspiration from any sources I know here, the imagery is stark and surreal. A endless summer day has seldom felt so creepy. I few late additions – a bitter writer of evergreens and the gun that killed prime minister Palme in the 80ies – are more confusing than ambience creating. But despite being more enigmatic than usual here, Ajvide mostly pulls it off once again. Swedish fiction knows no other horror writer of the same high consistance of quality. show less

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this novel. There was so much potential and so much that I did really like but at the same time, I wasn't sure I liked how we got there.

The story starts with four families in four different caravans all waking up to discover that they are no longer in the camping grounds where they parked the night before. They are in a huge empty field with no sun in the sky, just ambient light from somewhere. The families try to discover what happened but they are also experiencing various degrees of cooperation and anger.

(minor spoilers below) I love that main idea. There is so much potential there: different dimensions, some super powered alien, different states of mind, an accident in reality. At first the show more story progresses beautifully. The characters are easy to remember and we get flashbacks to flush them out as real people. Unfortunately somewhere around a third or maybe half of the way through, things started falling apart for me. I started to actively not like a couple of the characters. No big deal; not liking the "bad guy" of the story is normal. Except I'm not sure if she was supposed to be the "bad guy". Spoiler alert, the character is Molly. It seemed that when Lindqvist needed someone to do something bad, he made Molly do it. He quasi-explained it near the end of the book and he did a great job of doing so. He made me feel totally sorry for what happened to Molly as a toddler; my God, her mother was so selfish and mean! This was one of the times I was in tears. But, at the same time, it left me confused about my feelings for Molly. I suppose that's like life though. Good people can do stupid things for no easy-to-understand reason. That was actually a huge strength in this book. The characters were so rich and real. I probably cried three or four times at some of the events that happened to the characters. I put myself in their place and felt for what was happening. But then I would go back to the plot and realize there did not seem to be one. There was a series of strange events that kept happening to which the characters would respond, but that was it. No direction, no arc. Just "how will you respond if I introduce zombie-type monsters?" or "what about acid rain?" It made me feel that Lindqvist did not have a final ending in mind as he wrote the book and that he made it up as he went. Then rather than editing that first draft and weaving the ending throughout the entire novel so that it made sense, he left it alone. A confusing and not-quite-complete story that had so much potential. (3.5 stars that I'm actually rounding down in order to not diminish my other books rated at 4 stars) show less

So, I am aware that this book is not going to suit everyone, but I for one got very caught up in it, and loved it! If you like a story where you get all the answers, and everything is nicely wrapped up at the end, then you are probably not going to get on well with this book. It's very much character driven rather than plot driven, which I wasn't expecting.
We are presented with a set of caravans which have apparently been moved overnight.. or maybe everything has been removed from around them? It's not clear at all what has happened, and we are as confused as the characters. Thankfully they explore their surroundings quickly (otherwise I would have given up on the book!) but there appears no where to go.
There is threat, and strangeness, show more and a plot-as-such, but it's the characters who play centre stage. Some are likeable, others not so much, but all found their way into my head.
This is a book which wasn't as I expected, but I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it! show less

I am rating the book four stars because of the superlative skills of the author, that he is able to engage a reader in a fantastical story with no clear protaganist or cause and effect, or even suggestion of a conclusion, for example the final sentence " I switch off the light" added even more confusion. The book "I Am Behind You" details the bizzare, inexpliciable, life threatening events that four families have to contend with when seemingly they wakeup in a campsite devoid of everything aside from a grassy expanse. The back story of each character is well developed so that sympathy, however nominal, is evoked for even the most loathsome of the characters, but, and here is the twist, nothing is really as it seems including the show more reader's perception of the characters: are the loathsome characters really that horrible? I found the book to be a page turner and would recommend but not if you want a tidy vampire get a stake in their heart a la Stoker or are chased away to return stronger a la LeStat or live happily ever after a la Twilight. I will definitely be looking for book number two of this trilogy. show less

I’m not 100% sure about how i feel about this book to be honest but I do keep finding myself thinking about it!!

The book is slightly bizarre, thought-provoking, and at times a touch baffling, it tears the heart and twists the soul.

This if the first book in a planned 3 part series and i am not sure how long the wait will be before the second instalment.

It was quite a slow drawn out first part of the book and i was close to giving up at one point, BUT I am pleased i persevered as the book picks up steam and the action starts.
I think it is a more psychological horror than blood bath but the book certainly doesn’t shy away from the intense gruesome scenes that take place in the latter part of the book. They are descriptive without being show more too disturbing and over the top, some you will see coming and some not until it happens which i really liked.

John Ajvide Lindqvist has been called Sweden’s version of Stephen King but I would put this book on a liking to some of Clive Barker’s earlier work, which is in no way a bad thing!

The story takes place not in our world, or not as we see it. All that there is are 4 caravans where the occupants go to sleep in a busy caravan holiday park but wake up to a what appears to be an empty field. All they can see in all directions is flat green grass and pure blue sky, not even a single cloud.

There occupants are an eclectic bunch that are from different walks of life so why were these four families picked up and removed to this strange place? What’s the connection?
In one caravan are the Sundberg family consisting of Peter, a national football superstar, his wife Isabelle, a model and their 6-year-old daughter Molly.
The next caravan is home to Stefan Larsson, a small town store owner, his wife Carina and their young 9-year-old son Emil.
Next there is Lennart and Olof, two farmers who have been together since their wives ran off and left them and their cat, then finally Donald, his wife Majvor who are both retired and their dog Benny.

The book is in 3 parts, Outside, Inside and Beyond and the story is told in alternating parts by each of the characters, even the dog and cat have their parts to play.
The story follows the groups as they explore their new surroundings and their attempts at trying to understand why they have ended up here.
We also get to learn parts of the characters back stories and find out what inner demons they will have to face in the struggle to survive.

Due to the fact this is only book one it leaves a lot of things unresolved and unexplained, like the how and the why, so it will be very interesting to see where the story will go from here.

It is really well written and the translation is extremely good. There are some mentions of a Swedish singer i haven’t heard of but other than that it works well in English.
So all in all, this book won’t be for everyone but I am pleased i finished the book, its well written, most of the characters are believable even though some you don’t care for, the creepiness sneaks up on you and ramps up the internal tensions to inevitable violence, sweeping you along for the ride.

I will defiantly be waiting for book number 2 to be released! show less

As in Let the Right One In, Lindqvist seems to be playing with what makes a monster a monster. Also in here is a lot about purpose and meaning, honesty with ourselves and others, and how we sometimes can be so consumed by following the path, we forget why we're doing it. All of this and a compelling story make this a very satisfying read for me. I say this about almost every book now, but this one feels timely.

Enjoyable, but I couldn't possibly explain why. In fact I could possibly explain what it is about or make any claim to understand the resolution.

Four families wake up expecting to be on a busy campsite but instead find themselves on a featureless grass plain which appears to go on forever. A creepy little girl, a dog which makes friends with it's worst enemy (a cat), strange blood-sucking figures and a rain of concentrated acid stalk the pages.