Nothing is as it first seems in John Ajvide Lindqvist's uncanny and utterly engrossing horror novel I Am Behind You. Four families at a Swedish campground wake up one morning to find that everything has disappeared except the campers in which they slept. In place of the world that once was is an endless expanse of grass in every direction and a bright blue sky above. Even that brightness is a mystery, because the sun is also missing.
Lindqvist (Let the Right One In, Little Star) has been compared by several critics with Stephen King, and here it's easy to see why. Like the American horror master, Lindqvist draws characters with fascinating interiors and believable histories. Many of the campers are unlikable people, but that makes them more realistic. The novel gains momentum when each begins to hallucinate figures that represent their deepest desires or fears. Through these visions the campers learn more about each other, including why they've made certain life decisions--and regretfully avoided making others. Relationships become strained as ugly truths surface. Humans are terrifying when they feel trapped and exposed.
I Am Behind You isn't all horror, however. Appearing throughout are amusing references to popular culture that delight as much as mystify. One character's visions, for example, include a seductive Jimmy Stewart. And on the radio, Swedish pop star Peter Himmelstrand croons his hits from the 1960s. Imaginative and complexly structured, I Am Behind You is an outstanding work of oddball, literary horror. --Amy Brady, freelance writer and editor