With you or without you," Margaret insists, and at these words George knows his only choice is to follow her. I feel like we see the unsettling twins and imaginary friend trope a lot in horror, however, it can still creep me out when it's done right, and it was in this one! There were a number of moments in this that put me on edge and genuinely gave me a little spook. I also really like grief as a topic in horror, I feel like it adds an element of unreliability to the characters, which is another thing I enjoyed in this.⁠

Thirdly, there was disagreement over whether Bentley was fit to stand trial in light of his mental capacity. The Principal Medical Officer responsible was Dr Matheson and he referred Bentley to Dr Hill, a psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital. Hill's report stated that Bentley was illiterate and of low intelligence, what we would today describe as having learning difficulties. However, Matheson was of the opinion that whilst agreeing that Bentley was of low intelligence, he did not have epilepsy at the time of the alleged offence and he was not a "feeble-minded person" under the Mental Deficiency Acts. Matheson said that he was sane and fit to plead and stand trial. English law at the time did not recognise the concept of diminished responsibility due to retarded development, though it existed in Scottish law (it was introduced to England by the Homicide Act 1957). Criminal insanity– where the accused is unable to distinguish right from wrong– was then the only medical defence to murder. Bentley, while he had a severe debilitation, was not insane. Alfie, battling his own grief, is struggling to parent the girls alone. In spite of the challenges, Alfie feels like overall, they're doing okay. At least as well as could be expected. What I enjoyed about the events that unfold after this is that debut author William Friend blurs the boundaries between the real and the imagined using grief, guilt and trauma as a catalyst, leaving me uncertain about what was truly happening. The book was, at times, slowly and deliberately paced, and while I could appreciate why it was done, it might’ve been a little bit too slow for my tastes.

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We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there”-he waved his arm at the taut wire of the horizon-”and if we have a signal going they’ll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there.” There were a couple places towards the end where I got a little lost, but that could totally just be my own issue. Wandering mind and all that. Besides those couple of spots though, overall, I was extremely invested in this.

I agree with Ralph. We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything. So we’ve got to do the right things.” There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.” As Alfie begins to suffer from traumatic nightmares, unsettling visions, and an eerie sense of being watched, the situation escalates, leading to even deadlier and more dangerous consequences.

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Hopeless, Bob (17 March 2006). " 'Let Him Have It!' - The Case of Bentley and Craig". h2g2. BBC. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009 . Retrieved 3 April 2011. The film also takes cognisance of the fact that Bentley’s mental state had no bearing on the case. It is well known that many prisoners get away using this defence. Also, under the scanner is how the court and jury arrived at the conclusion that the four key words, “ Let him have it,” were an incitement to shoot, as any right-thinking person would assume them to mean to give up the gun. Bentley was denied the benefit of doubt at every stage. The director has done well to portray the protagonist as a victim straight from the opening scene, where Bentley is trapped under the rubble of a house. This goes a long way in generating sympathy for him, which was the film’s ultimate objective. Never in my life would I have anticipated the fear that consumed me while reading . Let Him In, is an explosive debut. After concluding I pray I don’t have to wait too long for another book by this author. Alife awakens to the cries of his twin girls proclaiming there is a man in their bedroom. When none can be found he chalks it up to childish nightmares and nothing more. When the presence of this strange figure lingers in the daytime he decides it must be a figment of their young imaginations and a coping mechanism after the recent loss of their mother. But what is he is wrong? R.M. Coulthard (2000): "Whose text is it? On the linguistic investigation of authorship", in S. Sarangi and R.M. Coulthard: Discourse and Social Life, London, Longman, pp. 270–287