Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Its 1980s, Oskar a twelve year old boy is constantly bullied in school. Going to school and being cornered in the toilet is his biggest fear. There is no escape and the only way he seeks solace is by fantasizing a bloody revenge.
Eli a primitive person in child's body, dirty, emaciated, hungry and lonely. Eli and Oskar are two painfully lonely people and when they meet, a beautiful friendship is born. A friendship that is tested through tears, toil and blood. A friendship that comes shining through while the rest of the world around them falls apart.

This was one gripping book I have read in ages. You just had to keep on reading once you started. Since Dracula, I haven't come across another book of the Gothic genre that unfolds itself with such an eloquent poetic touch. Each and every character in the book is a round one with more than just three dimensions.
Its about the weak, the helpless with strong overtones of perhaps an unearthly intervention ;)
Fantastic book for all those who love to delve into Gothic fiction and at the same time the style calls for a recommendation to all book lovers out there. One feels a genuine empathy for this little "thing" around whom the story revolves. The narration is powerful with vivid descriptions of the ugly. One can actually taste the repugnant, the repulsive nature in which a human body undergoes a metamorphosis. Grotesque would be an understatement here, but at the same time it is about finding beauty and love in the art of the grotesque. I really look forward to reading more fiction from Lindqvist. One cannot help envying him for having such an illusive vision.