If you leave a door half open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken . . .
Single dad Tom Kennedy is trying to start over. After his wife died suddenly of a heart attack, Tom wanted to move himself and his son Jake away to a new place. Jake helped him pick out the new house from the photos, and Tom is hoping that the new school will help. But something isn’t quite right. Jake struggles at his new school and starts talking to “invisible friends.” And Tom catches a strange man skulking around the house and trying to break into his garage. Tom starts having nightmares and hears the house making strange noises.
But the police don’t take him seriously until he figures out what it is in the garage that’s s valuable.
Detective Pete Willis never completely recovered from the case of a young boy who went missing decades before. Now there is another one missing, and Detective Amanda Beck is on the new case. But clues are thin, and as the days tick by, she fears that her chances of finding the boy alive are receding. Their paths cross with that of Tom and Jake, and pieces of the puzzle fall into place.
The past mixes with the present. Reality mixes with dreams. There are butterflies, children’s rhymes, a man in jail with answers who refuses to help. All the pieces are there, but can the police put them together in time to protect the next little boy from The Whisper Man? Or will it be too late?
Alex North’s The Whisper Man is a complex tale of terrible crimes, mixed with family secrets, haunted by ghosts, and rich in redemption. We all tell kids that monsters don’t exist, but they do. And sometimes, those monsters come after us. Part thriller, part spooky story perfect for a campfire, The Whisper Man is a beautifully written story of the monsters among us and the heroes willing to take them on.
I tried to read this book and struggled, but once I started the audio book, I was hooked. It helped that one of my favorite British dramatic actors, Christopher Eccleston, narrates it to perfection. The Whisper Man is spooky, brilliant, powerful, moody, thrilling, and genius. If you don’t mind a book that might keep you up at night, The Whisper Man is a must-read.
Egalleys for The Whisper Man were provided by Celadon Books through NetGalley, with many thanks, but I bought the audio book myself, thanks to Audible.