The sense of dread sizzles off the page in this taut thriller. You see, Tom's son is afraid of monsters, but he tells the boy that they don't exist.
And now he's sorry that he lied...
It all starts when Tom Kennedy suddenly loses his wife, and needing a fresh start, moves to Featherbank with his son Jake. But the town holds a dark secret—it’s the hunting ground of a serial killer known as the Whisper Man. And now another boy has gone missing....
Alex North’s The Whisper Man didn’t meet my expectations—and that is actually a really good thing.
I started out wanting to read it because I enjoy crime thrillers and the horror genre in general, but the subject matter of this one is tricky—a serial killer targeting little boys. I was worried that what I’d be reading would soon devolve into something beyond just the macabre and could take a turn for the worst into the exploitative.
But The Whisper Man proves that a reader’s imagination can still be the best part of making a book chills-inducing and creepy. North handles his subject with such a gentle hand; instead of being gratuitous, he writes only so much to give you an idea what’s going on, and then lets you fill in the rest. And never once did I feel short changed. There’s plenty opportunity for heart-stopping twists.
There’s also a lot of heart and emotional complexity, mostly owed to the interactions among Tom, Jake, and DI Pete Willis. And though North employs multiple POV’s over the course of the book, all feel satisfying and fleshed out. The writing here is excellent.
Thank you to Celadon Books for providing this review copy. I would definitely recommend this one—it didn’t meet my expectations, it exceeded them fully. I will certainly be on the lookout for more of North's work in the future.
And now he's sorry that he lied...
It all starts when Tom Kennedy suddenly loses his wife, and needing a fresh start, moves to Featherbank with his son Jake. But the town holds a dark secret—it’s the hunting ground of a serial killer known as the Whisper Man. And now another boy has gone missing....
Alex North’s The Whisper Man didn’t meet my expectations—and that is actually a really good thing.
I started out wanting to read it because I enjoy crime thrillers and the horror genre in general, but the subject matter of this one is tricky—a serial killer targeting little boys. I was worried that what I’d be reading would soon devolve into something beyond just the macabre and could take a turn for the worst into the exploitative.
But The Whisper Man proves that a reader’s imagination can still be the best part of making a book chills-inducing and creepy. North handles his subject with such a gentle hand; instead of being gratuitous, he writes only so much to give you an idea what’s going on, and then lets you fill in the rest. And never once did I feel short changed. There’s plenty opportunity for heart-stopping twists.
There’s also a lot of heart and emotional complexity, mostly owed to the interactions among Tom, Jake, and DI Pete Willis. And though North employs multiple POV’s over the course of the book, all feel satisfying and fleshed out. The writing here is excellent.
Thank you to Celadon Books for providing this review copy. I would definitely recommend this one—it didn’t meet my expectations, it exceeded them fully. I will certainly be on the lookout for more of North's work in the future.