Goodreads: The Whisper Man
Genre: Thriller, Crime Mystery
Rating:

After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank. But the town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed “The Whisper Man,” for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.
Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter’s crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison: The Whisper Man.
And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window…

A creepy thriller with supernatural elements that will have you questioning what’s real and what’s not. This one will have you sleeping with the lights on and making sure that all the doors and windows are locked tight!

I’m a big scaredy cat, so when I read the tagline for this book, my brain immediately shouted in big bold letters: DO NOT READ! But then I saw it everywhere on bookstagram and… I guess FOMO and bookstgram made me do it? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Also, I was trying everything possible to get out of my two-week book slump! In the end, I’m really glad that I didn’t listen to my inner whimp because this turned out to be more of a thriller with some supernatural elements, rather than the full blown horror story that the tagline would have you believe. And at least for me, that wasn’t a bad thing at all! I still totally slept with the lights on and kept all doors/windows firmly shut though 😅 Sorry in advance for the possibly shoddy review that won’t tell you much about this book 🙃

If you leave a door half open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken.
If you play outside alone, soon you won’t be going home.
If your windows left unlatched, you’ll hear him tapping at the glass.
If you’re lonely, sad, and blue, the Whisper Man will come for you.

The Whisper Man wasn’t the fast paced thriller I was expecting, but it still hooked me from the start. The story is told from multiple perspectives: DI Pete Willis was the original detective who caught The Whisper Man, but he has been haunted by his own personal and professional perceived failures. DI Amanda Beck is the new detective in charge of finding the new missing boy and catching the copycat.Tom and Jake Kennedy are grieving the loss of wife/mother and have moved to a new town, home and school to start fresh. We also get short chapters from the killer’s perspective, which was interesting albeit a bit sad/pitiful. I thought North did a good job developing all the character arcs and there were a few surprises that I didn’t expect at all! Maybe it’s because I also haven’t read a thriller in several months (and honestly, I think I just really suck at guessing whodunit from the start), but I only figured out who the killer was shortly before the characters in the story did too. There were a few swear out loud ‘oh shit’ moments that kept me on my toes and racing towards the end to find out what happened, and I have to say that I was pretty satisfied with how it ended the story. It was pretty creepy and I would hate knowing that was coming for me!

We were going to be safe here.
We were going to be happy.
And for the first week, we were.

I actually didn’t know there would be supernatural elements in this as there’s no hint of it in the synopsis. When I realised, fairly quickly, that this was going to have those elements, I did push myself to continue and not put it down. It wasn’t the scariest I’ve ever come across, but it was still spine tingling, especially when they move to the new house! And I always think scary stories with children involved in them are just… The worst lol But I did appreciate how Alex North revealed the importance of these supernatural events; it was surprising and touching. Also, it’s very creepy to know that this story was inspired by the author’s son who one day claimed that he was playing with ‘the boy in the floor’….Um… yeah. Excuse me, what? 👀

Overall, I’m really glad I read this book. The Whisper Man isn’t only about a serial killer and psychopath, it also explores the important relationship between parent and child, particularly between fathers and sons, and I think North did a great job of exploring the topic. I’ll definitely be keen to read more by him in the future!

Have you read The Whisper Man? Loved it? Hated it? Felt ‘meh’ about it?
Leave me a comment below and let’s chat!