The Whisper Man by Alex North
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you leave a door half open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken.
I cannot even begin to express how jaw-droppingly good this book was. A beautifully told, tense, haunting story of a father and son who get caught in the crosshairs of a serial killer investigation. At times spine-tinglingly tense and at others absolutely heart-breaking, this is far and away my favorite crime thriller I’ve read in years.
It’s being compared to The Sixth Sense in some circles, and while the story isn’t really the same, there is an element of menace and supernatural about it that definitely makes it fall into that category.
Recently widowed, Tom Kennedy takes his young son, Jake, and moves to the sleepy village of Featherbank, looking for a fresh start. But a young boy has gone missing here with stark similarities to a disappearance and murder of young boys 20 years ago. Each heard a man whispering to him days before he went missing. And now Jake is hearing whispers, too.
With gorgeously written characters who really came to life, The Whisper Man is creepy and unsettling, yet so beautifully written and emotional that all I could do after I’d finished was sit there completely shocked. This is one of those rare books that perfectly blends character, setting and plot so effortlessly it felt like time slipped away from me as I read.
I know rights have been sold to make this book into a movie, and I will be the first one in line to watch it. Massive bravo to Alex North for a stunning debut novel.
