By Alex North
Published: August 20, 2019

This review focuses on the audio book version.

Prior to The Whisper Man being released, I started seeing the terrific reviews coming in for this book. I knew almost immediately I wanted to read it, but wanted to wait until October, which seemed to me to be the perfect month for this book.

Description:

In this dark, suspenseful thriller, Alex North weaves a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town.

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…

Thoughts:

Initially, when I heard about the book my impression was that it was mild horror/suspense. What I found was that although there definitely is a creepy-vibe to the story and some supernatural moments, what I found was that it was more of a psychological thriller. A story about a father and son struggling after the death the wife/mother. A story about a policeman who still regrets never being able to find a young boy who was kidnapped years prior and continues to fight every day to stay sober. A policeman who has reservations about if all the right individuals were found for the murder. The story and all its developments were terrific. It was told from multiple POVs – the father, the son, the policeman. Collectively their stories were full and complete and really draw you in to care about the characters.

Audio Book Review:

I’ll be honest, I was a little disappointed in the audio book. My trouble wasn’t with the quality or production of the audio book – that was very good. I also didn’t experience any issues with hearing or being able to understand what was being said. However, what I found was that there wasn’t a variation in the speaking patterns, dialects, and accents of the different characters so that all the characters sounded very much the same. The narration itself was good, but when a character was speaking I couldn’t immediately tell who was actually speaking, which to me is a very important part of audio books.

Even though the majority of the voices sounded alike in the audio version, one voice really, really stood out. Like Danny talking with Tony in The Shining kind of good. There is a moment in the story/audio book where Jake is talking to someone or something and the voice given for this ‘character’ is so extremely creepy and supernatural-sounding. It was a very large stand out moment in the audio book.

Rating: 5 stars