The Whisper Man by Alex North

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This book contains the kidnapping and murder of children.  While there are no graphic descriptions of harm to children, it’s still a large part of the story. 

The Whisper Man is one of the best spooky thrillers I’ve read this year.  After the death of his wife Tom Kennedy, along with his young son Jake, move to a new neighborhood hoping for a fresh start. Poor Jake not only lost his mother, but was the one who found her body after her collapse.  Taking comfort in his imaginary friend, Jake turns more inward and spends most of his time drawing pictures by himself.  

While Tom and Jake try to move forward, the neighborhood they move to is brutally pulled back in the past when a young boy goes missing, just like the many victims of the Whisper Man decades before. The original detective for the case, Pete Willis joins the new head detective Amanda Beck in the search for the boy and clues to what can only be the elusive criminal partner of the Whisper Man. 

When Tom and Jake’s lives intersect with the investigation, their past, along with the pasts of the detectives, will intertwine in ways no one saw coming.  

This book is the very definition of page-turning thriller.  It was chilling, scary, and yet still managed to never give any gruesome details of what happened to the child victims.  I can’t read about violence towards children and I really appreciated the care North takes with conveying the fear and violence against the children without providing any details that will keep you up with nightmares. There’s also a wonderfully creepy imaginary child that may or may not be a ghost? Her connection to Jake is both terrifying and incredibly sweet-bizarre, I know, but it’s true. Tom and Jake have a very strained relationship.  Poor Jake is haunted by his mother’s death and while Tom is equally devastated, his feelings of abandonment nearly overwhelm the needs of his son. North’s ability to weave together all of the different twists and turns was magical to read. It’s such a well crafted story that I couldn’t stop reading it until the very last page.  

I can’t recommend this highly enough for any thriller readers who love a little bit of ghostly intrigue in their novels. This was my August pick from Book of the Month and now I’m really upset I waited so long to fit it in to my reading schedule.  

If you would like a copy for yourself, you can get one here: 

Interested in trying out Book of the Month? I have been really impressed with the selection of titles and haven’t had a single disappointing book yet. You can find more information here.

More from Alex North:

So, according to the book and the Publisher’s website, Alex North is a British crime writer who previously published under a different name. I can’t find what that is but I’m very intrigued.

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