A review by ericarobyn
Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower is a powerful and fiery tale about motherhood and the lengths one woman will go to protect those that she loves.

Rose McFarland is a member of the Memphis S.W.A.T. team who works as a sniper when duty calls, taking out the targets when negotiations fail. When she puts down her gun and removes her work clothes, she’s a mother to two young children.

Rose also struggles with two things that always have her on edge. One, her body image; Rose is covered in burn scars from a fire that had killed her brother and father when she was a child and she still doesn’t let anyone touch her. And second, she hears whispers and sees things that no one else can…

The one person that believes her and, in turn, who she believes when he says things to her is her ex husband, Sam, who she still has a great relationship with as they continue to co-parent the children.

One day, after neutralizing a target at work, the whispers pick up again. Rose tries to move on, but when they start to go after her son, she starts off down a path that leads straight to hell itself. While terrified, Rose will do whatever it takes to make them leave her son alone.

My gosh. Right from page one I was hooked! The plot overall was incredibly eerie! Laurel has such a talent with organizing tales to scare the pants off of you in one scene, and then jump to a heartwarming scene that will have you melting. I absolutely love this because I never quite know what to expect next!

I loved the main character, Rose, immediately. She is such a powerful woman both with her line of work and how she handles her family life. I was in awe of how well she seemed to balance everything. I also really loved Sam and I was interested to see where things on his end were going to go. Out of a feeling of protection for Rose, I was wary about Sam’s intentions at first, but hoped for the best.

This is one of those stories that I could go on and on about, but I’ll leave the rest to you to discover when you pick it up!

My Favorite Passages:

I know you have a romantic notion of yourself as enigmatic, but I have to tell you that every thought you have marches straight across your face on its way through your mind. 

L’Oreal or Cover Girl couldn’t paint on a soul. 

It could almost have been beautiful, if you didn’t know what hell it had been to live there.

They were in me, they were all around me, and they were everywhere at once.

My Final Thoughts:

I cannot believe it took me this long to get to this book. This was Laurel’s debut novel and my goodness, it was incredible! I love the focus on family and how strong the love was there. I also loved the elements of the paranormal that, while very eerie and intense, were added into the story in such a believable way.

I will definitely be reading this one again from time to time.

If you haven’t yet picked this one up, I highly recommend doing so ASAP if you enjoy seriously creepy reads with a strong focus on family.