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amandasbookreview 's review for:
The Whisper Man
by Alex North
The Whisper Man by Alex North is my book club’s selection for the month of October. We wanted a thriller. Something creepy. Did we find it? Keep on reading and find out.
* WARNING: POSSIBLE TRIGGERS INVOLVING MENTAL ILLNESS, DARK CRIMES AND GRUESOME DEATH.*
The story follows multiple points of view. Tom Kennedy is a writer and father of a young boy named Jake. Tom Kennedy’s wife had died and he still grieves for her. He also doesn’t know how to be a good father to Jake. Jake is an unusual child. He is scarred from discovering the body of his mother. He has an imaginary friend, draws most of the time and rarely talks. They move in order to leave the past behind and start a new life. However, the house that they move into has a dark history. Not just the house, but the town itself. The town was the home to Frank Carter, the infamous Whisper Man. He was a serial killer who killed young boys before he was caught and put in prison. But twenty years later, another boy disappears and the evidence is similar to The Whisper Man, but how? He is in jail. Is it a copycat or an accomplice? That is what Detective Amanda Beck and Pete Willis have to figure out. They work tirelessly to find the young boy. Meanwhile, Jake tells Tom that he has heard whispers outside his window.
Well, folks. Here we are again. Another book that received all the praise. In fact, it has a 4.11 star average on Goodreads. But am I one of those people? Nope. I wanted to love this book. I wanted to be scared out of my wits. I have a weird fascination with crime books, movies, and shows. (Seriously, I binge-watched Mindhunter on Netflix in less than a week.) However, I found this book so cliche and rather dull. It was one of those books that if I put it down, it was hard to pick back up again because I was not invested. I will say, that the concept of The Whisper Man is unbelievably creepy. But we don’t see him! In fact, he is only in a scene or two. I wanted to know more about how his case. The ending result of the story felt pretty lackluster.
Ok, but my biggest issue with this book…WHY ARE NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS IN THERAPY!!!!!! Jesus! Come on! A kid finds his dead mother on the floor in his home, and the Dad just wonders why he has a disturbing imaginary friend? Hmmm, I wonder why?!?! He also suffers from grief and PTSD from child abuse he experienced as a child. Does he seek help? NOPE. He just keeps suffering and wondering why the nightmares keep coming back. Then there is Detective Pete Willis, who is a recovering alcoholic and is SEVERELY scarred from working the original Whisper Man case. You would think that a police department would require their officers and detectives to seek counseling after finding a bunch of dead bodies of young boys. Again…NOPE. They all just meander around, actually asking themselves why they feel this way and trying to just ignore that there is a problem. It made absolutely no sense to me that they are wondering what is wrong with them when they experienced so much severe trauma. I recommend everyone go to therapy, even if you haven’t experienced severe trauma. It is a healthy option and nothing to be ashamed of. I do and it is life-changing. Ok, I got that off my chest.
I have a few other issues, but discussing those would involve spoilers. In all, it was not scary. It was not suspenseful. I never felt like I was on the edge of my seat, dying to know what would happen next or how the book would end. There is also a lot of repetitive information. If there are going to be several points of view. I want them to come together to make a cohesive story and let me discover something new. Unfortunately, that does not happen in this book. Most of the different points of view just felt unnecessary and repetitive. Sadly, I have to rate this book 2 out of 5 stars. It just did not work for me even though I know that is an unpopular opinion.
* WARNING: POSSIBLE TRIGGERS INVOLVING MENTAL ILLNESS, DARK CRIMES AND GRUESOME DEATH.*
The story follows multiple points of view. Tom Kennedy is a writer and father of a young boy named Jake. Tom Kennedy’s wife had died and he still grieves for her. He also doesn’t know how to be a good father to Jake. Jake is an unusual child. He is scarred from discovering the body of his mother. He has an imaginary friend, draws most of the time and rarely talks. They move in order to leave the past behind and start a new life. However, the house that they move into has a dark history. Not just the house, but the town itself. The town was the home to Frank Carter, the infamous Whisper Man. He was a serial killer who killed young boys before he was caught and put in prison. But twenty years later, another boy disappears and the evidence is similar to The Whisper Man, but how? He is in jail. Is it a copycat or an accomplice? That is what Detective Amanda Beck and Pete Willis have to figure out. They work tirelessly to find the young boy. Meanwhile, Jake tells Tom that he has heard whispers outside his window.
Well, folks. Here we are again. Another book that received all the praise. In fact, it has a 4.11 star average on Goodreads. But am I one of those people? Nope. I wanted to love this book. I wanted to be scared out of my wits. I have a weird fascination with crime books, movies, and shows. (Seriously, I binge-watched Mindhunter on Netflix in less than a week.) However, I found this book so cliche and rather dull. It was one of those books that if I put it down, it was hard to pick back up again because I was not invested. I will say, that the concept of The Whisper Man is unbelievably creepy. But we don’t see him! In fact, he is only in a scene or two. I wanted to know more about how his case. The ending result of the story felt pretty lackluster.
Ok, but my biggest issue with this book…WHY ARE NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS IN THERAPY!!!!!! Jesus! Come on! A kid finds his dead mother on the floor in his home, and the Dad just wonders why he has a disturbing imaginary friend? Hmmm, I wonder why?!?! He also suffers from grief and PTSD from child abuse he experienced as a child. Does he seek help? NOPE. He just keeps suffering and wondering why the nightmares keep coming back. Then there is Detective Pete Willis, who is a recovering alcoholic and is SEVERELY scarred from working the original Whisper Man case. You would think that a police department would require their officers and detectives to seek counseling after finding a bunch of dead bodies of young boys. Again…NOPE. They all just meander around, actually asking themselves why they feel this way and trying to just ignore that there is a problem. It made absolutely no sense to me that they are wondering what is wrong with them when they experienced so much severe trauma. I recommend everyone go to therapy, even if you haven’t experienced severe trauma. It is a healthy option and nothing to be ashamed of. I do and it is life-changing. Ok, I got that off my chest.
I have a few other issues, but discussing those would involve spoilers. In all, it was not scary. It was not suspenseful. I never felt like I was on the edge of my seat, dying to know what would happen next or how the book would end. There is also a lot of repetitive information. If there are going to be several points of view. I want them to come together to make a cohesive story and let me discover something new. Unfortunately, that does not happen in this book. Most of the different points of view just felt unnecessary and repetitive. Sadly, I have to rate this book 2 out of 5 stars. It just did not work for me even though I know that is an unpopular opinion.