Review: The Whisper Man by Alex North

Recommended Read!

“…the atmosphere of this book was masterful”
~ Under the Covers

Widower Tom and his young son Jake are looking for a new start. So they move to the small town of Featherbank. However, the sleepy town has a dark past; a serial killer who victimised children. A killer who liked to whisper to his victims in the night. However, the killer was caught and Featherbanks went back to being a sleep town. Until now. Another boy has gone missing and Jake says he hears a man whispering to him through his bedroom window.

This is Alex North’s debut novel, and WOW. I know, not very articulate. But, any book that leaves you awake until 2am in the morning because I couldn’t possible sleep until I had read every last page deserves a WOW. If you hadn’t guessed, I loved this book and no doubt you’ll find it on my “Best of” lists at the end of the year.

There were many things that hooked me into this book. There was the complicated, all too human, relationship between Tom and Jake. A father and son who have such similar personalities and yet are having difficulty connecting, though their love for one another was unquestionable. It was a really beautiful relationship which talks to the insecurities of being a parent, and yet the drive never to stop trying.

While it might be true that we still loved each other when we argued, it didn’t mean that we loved ourselves.

I liked it when people were impressed with my son; it made me feel proud of him. Stupid to think that way, of course – he was a person in his own right, not some accomplishment of mine – but the feeling was always there

The human relationships were excellently wrought, but the atmosphere of this book was masterful. This wasn’t a supernatural thriller, however, it had that vibe. It felt like at any moment the bogeyman could jump out of the closet and drag unsuspecting children away. But, I think this book was made even more powerful as all the evil in it was very much of human origin.

The world was full of bad men. Full of bad dreams that didn’t always happen when you were asleep.

This was an atmospheric thriller entwined with a story about a small family coping with grief and the hole that person leaves behind. What a fantastic debut novel, I will definitely picking up whatever Mr North brings out next.

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[about-author author=”Alex North”]