Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Whisper Man

The story follows Tom, who is a recently widowed single father, and Jake, his son. After the recent loss of Tom's wife, he decided to move him and his son to a small town, not knowing the town's dark history. About 20 years ago, there was a series of murders, done by the Whisper Man. The Whisper Man targeted little boys, whispering to them in the night before stealing them away.
Pete, an elderly detective, has caught the Whisper Man all those decades ago, and Carter, the killer behind those murders is still in prison. But now, the disappearances are starting anew...

The story was told from multiple point of views. It had an element of supernatural, where Jake sees people who aren't there. Or are these characters just the imaginations of a lonely child?

The book was fairly fast paced. There were a LOT of twists I didn't see coming. This also raises the question of evil - is evil made or born? And what is worse? A scary story kids whisper about between ourselves, or a flesh and blood murdered on the loose?

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emilyswift's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

the most incredible, incapsulating crime novel i’ve ever read. definitely my favourite read of the year. it terrified me but i was so hooked. i picked it up randomly and i COULD NOT put it down. the plot twists were amazing and it was gorgeously scary!! i suddenly want to read every thing North has even published

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jeevash's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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ruthypoo2's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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corporealmystic's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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brookey8888's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

This was enjoyable! When I was reading it I was really intrigued and immersed in the story, but when I put it down and didn’t really think about it or want to pick it up. It is very slow and honestly not a lot happens in the first 90%, but I still mostly enjoyed that. I liked how there was a supernatural aspect which your don’t know if it’s real or not. I always enjoy that. There was honestly to many points of view and I only liked 3 of them. I don’t like following detectives all that much. I’m glad I read this because it was a good slow burn mystery (just not a favorite) and will probably read more from this author.

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bookmarkedbybritt's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book was fine. I saw it over the book/thriller side of the internet and everyone was raving about it. Saying how scary it was and how the twist was good and how this book messed with your head and whatnot. I enjoy a good thriller so I picked it up. And after finishing this book I'm so confused as to how anything was shocking. There were a few scary parts, but other than that I really didn't see how this book garner so much allure. Based on what I've heard I expected this book to be much scarier than what was actually presented so therefore I was highly disappointed when I got to the end and nothing crazy really happened. I also found it disappointing how this story centers around a copycat of the Whisper Man murders instead of just creating a story around the original homicides.

Spoiler

Literally the kid gets abducted around the 75% page mark, around page 280, and then rescued about 40 pages later. And the killer being the son of the former killer is a very common twist that has been used a plethora of times so I'm surprised how many people claimed they were shocked by it. Also, I think the real mystery should've been how this kid is able to communicate with "spirits". It's low-key confirmed that he can talk to spirits considering he knew something only his dead grandfather could know. We never find out how or why this happens and are just supposed to roll with it. Also, that woman being a reporter the whole time still didn't sit right with me. Can't believe Tom went out with her after that.

Overall it was an okay book. I read it pretty quickly. If you're just starting to get into horror books and you don't like scary stuff at all then I recommend this one, because there wasn't really much spooky behavior going on. Oh and also what annoyed me the most was that the reader would get no warning of when POVs switched. So starting the chapters I would get confused on who's perspective we were in sometimes, so be prepared for that if you choose to read this.

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