Reviews

4,5⭐

Musiałam przetrawić trochę te książkę, zanim cokolwiek byłam w stanie i niej napisać. Na świeżo nie mogłam zdecydować się co o niej sądzę.
Podczas jej czytania przeszłam dwa etapy
1. Niepewności i wielu dreszczyk na plecach związanych z niepokojem, który wywołał u mnie ta książka
2. Oczekiwaniem na koniec, który nie chciał nastąpić.

Pomysł na historie był świetny, te wszystkie dziwne rzeczy, które się działy, tajemnicze zaginiecie, szeptanie za oknem i podejrzani ludzie. Wszystko to było intrygujące i zachęcające do dalszego poznawania historii. Od samego początku miałam kilka teorii kto może być Szeptaczem, ale zakończenie okazało się najprostsze z możliwych, co trochę mnie zawiodło i dlatego obejmuje pol gwiazdki. Poza tym jednym elementem wszystko było na najwyższym poziomie. Ta książka zasługuje na to, żeby było o niej głośno i bardzo chętnie sięgnę po kolejne książki tego autora.

600bars's review against another edition

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3.0

listened as audiobook. it was fine. spoilers ahead. The plot revolves around a former serial abducter and a little boy who makes sixth sense iseedeadpeople type statements. We have 3 father son pairs that are examined. Father son relationships are the crux of the story.

Pair # 1: Jake, a 7 year old, and his father Tom. Tom's chapters are the only ones in first person persepective. Saw a very interesting review of this book that outlines the differences between a mystery and a thriller, and i never even thought there was a distinction! They said that a thriller should never be in first person, i'm not sure if I agree with that but very intriguing take. Tom's wife Rebecca, Jakes mother, died unexpectedly 10 months before the events of the book. Tom is struggling to deal with his gift while raising a young child that he struggles to connect with. He had a difficult relationship with his own father which leads us to.....

Pair # 2: Tom and his father Pete. This is a major plot twist that I could have done without. Pete is the detective who is haunted by a case from twenty years ago, that of the whisper man, the serial abductor. We get persepective chapters from him too. He's an alcoholic in recovery. He has regrets about his past personal life. The grand reveal that they were father and son was just irritating to me, like the book could've been stronger with the father/son themes if they weren't even related but both gained healing from their respective pasts via a surrogate father son relationship or something. Becuase they are related i'm focusing way too much on how crazy of a coincidence this is. I suppose if i moved to a new town looking up the employee list of the local police department would not be on my agenda. maybe it's possible. but again the conflict fo interest here was never really dealt with because pete died before that could be brought up.

Pair # 3: George Saunders (not the famous author) and the original Whisper Man. Apparently the whisper man's motivation for harming those little boys was....that he wanted to abuse his own son but couldn't for some reason? Why not? Child abuse is unfortunately extremely common, being a serial kidnapper is not. Which is going to attract more attention? He's clearly a sick fuck. I seriously did not understand the motivation for abducting those kids that was presented here. And why did he decorate the rooms with the fake sunshine and painted grass? That shows a level of care, like some joseph fritzl shit where you want captive companions. If his goal is just to torture and hurt them, why bother with this? This is why I couldn't deal with the son's mimicry of the case. They had very different motivations. At the end of the book we see George (I think he had a diff identity but i've already forgotten what it was) submitting to his father by putting a shirt over his head, which is what the young boys had to do.

So the first two pairs of father sons get their difficulties resolved, but the final pair does not. I can't figure out what this is saying. Also, there is butterfly imagery throughout and I couldn't figure out what the change is supposed to be here. Maybe the new life after Rebecca's death and Tom's journey as a single father who tries to understand his son.

I disliked the inclusion of Amanda chapters. She was so insignificant as a character, why did we need her persepctive? Bloated and not needed

Too many of the characters had self hating rants that got tedious to read. They were constantly saying WORTHLESS USELESS I'M SO WORTHLESS! which is tied into their daddy issues but ughhhh

Lastly the romance with the reporter. I'll admit that reveal did make my jaw drop. But it was a reveal only for the sake of that one moment. The conflict was immediately resolved. She was like yes I should've told you but I promise I will not write any stories about what you told me. Tom s like Ok that's fine.

Jake seeing his mom and later pete was sweet. Part of me thought it odd that Tom would leave his kid with Pete, but my dad and his dad had a very sordid history, while my own dad is the best dad ever, and he left us with our grandpa for a week vacation before and it was totally fine! Sometimes people are better grandparents than parents.

This was entertaining enough as an audiobook but with several flaws in execution.

clarissep's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 for the audiobook and the story combined. This was creepy and twisted and disturbing but the narrator was a bit, well, bland, compared to other narrators that do a really good job giving you that atmosphere when reading these thrillers. To be honest, there were a lot of frustrating characters in this story, but as a whole it’s not bad. This would do well as a TV series.

kdavis01's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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