{"id":6710,"date":"2019-07-13T14:12:39","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T18:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=6710"},"modified":"2019-07-13T14:12:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-13T18:12:39","slug":"book-review-whispers-in-the-dark-by-laurel-hightower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-whispers-in-the-dark-by-laurel-hightower\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Whispers in the Dark\u00a0<\/em>by Laurel Hightower<\/p>\n

Journalstone\/Trepidatio Publishing, 2018<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-1-947654-61-7<\/p>\n

Available: paperback, Kindle edition<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rose McFarland has had a convoluted life.\u00a0 \u00a0Growing up, she was often tormented by the Whispers, voices that only she could hear, and sometimes see. \u00a0\u00a0Her parents felt she was a child of the Devil, and made her childhood a living hell, often locking her in the basement for days at a time.\u00a0 When their house burns down, with only Rose and her mother surviving, her mother dumps her in a psychiatric hospital and forgets about her.\u00a0 The Whispers eventually stop, and Rose is released, determined to avoid her mother forever, and make her own way in the world.<\/p>\n

Fast forward roughly 15 years: Rose is a sniper for a S.W.A.T. team, and divorced with two kids, although she maintains an excellent relationship with her ex-husband for the sake of the kids.\u00a0\u00a0 Suddenly, she’s confronted with two problems: the Whispers return, this time to torment her 4 year old son Tommy; and her latest sniper victim turns out to be a half-brother she never knew about, who also doesn’t want to stay dead.\u00a0 The two unrelated problems later tie into a larger plot concerning the fate of humanity, and whether Rose and the few people she trusts can help her son and save humankind.\u00a0 Giving away any more of the plot would spoil the book: this is one where you don’t want to know about it until you read it.<\/p>\n

Whispers in the Dark<\/em> is a classic mystery\/thriller, where every element of the plot and character development is done to just the right level.\u00a0 The plot itself is done perfectly: it’s a relatively complex set of ideas, but the author never gives away more than is needed, giving you just enough hints and clues to keep you reading into the next chapter\u2026and the next\u2026and the next… until you find yourself at the end, asking where those 300 pages went.\u00a0 It’s a testament to Hightower’s skill that the plot doesn’t scream at you to keep going, it\u2026whispers, pulling you gradually from chapter to chapter to find out what’s going to happen.\u00a0 The mystery isn’t an easy one to figure out, either: most readers will probably not guess the totality of the plot until the end.\u00a0 Thankfully, Hightower avoids the clich\u00e9 of throwing in a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter, and then switching character perspectives, as some authors are prone to do.\u00a0\u00a0 There are some good chills in the book also: all the parts involving people going into basements are genuinely eerie.\u00a0 It’s enough to make going to bed at night with the lights off just a little bit more difficult.<\/p>\n

The strength of the characters is worth noting also.\u00a0 None of them are one-dimensional: they are all cut from shades of gray and seem completely realistic.\u00a0 Rose herself is a great example. She shoots people for a living, swigs beer with the guys, indulges in occasional flings, and has a foul mouth.\u00a0 But she also sings her kids to sleep, and loves to cook breakfast for them whenever she can.\u00a0 The secondary characters (especially her ex, Sam) are done just as well: they all seem like actual people, not caricatures.\u00a0 You’ll find yourself caring for all the protagonists in the book and rooting for them.<\/p>\n

Overall, Whispers in the Dark <\/em>is a perfectly done mystery\/ghost story, and one you won’t want to miss.\u00a0 Keep an eye on this author; she’s one to watch in the future. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

Contains: violence, profanity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whispers in the Dark\u00a0by Laurel Hightower Journalstone\/Trepidatio Publishing, 2018 ISBN: 978-1-947654-61-7 Available: paperback, Kindle edition   Rose McFarland has had a convoluted life.\u00a0 \u00a0Growing up, she was often tormented by the Whispers, voices that only she could hear, and sometimes see. \u00a0\u00a0Her parents felt she was a child of the Devil, and made her childhood<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2474,698,3951,2325,2737,457,3950],"class_list":["post-6710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-review","tag-ghosts","tag-laurel-hightower","tag-mystery-fiction","tag-psychological-horror","tag-supernatural-thrillers","tag-whispers-in-the-dark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6710"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6714,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6710\/revisions\/6714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}