Whistle: A Chilling Horror Journey of a Mother and Son into a New Town, Haunted Trains, and Unsettling Nightmares―Perfect for Summer Reading

Annie Blunt is a famous children’s book author. Married to a wonderful husband named John, they have a son named Charlie. When John is tragically struck down by a vehicle in the city, Annie is beside herself. Her editor, Finn, finds a house in the rural part of Vermont for her and Charlie to convalesce. But what happens is something that could only come from the mind of author Linwood Barclay. Barclay is the master at developing a scene and its characters, then taking his readers into another scene and developing those characters, then putting the whole thing together until the reader’s eyeballs pop out of their heads.

Whistle was so suspenseful and creative, I couldn’t put the book down. From the creepy train store owner to the likable Chief of Police, each character had their own personality. There is a huge shocker toward the end of the book, which I read a few times simply because I was so surprised. But then, the story carries on, and the reader is allowed to understand the why of it all. This book had all the creepy crawlies of a disturbing psychological thriller or horror book. And although it had a few graphic descriptions, it was not extremely bloody or gory like your stereotypical horror story. Whistle is a masterpiece.