What do readers think of The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi? Write your own review.

Creepy, dark, at times I felt the evil literally waft off the pages. Different characters, major twists, I honestly never saw them coming. Don't know where this novel takes place, but it doesn't seem to matter as if the author is telling the reader that the place doesn't really matter and that this type of evil exists everywhere and anywhere. Hopefully there will be a sequel.

I have no idea how to rate this book. I HATE the subject: the sadistic serial murder of children and others. I try to avoid reading the blurb on the inside flap until after I've finished a book, but in this case it might have saved me hours. I began reading (and it IS a page-turner!) and got hooked before I discovered how creepy plot and subplots are. Once in, I kept reading in the vain hope that order of some sort would be restored in the end. I guess I have to give it a low middle rating, because the things I admire are more than cancelled out by the things that disturb me.

This is apparently a best seller in Europe. I read Steig Larsson's whole trilogy, which can hardly be called cheerful, and enjoyed nearly every twist and turn. But there the writing and the translations are superb, and at least some of the characters are people you can root for and identify with. In at least some of the truly evil situations, the punishment fits the crimes with a wry humor. That is not the case here. Besides the unrelieved darkness and humorlessness, I found the translation often intrusive, with frequent use of colons and semi-colons and odd word choices. Also, I am a fan of books where the setting is specific and necessary -- practically a character itself. The Whisperer is set in an unidentifiable place, and to further muddy the waters, the characters have a New York phone directory of names.

Just be forewarned. This is not a terribly written book. You won't guess what's coming. But to enjoy it you must be a fan of the blackest horror stories, which I am definitely not. You've been warned. Here be monsters.