Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jan 2012
432 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
A gripping literary thriller and smash bestseller that has taken Italy, France, Germany and the UK by storm.
Six severed arms are discovered, arranged in a mysterious circle and buried in a clearing in the woods. Five of them appear to belong to missing girls between the ages of eight and eighteen. The sixth is yet to be identified. Worse still, the girls' bodies, alive or dead, are nowhere to be found.
Lead investigators Mila Vasquez, a celebrated profiler, and Goran Gavila, an eerily prescient criminologist, dive into the case. They're confident they've got the right suspect in their sights until they discover no link between him and any of the kidnappings except the first. The evidence in the case of the second missing child points in a vastly different direction, creating more questions than it answers.
Vasquez and Gavila begin to wonder if they've been brought in to take the fall in a near-hopeless case. Is it all coincidence? Or is a copycat criminal at work? Obsessed with a case that becomes more tangled and intense as they unravel the layers of evil, Gavila and Vasquez find that their lives are increasingly in each other's hands.
The Whisperer, as sensational a bestseller in Europe as the Stieg Larsson novels, is that rare creation: a thought-provoking, intelligent thriller that is also utterly unputdownable.
"A taut psychological thriller about a serial killer who preys on young girls... the plot is gruesome and gripping." - The Sunday Times (UK)
"More than delivers on its ghoulish promise... you might not want to read this alone in the house." - Time Out London
"A gripping read... I defy anyone to guess the denouement." - The Guardian (UK)
"Gripping from the off, The Whisperer plays all sorts of games with the reader, but, crucially, doesn't let you down when it comes to the pay-off." - Evening Herald (Ireland)
"Familiar crime thriller tropes include the damaged cop and the haunted profiler, but Carrisi spins an engagingly gruesome tale." - Publishers Weekly
"A haunting, disconcerting, devastating portrait of evil." - Kirkus Reviews
"The Whisperer is one hell of a ride. This story screams high tension, high stakes and high velocity. Superb." - Michael Connelly
"Donato Carrisi has a unique gift for blending fascinating forensic detail, mind-bending plot twists, and empathetic characters into a seamless, powerful narrative. The Whisperer intrigues, informs, and haunts simultaneously, a novel that will linger in the mind long after you've finished." - Michael Koryta
This information about The Whisperer was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Donato Carrisi was born in 1973 and studied law and criminology. Since 1999 he has been working as a TV screenwriter. The Whisperer, Carrisi's first novel, won him five international literary prizes, has been sold in nearly twenty territories and has been translated into languages as varied as French, Danish, Hebrew and Vietnamese. Carrisi lives in Rome. You can visit him online at www.donatocarrisi.it.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
