The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Our winning group read for June is The Whisper Man by Alex North. Please discuss here and remember to use spoiler tags as needed, as everyone may start at different times and read at different speeds.



In this dark, suspenseful thriller, Alex North weaves a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town.

After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank.

But the town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed "The Whisper Man," for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.

Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter's crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison: The Whisper Man.

And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window...

My hold for this book is available! For once, it came it around the right time. lol I am planning to read this with the group in June!

So excited !!

I can't wait to finally read this, I've heard so many good things.

I hope it is good. I will try to read and finish it by the end of June or earlier. It is my first time to participate and I am so fired up! ❤️

Yay! Welcome, Eimeren! Hope you enjoy the book and the discussion. :)

thanks, i am following this 😸

Looking forward to reading this! It will be my first book with this group as I've only just joined you guys :)

Welcome, Kate! I'm so glad to see some new members jumping right in and joining the read. :)

I listened to the audio version over the winter when I was on a binge of thriller/horror books. It's so good!

I have a couple other library books that I need to get to before this one. I'm hoping to start in a week or two.

I read this book in 24 hours .. I couldn't put it down.
(Useful that I'm an insomniac at the moment - lots of time to read!)
Really, really enjoyed it .. very creepy ..!
Can't wait to see what other people say about it :)

I just finished the audio book. I really liked this one.

I am clearly in the minority with this one. I really wanted to like this book. I loved the chapters with Jake and Tom and I think that was because it was mostly written in the first person which made it seem more real. I did not connect with any of the other characters though. I felt the chapters with Jake and Tom leaned towards thriller, and rest were concentrated more on the mystery maybe. It felt like 2 separate stories and the connection between the two were just there to drive the plot.
That being said I’m glad others are enjoying this book. I am also curious if the audio book is better. I read this on my IPad and I’m wondering if I should have tried the audiobook instead.

The following comment was posted by Brenda who gave the book 4 stars. It contains an end of book spoiler. I deleted her comment so that I could post it with spoiler tags. (view spoiler)[ I just finished the book and I liked it! Very suspenseful and I love that the Dad found him. Whew! (hide spoiler)]

Please remember to use spoiler tags. I now know how the book ends and I haven't started it yet.

So sorry. This was my first book club I have participated in on good reads. I will just read other posts and not discuss from now on until I figure out how this works. I am truly sorry I ruined the ending for you. :(

I am new to suspenseful thriller genres. At first I thought, I couldn’t read the book, but gradually I learned to enjoy it. By the way, I am just at the part where the whisper man is being revealed. I hope there is no spoiler in my comment or something. 😸

Brenda wrote: "So sorry. This was my first book club I have participated in on good reads. I will just read other posts and not discuss from now on until I figure out how this works. I am truly sorry I ruined the..."

No worries, Brenda. Keep on discussing, just make sure to use spoiler tags. I sent you a pm explaining them. Give it a try. :)

Eimeren wrote: "I am new to suspenseful thriller genres. At first I thought, I couldn’t read the book, but gradually I learned to enjoy it. By the way, I am just at the part where the whisper man is being revealed..."

Eimeren, if you want to post something with a spoiler, you can just use spoiler tags. I'll put how here because I think a few new members haven't done it before. You just type this:

<.spoiler.>The text you want hidden goes here. <./.spoiler.>

Just remove the periods and don't leave any extra spaces. I put those in so you could see it.

Another hint for everyone is that if you click where it says "(some html is ok)" above the box you type in online (It isn't available in the app), it shows you how to add certain code for bold/italics or spoilers or links, etc. Some of them you can copy and paste.

I enjoyed this book though the content is hard as a mom to read, it was a really fast paced, well written book!

Thank you for the info and patience Kristie. I appreciate it.

Reading it now and loving it so far! This is my first read through with the group so how does it all work in terms of discussions? :)

Alena wrote: "Reading it now and loving it so far! This is my first read through with the group so how does it all work in terms of discussions? :)"

Welcome, Alena! You just read and post your thoughts in this thread. Some people post as they go and others wait until the end. Sometimes people will come back and respond to your comments, which makes for nice discussion. Just make sure you use spoiler tags when discussing the story because not everyone is at the same point. If you don't know how, I explained above how to do that.

Testing testing (view spoiler)[ secret message (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Testing testing (view spoiler)[ secret message (hide spoiler)]

Am I doing something wrong with the spoiler tag?

Nope it works for me. Looks good. Are you on the app? You can't open spoilers on the app.

Oh! Yes I am on the app! Good to know! Thanks you!

Hi Guys, I’m completely new to this group. But I’m excited to start The Whisper Man tonight and look forward to reading the discussions :)

I’m already at 39% of the book and it is getting interesting. I have a lot of questions yet to be answered. I get confused with the timelines though but I am coping. It is my first time to read a mystery book.

The scene that creeped me out the most was when Tom (view spoiler)[ wakes up and hears Jake talking to someone downstairs through the front door. He just barely catches Jake before he unlocks the front door! (hide spoiler)]

Hi everyone I am new to the group :) This was my first mystery book and i absolutely loved it it was so gripping!

Wow - really enjoyed this. Felt like I was reading early Stephen King! Very suspenseful and well done plot. Highly recommend!

yey I’m done with the book. I enjoyed reading but not so much if Id be honest. Anyway, looking forward to July’s botm. ❤️

Hi everyone, I am also new and glad to be here. I wasn't a huge fan of this book because I found a lot of it unrealistic (even more so than most thrillers, there were way too many coincidences). However I did love the depictions of (view spoiler)[ Tom's unconditional love for his son (hide spoiler)]. As a parent, much of the book made me more uncomfortable than scared. Maybe the true 'evil' isn't the Whisper Man himself, but the Whisper Man is supposed to represent the horrors of (view spoiler)[ estrangement between parents and their children (hide spoiler)]?

Sorry if this has already been asked, but I'm using the app, so all the spoiler tags have been removed and I don't want to spoil this one! haha Has anyone listened to the audiobook version that could give some insight? My library has a long waiting list for a physical copy or an eBook, but the eAudiobook is available

Lex wrote: "Sorry if this has already been asked, but I'm using the app, so all the spoiler tags have been removed and I don't want to spoil this one! haha Has anyone listened to the audiobook version that cou..."
Hi Lex I listened to the audiobook of this last year when it first came out I will admit at the time it had me totally hooked and was one of my favourite books of last year. The tone and the narrator were brilliant for the story. However, a year later I can barely recall the full story line unlike with some other audio books like "My Lovely Wife" by Samantha Dowling. I can fully recommend the audio version but maybe don't expect the story to stay with you forever kind of way. Hope this helps and happy reading.

Hi!
I listened to this one on Audio also, and I enjoyed it! The thing that I found difficult or sad was how hard Tom was on himself - always doubting his ability as a father when he was obviously very loving. I thought the author did a great job of setting up a creepy feel and I was not sure which way this was going - was there a paranormal component or is there an explanation for everything? (no spoilers as to the answer) It kept me wondering and I liked that. I did predict one thing in the story (who the Whisper Man was) but there were other things that I did not predict and I really like when a story can surprise me.

I am new to this group and just finished reading this book. Overall I thought it was a good book, relatable in many ways. I liked that the way the author touched on father-son relationships. It made the book more real. I found some elements of it repetitive, however, but overall very well written.

Alright, I ended listening to the audiobook for a little while until the physical copy came in. Thank you for your input, Aoife and Lauren! I just finished chapter 25 and it's good! It probably won't make my top 10 for the year, but I'm definitely interested to see where this goes

I forgot to come back here to comment! I finally got the book from my library and I thought it was excellent. Such a great read. Very creepy, but also realistic. I liked that the characters made decisions that other normal humans would make. I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at their terrible decision making, which was nice for a change lately. lol I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the genre.

Just realized I never came back to comment either. I loved this book so much and am excited to read more from the author. I really thought it was paced well.