The Whispers by Heidi Perks
If your best friend disappeared, how far would you go to find her?
Heidi Perks is another new author to me; I found this particular book of hers in one of those miniature libraries and decided to give it a go. What drew me to it was the blurb on the back about groups of school mums harbouring secrets and the yellow circle on the cover saying a plot twist completely threw someone - and I love a good twist. I've got to be straight with you though, this is a book I did not put back into that miniature library because I would definitely not want someone else wasting their time with this read, allow me to tell you why. Spoiler alert! Plots twists are going to be discussed in this post.
Let's dive into the main plot:
The Pro and Cons:
➕ I liked the idea of school mums holding secrets around a missing woman. You had to wonder if they all had a hand in it like Hot Fuzz or something. It's reminiscent of high school all over again and I'm sure we all recall plenty of drama that went down in high school, so a group or grown mothers with nothing better to do all day than create scandal sounded awesome.
➕ I enjoyed the fact that the first voice we hear from in the book, the voice we first trust, turns out to be the one that's totally unhinged. I love that. Grace told us from the first chapter that Anna was acting weird and my first suspicion was that Anna had been body-snatched somehow or she had something being held over her by her friends and that was why she acted so strange around them, but then it turns out she was acting strange because she's scared of Grace!
➖ I did not appreciate these strange filler chapters randomly scattered throughout the book; told in a third-person style, but describes the local school mum's perspective, which, why do we even need to know this? The local school mothers turn out to barely be in the story. The reader doesn't need to know what they think, their thoughts really didn't add anything to the overall narrative. Some of what these mums say and think could've been told though Grace's or Anna's perspective anyway just by mentioning they overhear a mum say something or they feel they're under suspicion, for example.
➖ Following on those filler chapters, I do understand the need for them as a whole - the book has such a strange structure and lots of information is left out, so these filler chapters almost act like a chorus in a Greek tragedy; they're trying to give bits of information that is integral to the story. The difference being that a Greek chorus is very helpful in adding to the narrative, whereas these chapters gave me information that could have easily been written into the main plot. And because these chapters would otherwise be too short with what little information they have in them, they're followed by so much waffle about stuff nobody needs to know. Honestly? The inconsistency was annoying.
➖ The plot twist happens really early in the book. We find out Grace is actually the 'bad guy' in a not-so-shocking twist. It really didn't have any build up or hint towards Grace's real motives, but it isn't like she was made to be shady or anything, so even when it turned out she came back to find Anna just because she felt like manipulating her like she did when they were kids, it just wasn't very shocking. Similar to YOU, Grace feels she has only the best of intentions towards Anna, so the reader doesn't feel like she's in any real danger. The rest of the book is just the aftermath of this revelation and though there are successful stories with this structure, the twist has to be good or at least followed through well - which it was not.
➖ Another secret that the story revealed was this biiiiiig accident that Grace and Anna hold together. A school friend of theirs died when they were teens and it was collectively their fault. This twist had a big crescendo with the exact wrong build-up. We were given every hint, every wink, every piece of the puzzle to know about this death and who was responsible from about halfway through the book. Only in the last couple of chapters was it spelled out for us in a way that made me feel like Heidi wanted the reader to gasp at this moment... But I can only imagine anyone with half a brain would've figured out this 'twist' after the first couple of hints. It just wasn't a shocker, it was simply information being repeated - it was redundant.
Sorry Heidi, but I've got to give this one a 1/5 ⭐✩✩✩✩
With the glaringly obvious twists being revealed too early with not enough undertones to convey real danger, waffling-filled chapters and the aggressively confusing structure of this novel, I won't be recommending this book to anyone I respect, that's for sure. I'm so thankful I'm done with it.
Sorry this one was a bit of a bummer guys! I am currently reading another book which is quickly shaping up to be a massive hit. I can't wait to write my next review for you guys.
So let me know if you've read this and what you thought! Don't be afraid to disagree with me and tell me why - I am always open to hearing more than my own viewpoint. If you've read a different book by Heidi Perks, let me know how it was! Is this book not a reflection on the rest of her written works? Let me know in the comments. Otherwise, I hope you have a great weekend ahead!
Love and light,
Melissa x
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