WHISTLE IN THE DARK BY EMMA HEALEY | BOOK REVIEW

Friday 31 August 2018




Title: Whistle in the Dark
Author: Emma Healey
Publication Date: 3rd May 2018
Pages: 336
Genres: Fiction and Mystery
Rating: ✩ ✩


For my fifth book this month, I decided I would read Whistle in the Dark by Emma Healey. I recently picked this book up at the Edinburgh International Book Festival as it sounded like it would be a really interesting read, possibly a page-turner. Initially, the cover drew me in, I know you aren't meant to judge a book by its cover but this time I did and I am actually shocked by the outcome. Although the cover had drawn me in straight away, the book was my least favourite out of all the books I had read this month. I have been on the hunt for an enticing mystery book for a while now.

The plot of the book is that Lana, a teenage girl had gone missing for three days and after being found will not let on to what in fact actually happened within those days and her mother Jen is worried and anxious to know what happened and that her daughter had not been hurt. Jen and Lana have quite a rough relationship and as Jen is trying to find out what has gone on, ends up aggravating Lana.

From reading the blurb, I assumed this book would be a mystery and that we would be going along the journey to find out what actually happened to Lana, for the three days she had gone missing. Quite like how Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train had been written. However, I was entirely wrong as the whole book is based on the relationship between the mother and daughter, Jen and Lana.

I found the characters were both written in a really unappealing way. Usually, in a book, I find myself relating to one of the characters in a way, that being big or small. However, I found both characters got on my nerves quite a lot within the book. Both characters found it quite hard to communicate with each other, which could have made for a great storyline but the way it was executed made me want to pull my hair out more than once. I found myself wanting to shout at them to just talk to one another.

I am not a mother but I do know that no wonder Lana did not like Jen. It was as though she was just oblivious and did not actually know what the hell she was doing. Now I know mothers in real life don't have a scooby what they are doing but Jen is on a whole different level. The way she was snooping on Lana and finding things but never confronting her daughter about things that could actually put her in harm's way. It also didn't help that although the book was written in the third person, it was all from Jen's perspective and narrative.

I found that the scenes, I wouldn't call them chapters but rather scenes in this novel, were rather confusing. One minute we would be in the present day and the next minute we were in the past where Jen was remembering a memory. This could have been fine but it was just so sudden. There was no ease into the memory it would just cut straight from present day to a random memory.

I also found half of the scenes to be unnecessary and would have no context to the plot whatsoever. I was of the assumption this book was meant to be about what had happened to Jen's daughter when she went missing. Not about Jen going to the garden centre with her mum. The most random scene that stayed with me through the whole book (I promise this won't spoil the story) is that when they were in the hospital, once Lana had been found, Jen saw a ladybird inside the hospital and decided to kill it?! One, what the hell did that have to do with the plot and two, what did that poor ladybird do to her?

I am really glad the book covered mental health as it needs to be talked about more often, however, I think the author did a bad job going about it. In no way was it covered to an extent that it was needed to be. In no way was it written well enough or even much at all. It was as though it was mentioned and then just kind of ignored for a bit until the end of the book.

When we finally did find out what had happened to Lana, I did not expect it surprisingly but it was also not worth the whole story to read. I did start to sympathise with Jen during these scenes as she started to seem like a genuine person who just wanted the best for her daughter but also impatient and a bit stupid for getting herself into that position in the first place. Although, the ending was the only good part of the whole story.

I honestly thought this would be my favourite book of all this month but sadly has ended up to be the worst. Would I recommend it to you to read? I wouldn't. Do not waste your time, I read it so you didn't have to. I would 100% go and find another mystery to find yourself compelled by because I highly doubt this will be the one.



6 comments

  1. this sounds like one of those books I'm certain I'm going to love and then end up hating it, I love mysteries, especially involving kidnappings/disappearances but I hate it when books go far off the theme promised in the blurb. great review and thank you for saving me from reading this and being disappointed <3

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  2. Ah I'm sorry to hear you didn't love this one! The cover is lovely and it's always a shame when the story doesn't live up to the gorgeous cover. I also hate it when we have past/present swapping which isn't clear, it's so annoying!

    Jenny
    http://www.jennyinneverland.com

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  3. It's a shame that mental health wasn't covered correctly in this book, that's such an important thing to get right but I understand how difficult it might be. The book itself looks gorgeous!

    Vicki | www.missviclb.co.uk

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  4. I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy this one very much! It's always disappointing when a book looks and sounds so good, but just isn't. I hadn't heard of this book until now, but if I ever see this one, I'll definitely think twice before picking it up. Great review, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on it! :)

    Theresa | https://thecalicobooks.wordpress.com/

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  5. Wow this was fascinating to read! Such a shame it turned out to be a disappointing book and didn't really explain what happened to her in those few days. I think I'd feel the same too! x

    Tiffany x www.foodandotherloves.co.uk

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  6. Ah, nooo! I hate when you think a book is going to be so exciting and it ends up being dull. Good on you for getting through it though, and thank you for the honest review - I think I would've expected this to be an awesome mystery too, so you've saved me some time haha!
    Beth x Adventure & Anxiety

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