Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower #BookReview

Rose McFarland is a trained killer–a Memphis S.W.A.T. sniper with a secret. Her team knows about the burn scars that lurk under her clothes, a legacy of the house fire that killed her father and brother sixteen years before. Her supervisors know that she spent two years in a rehabilitative facility, healing and learning to cope with the emotional trauma of the fire. But no one knows about the visions that drove her there, angry spirits that consumed her childhood, alienated her from her family and made her doubt her own sanity–the Whispers.

Title: Whispers in the Dark | Author: Laurel Hightower | Publisher: JournalStone | Pub. Date: 7th December 2018 | Pages: 318 | ISBN: 9781947654617 | Genre: Horror | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 5 out of 5 | Source: I received a copy of this novel from the author for review consideration

Whispers in the Dark Review

Bad-ass female protagonist, spooky storyline and vivid imagery, a brilliant selection of ingredients for this scintillating horror novel.

The novel follows S.W.A.T sniper and mother of two, Rose McFarland, a fantastic female protagonist, who has suffered traumas, overcome them and built a beautiful family despite everything that has happened in her past. The genre needs more strong and capable female protagonists like Rose. The characters were brilliant, unique and Rose’s whole family dynamic was enviable yet real and believable. Ex-husband Sam and former Partner-now-‘friend-with-benefits’-Luke compliment Rose perfectly, allowing her to be who she wants and needs to be.

This novel is primarily narrated through Rose’s perspective. I buddy read this with novel, and so I was warned that quite randomly throughout the novel the perspective would shift to give you a birds eye view into what was happening with some of the other characters. With this warning, I didn’t find it confusing (but without the knowledge it’s easy to see how you could be thrown out of the story trying to figure it out). However, I could tell who’s perspective I had been transported to, and these chapters were usually shorter than Rose’s longer chapters.

Breath-taking imagery sweeps you off your feet, mix that with the fast-paced nature and the desire to find out more makes this book a page-turner and very difficult to put down. Without a doubt, this book freaked me out. I thought it would be worse, but there were some super creepy descriptions within this book that were a bit of a gross out, and I was here for it.

I completely guessed what was going to happen with a certain couple of minor storylines (well, maybe wished) and towards the end they happened and I am SO GLAD it turned out that way. It rounded up the story perfectly.

Hightower is one to watch! 5 strong stars!

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