TW: Violence, violence against children.

I received an e-copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Twenty years ago, five boys went missing. The killer, known as 'The Whisper Man' was caught but the fifth boy's body was never found. Now,  two decades later another boy has gone missing and his time is running out. In the meantime, Tom and his son Jake have moved to a new village for a fresh start but quickly get caught up with the old murders, and the new. And someone has their eye on Jake, and has been whispering to him in the night...

I loved the creepiness of this book from the get go. There's something a bit unnerving about this book - from the rhyme about The Whisper Man, Jake's 'imaginary' friends and what they tell him to just the thought of someone out there stalking little boys and ending their lives in a horrible, cruel way.

There's a few different perspectives in this book which I really enjoyed, and I found it gave a really well-rounded story and as a reader, we were able to see into everything - from the current police investigation, the past, through the killer's eyes, and through a potential victims. This thriller definitely suffered from some cliches such as the old-time detective with ties to the past case and a troubled background and there a few too many connections at some points

such as DI Pete Willis being Tom's dad

There was an emphasis on the relationship between father and son in this novel as well from both estranged, trouble and tight knit - yet none of them perfect. I liked the relationship between Tom and Jake. It felt real and there was a vulnerable rawness there between the two characters that was really lovely to read sometimes. I'm not always a massive fan of how children are written in books but Jake was great for me. I found him just a real cutie and I wanted to bundle him up and protect him from the world.

I wasn't very surprised by the reveals in this book. It didn't take me too long to figure out who the killer could be and then as everything fell together, who that person was in the novel and where'd we seen them before. That didn't take away any enjoyment of the story for me though.