A Book A Week

Dan can pinpoint the exact moment his life changed forever. He was just a child when it happened. His father had pulled into a quiet rest stop so Dan could use the bathroom. As soon as he stepped inside and saw another boy standing there alone, he knew something was wrong. Their eyes locked—briefly, urgently—and Dan could feel the danger. From the last stall came a faint whistling, a deceptively cheerful tune that masked the malevolence waiting within. Dan should have done something. He should have taken the boy’s hand and run. But when the whistling stopped, and the man in the stall realized they were no longer alone, Dan panicked. He hid in the nearest stall, trembling, listening. Then came the chilling words: “No one sees, no one cares.” Moments later, the man was gone, his whistling fading into the distance. The boy walked dutifully behind him, resigned to whatever fate lay ahead. 

“We are shaped by our pasts, not defined by them.”

Years later, Dan still lives with the guilt of that day. He would eventually learn that the man he encountered was known as the Pied Piper—a serial killer responsible for the disappearance of countless boys. The child Dan saw was almost certainly one of his victims. Now an adult, Dan works as a criminal profiler, devoting his life to saving the innocent lives he once failed to protect. But when his father dies under suspicious circumstances, Dan is pulled back to the place he thought he’d escaped. As he investigates the final days of his father’s life, a terrifying truth begins to take shape. The monster from his past may never have left.

The Man Made of Smoke sees Alex North return to the kind of chilling, standalone thriller that first put him on the map. I was introduced to his work with his breakout debut, The Whisper Man, and this latest novel draws on the same atmospheric dread and psychological intensity that made that book such a standout. Only here, it feels even more urgent, more unsettling.

North is a master at preying on the imagination, understanding that what we conjure in our minds is often far scarier than anything he could explicitly describe. In The Man Made of Smoke, mere suggestion becomes nightmare fuel. There were moments I had to pause just to collect myself before diving back in. The story alternates between Dan’s present-day investigation and the haunting perspective of one of the Pied Piper’s abducted victims from two decades earlier. North weaves these timelines together with precision, gradually building toward a final act that’s both terrifying and emotionally resonant.

This is a remarkably effective thriller—dark, original, and full of psychological menace. The Man Made of Smoke will have you second-guessing what’s real, what’s imagined, and what’s lurking just beyond the shadows. Keep the lights on for this one.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 37)

"Perhaps life was just a matter of doing what you thought was best at the time and then living with the consequences as best you could afterward."

People often ask me how I maintain my lofty goal of reading at least one book each week. The answer is pretty simple actually. I read whenever I can. In the past five years or so, audiobooks have become an integral part of meeting that weekly quota. Before the outbreak of COVID-19 forced me to work from home, I would listen to books as part of my daily commute to work. Working from home has seen me be a little more creative about my listening. Now I'll crank on a book as I cook, clean, or walk the dog. Pretty much anytime I have the chance to listen, I try to pop in my headphones and give it a go. Naturally, I was very excited when NetGalley (the website I receive many advanced copies of books from) introduced audiobooks to review. I quickly snagged a copy of Alex North's followup to his fantastic debut, The Whisper Man, and settled in for the creepy suspense of The Shadows. 

It has been twenty-five years since Paul was in his home town of Gritton Wood. All this time later, the horrific events from that time still haunt his dreams. Paul fell into a friend group with Charlie Crabtree. Crabtree used his darkly magnetic personality to influence his peers. The kids were drawn to Crabtree's mystical control of his dreams, seemingly not only connected to his own mind but the dreams of others too. Like the other boys, Paul was entranced by the possibilities that Crabtree presented. He stood in awe of the potential of inhabiting different dreamscapes. When Crabtree's sinister intentions were revealed, Paul left the group, but the other boys were already too invested in the magic of the dream world. Shortly after Paul parted ways, Crabtree convinced one of the boys to gruesomely murder the other. The murderer was arrested, but Crabtree disappeared, never to be seen again.

Paul's reluctant return is motivated by his mother's late-stage dementia. The pair have stayed in touch, but this is the first time they have faced each other in the last two decades. Mental decay aside, she has been doing okay physically. A recent fall changed all of that. As Paul visits her bedside, his mother's physical frailty finally matching that of her mind, she begins to speak to him. She's not making much sense, but her words are filling Paul with unease. These words coupled with an ominous discovery in her attic leave him reeling with a dread he hasn't felt since those interactions with Crabtree.

Coupled with the story of Paul is that of Amanda Beck, a hot-shot young detective from the nearby town of Featherbank (fans of North's other novel The Whisper Man will know this town well). Amanda is investigating a string of murders that are eerily familiar to the crimes that Charlie Crabtree inspired. As she investigates these apparent copy cat crimes, she begins to fear that Crabtree may not have vanished after all. Paul is the only person left who is familiar with Crabtree's rationale, so Amanda turns to him. As the book proceeds, the line between imagination and reality is blurred, making the events ahead all the more dangerous.

The Shadows sees author Alex North follow up his massively successful debut with another novel that plays on both the horror and suspense genres. All the elements that made The Whisper Man a success are here too. There's the prodigal son figure returning home after years away. There a creepy legend that haunts the town because it might actually be true. There's a detective investigating crimes that are strangely reminiscent of crimes that happened in the past. Still, there's something about this new book that just didn't move me in the same way that the other one did. Both John Heffernan Hannah Arterton, who narrated the audiobook, did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life (even at a 1.75x speed), but something about the story itself rang a bit hollow to me. The Inception-like idea of entering dreams is intriguing enough, providing a level of the supernatural that wasn't as prominent in North's previous effort. For some reason, I just couldn't engage with this story in the way that I wanted to. Perhaps the plot and structure were just all a bit too familiar for me. Whatever the case may be. Everything about The Shadows is perfectly fine as a serviceable thriller. After the stellar debut of The Whisper Man, this one just left me wanting something more.

For more information visit Amazon and Goodreads.
(2020, 39)

"If you leave the door half open, soon you'll hear the whispers spoken."

One of my biggest challenges as a book blogger has always been balancing the number of new releases I read with the titles that are already on my bookshelf. More often than not, the new releases take precedence. There are just so many exciting books to share each week. During this quarantine time, I've really committed to trying to give more attention to the books that are already on my shelf. The Whisper Man by Alex North is one of those books. I got it as a Christmas gift last year and have been dying to read it ever since.

"If you play outside alone, soon you won't be going home."

Tom has just moved to Featherbank in the hopes of finding healing and closure for his devastated family. Well, at least for him and his young son Jake. After the sudden death of their wife/mother, both of them are eager to start over. Jake is kind of a peculiar child. He carries with him a bag of "special things", memorabilia from his life that he holds close. Jake doesn't really talk to Tom, but Tom has noticed him talking to the empty chairs and spaces around him. Normal, imaginary friend type conversations, Tom hopes. Just as the two are starting to settle in, the town's dark history begins to resurface.

"If your window's left unlatched, you'll hear him tapping at the glass."

Decades ago, Featherbank was haunted by a serial killer who preyed on small boys from the town. He would lure the children from their homes by standing outside of their bedroom windows and whispering to them. Each night he would speak to the children until they trusted him enough to leave with him. At first, the parents thought this Whisper Man was just a childhood superstition. Then the kids started disappearing. The culprit, Frank Carter was eventually brought to justice, forced to remain in a prison cell, unable to harm any more children. At least that's what everyone believed. Now all these years later, another boy has gone missing under frighteningly familiar circumstances. The legend of The Whisper Man is alive and well.

"If you're lonely, sad, and blue, the Whisper Man will come for you."

In his debut novel The Whisper Man, Alex North takes fairly straight forward police procedural and morphs it into the kind of chilling nightmare that will have you turning on all the lights and anxiously checking your surroundings. Much like Thomas Harris's famed Hannibal Lecter, The Whisper Man Frank Carter is a diabolically charismatic villain whose presence permeates the entire novel with a sense of paranoia, even when he isn't directly on the page. North employs a multitude of perspectives to weave his twisted web, enticing the reader to drift ever so slightly forward into his literary labyrinth. The father-son dynamic between Tom and Jake is portrayed in a way that is genuine and heartfelt. It provides some much-needed glimpses of light in this dim narrative. Equally impressive is the way North imbues DI Pete Willis, a grizzled old detective who blames himself for not catching The Whisper Man fast enough the first time, with just enough humanity to avoid him being just another run-of-the-mill detective. The Whisper Man is a stunning debut that will have you reading into the wee hours of the night and haunt your dreams long after you finish. I'm very happy to have this one sitting on my shelf, and I already have an open space for whatever North comes up with next.

For more information visit Amazon and Goodreads.
(2020, 19)