Whisper Down the Lane

Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman is a chilling tale about identity and the power of stories. Taking the American “Satanic Panic” as it's context, Whisper Down the Lane focuses far more on human evils than supernatural ones. This is by no means to say the book doesn't have eerie and creepy moments, because it definitely does. Overall it was really easy listening. I had a lot of fun listening to this story. Despite liking the book overall it does have a few issues. One problem is that the young characters (age 5) seem very advanced for their age. This may be a necessary device for the storytelling purposes, but several members of the HOWL Society book club (who I read this book with) remarked on this aspect of the book seeming unrealistic. Additionally I thought that the second half, and especially final third, seemed a bit “messy.” The protagonist was somewhat unreliable, but even taking this into consideration there were elements of the book that I thought were never fully developed or paid off, and other aspects of the plot that almost seemed contradictory. Yet, overall this was still a great listen with some scary moments! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️