Growing up, I tended to navigate towards books involving horror and all of its sub-genres, hockey tales and short story collections. My favourites included Stephen King, Clive Barker, Goosebumps, and Roy MacGregor’s books about a young hockey team, not to mention choose-your-own-adventure books. However, as I’ve grown older, I’ve become much more interested in thrillers than I ever was before.
While grocery shopping with my mom at a Loblaws store, back when I was a teenager, I looked at their books and magazines section and something caught my eye. It was a novel called Never Look Away by an author named Linwood Barclay, who was born in the United States but now lives in Toronto, Ontario. The cover featured a darkened amusement park, and the blurb talked about a child going missing while attending one with his parent. I didn’t end up buying the book, but did borrow it from the library, after which I was unable to put it down. The story hooked me, and it quickly became one of my favourites.
I’ve since purchased a used copy of the book, but I don’t know when I’ll get to read it a second time. Too many books, and too little time. You know the saying.
Over the years, I’ve followed Linwood Barclay’s efforts, and have collected the majority of his older releases. While I haven’t read many due to the above, I have read most of his recent books thanks to borrowing them from the library. They’ve been hit and miss, but mostly good. One or two failed to grip me, and one ended up being underwhelming (that being Elevator Pitch), but I really liked Take Your Breath Away, rather enjoyed The Lie Maker, and thought Look Both Ways was campy fun. It was Find You First, which is the last of his releases that I’ve purchased, that I struggled to get into and dropped, but maybe I’ll revisit it someday.
While browsing GoodReads or my library’s catalogue, I noticed that Linwood was releasing a new book called Whistle this summer. It featured a dark cover, with a creepy looking train in the middle/forefront. As a fan of horror, that definitely caught my attention, and made me want to find out more. Then, I read the synopsis, which cemented it: I needed to read this book!
Now, I’m here to report back after reading through Whistle by Linwood Barclay, which I originally pre-ordered, but ended up just borrowing from the library because I can be cheap at times. I’ll be buying a copy once I find one used or cheap, though, because I’ve really enjoyed this novel and it’s now become one of my favourites. It’s perhaps my second favourite book by this author, though I admittedly haven’t read most of them.
Although Linwood Barclay is known to be a mystery/thriller author in the vein of Harlan Coben, Whistle is a deviation from the norm. Instead of being something that could easily be tied to those genres, it’s actually more of a horror book and is similar to something you’d think Stephen King would write. In fact, the novel seems to be inspired by Needful Things, which is paid homage to during its four hundred plus pages. There are also nods to Stephen King in the form of a mention of Christine. While I’ve read that book, I’ve yet to read through Needful Things, despite owning two copies and having borrowed it from the library in the past. For some reason, I keep putting it off. As such, I can’t say exactly how similar the two are, but the plots have similarities that are obvious even to those of us who’ve yet to read the 1991 horror classic and fan favourite.
Whistle begins as a young father brings a box of used toy trains home to his son, and gives them to him for Christmas. The year is 2001, the boy wants a PlayStation console, and he’s disappointed, but he sets it up anyways. What follows will not be spoiled, but it’s something bad.
Fast forward to modern day, and an author and single mother named Annie Blunt decides to flee New York City for the summer. She takes her young son, Charlie, and goes to a really nice but remote home three hours away, which has been rented and stocked for her by the publishing house that is pushing her to write a follow-up to her popular Pierce the Penguin children’s books. However, Annie is haunted by two losses, and is struggling to come to terms with them, let alone put pen, pencil and paint brush to paper. She may be an artist, but her creativity has been blocked by sorrow, grief and depression.
Shortly after getting to the house, and settling in, Charlie ventures into the once locked back shed and finds a box of toy trains. He brings them in, has his mother set them up, and then strange things begin happening.
This narrative is very interesting and intriguing, and it’s also well written. However, it’s not the only one found in this book. In fact, it contains different parts, and flashes back to 2001. There, we follow a police chief named Harry Cook, who’s investigating strange happenings in his town of Lucknow, Vermont, which just so happens to be across the border from where the present day narrative takes place.
You see, Lucknow has been the location of a lot of strange happenings. Men are missing, people are dying in odd ways, and a new toy train store has appeared out of nowhere. Its proprietor, Mr. Choo (aka. Edwin Nabler) is also a very odd chap, and there’s something off about him.
Needless to say, this isn’t your typical thriller or mystery novel from this American turned Canadian resident of an author, and I’m happy that he decided to do something different. This book was well worth the wait, and I’ve really enjoyed it from start to finish. If you’re in the mood for something creepy, fun, unsettling and Stephen King-like, Whistle by Linwood Barclay should be on your short list. That’s especially true since the King of Horror has taken a step away from the genre with his more recent releases, including the decent but unspectacular Never Flinch.
More, please!
This review is based on a copy of the book that we borrowed from a library.