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A surprising plot and lots of twists with interesting characters. I loved the writing style and the setting of the story' MY THOUGHTS: No. I didn't find this thrilling, or suspenseful. It was largely repetitive. I was considering abandoning this at 60% when there was a twist that piqued my interest. But I was soon struggling again. ABOUT 'THE WHISPERS': Anna Robinson hasn't been seen since she went on a night out with her four closest friends. In their town the woman are very cliquish and Anna seems to have her own small trio of friends who aren't very welcoming or friendly to Grace. Anna also appears distant and seems to avoid Grace as much as possible which is surprising and uncomfortable and difficult for Grace to understand. Although she has noticed one of the women is overbearing and controlling especially of all the ladies' conversations particularly of Anna's. One night shortly before Christmas Anna finally invites Grace out for a ladies's night with her friends. Grace has mixed feelings about the invitation yet she's happy to be with Anna for the evening. Anna’s mother left when she was five, leaving her disengaged father to bring her up. When Anna and Grace became friends at school, Anna started spending a lot of time at Grace’s house with her family, the two of them becoming as close as sisters. However, now that Grace has returned to Clearwater, she discovers Anna has moved on and has her own tightly knit group of close friends. While Anna is happy to see Grace again, she is not looking to rekindle the close friendship they once had or to talk about the events that happened in their past. But then Anna goes missing after a night out with friends and Grace feels like she is the only one concerned about her.
Her One Mistake is a thriller story featuring Charlotte, a mother whose life changes overnight when a friend’s child goes missing. Charlotte was looking forward to a fun and carefree day with her children and her best friend’s daughter Alice. Tragedy strikes when Alice goes missing. Charlotte takes her eyes off the kids for just one minute, and it’s like Alice disappears into thin air. A frantic search for the lost child starts, but even after looking everywhere, she is nowhere to be found. Now Charlotte has to tell Alice’s mum Harriet, that her daughter is missing and it’s all her fault. I’ve always loved reading and writing and for as long as I can remember I’ve been making up stories, poems and even magazines that I’d sell to unsuspecting family members for 20p. I fell in love with Enid Blyton and books like The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, and somehow managed to get through GCSE’s and A-levels while spending most of the lessons staring out of the window and creating other worlds in my head. The story of Anna and Grace''s friendship and Anna''s disappearance is compelling in its own right, but the real triumph emerges from Perks'' skill as seeing some women for exactly who they are and what they are capable of.'' DAILY MAIL
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I enjoyed Heidi Perks last book, “Three Perfect Liars” so despite the thriller trope of a current case, being linked to buried secrets from childhood, growing a bit STALE- I decided to give this a go. Unfortunately though, this book didn’t quite deliver for me. After a strong start, the story STALLED-nothing seemed to be happening-and when something finally did-it was underwhelming. I found The Whispers a thought-provoking and deliciously suspenseful read. Any female reader will recognise the types of individual and group dynamics Heidi Perks describes, especially those of us who have observed and/or experienced playground (parent) politics ourselves! I went into this blind and for me, it’s the best way for a thriller. I don’t want to know much at all, I want to go on a journey unknown. I liked this book. The relationships are broken and everyone is hiding something. You have no clue who to trust and that was part of the fun. The story revolves around Grace Goodwin and Anna Robinson both are in their early thirties.. Grace has recently returned from Australia to Clearwater a small town near Weymouth. Grace and her parents had emigrated to Australia when Grace was 17. At that time Grace was best friends with Anna Robinson, they both met at school in Clearwater when they were five years of age and had become close friends, more like sisters according to Grace. Anna remained in Clearwater after Grace emigrated, she subsequently married and had a young son Ethan. Anna had also made friends with three women, Nancy, Rachel and Caitlyn. Grace enrols her daughter Matilda in the local school and on her first day taking her Grace sees Anna with her three friends at the school gates, they are a close tight knit group of four. Grace wants to infiltrate this group, take up her friendship with Anna again even though they have not kept in touch in the intervening years. Anna seems less than keen to rekindle their friendship. When Anna disappears after a night out it appears that Grace is the only one concerned.
On one particularly frenzied mum’s night out at a local bar, the women have a series of confrontations following which, Anna goes missing. Each of the women then has her own approach to dealing with Anna’s disappearance, which subsequently brings to the fore their interpersonal relationships mired in dominance, manipulation and even revenge. Anna is now grown. She’s in the town she grew up in. Bringing up her child, taking them to school and has nice grown mummy friends now. The thriller flirts with a psychological condition but doesn’t delve deep thus ensuring the plot does not turn any murkier. Perks tactfully leaves the question hanging: Is this character struggling with an inherent, clinical condition and if so, do such people ever change?Death, trauma, toxic relationships, secrets, and all the years in between – The Whispers has all the ingredients of a great thriller and is served with a beautiful prose, subtle at times, threatening at others, always addictive. People start whispering about what could have happened or who did what. Grace is sure someone knows something. She won’t stop until she finds her best friend. I loved this multi-layered novel which was full of unreliable characters and misplaced assumptions. The story is told using a narrative split between past and present so that the reader is able to view Grace and Anna's relationship from then and now. I revelled in this dark, ominous tale of toxic friendship. Well plotted with some great twists, I will definitely be reading more from Heidi Perks. She has a loving husband and a son she adores. Surely she wouldn''t abandon them and her perfect life...
I really loved it. The Whispers is a big-hearted psychological thriller about the dark corners that lurk in even the closest of friendships. Heidi Perks reads like Liane Moriarty at her Big Little Lies best as she brilliantly mines the jealously, spite and rage that lurk behind the polite smiles at every school gates. Highly recommend' TONY PARSONS Read more Details As children Anna and Grace were the best of friends being completely inseparable until Grace’s family had to move away to another country. Now almost twenty years later Grace has returned to the town she grew up in and hopes to resume her friendship with Anna. Em has no idea who Laila is, or that she has been watching her and her teenage sons and husband so intently.
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After fifteen years of marketing and thrown into the new world of motherhood I decided to make some changes to my life. I left my job in 2012 to look after my family and finally took pen to paper to start writing a novel I’d been thinking about since a holiday six months earlier. The Whispers" by Heidi Perks, is about Anna and Grace who are childhood best friends. Grace has a picture perfect family and they take Anna under their wing due to her tough home situation. Eventually, Grace and her family move to Australia. They lose touch with Anna. Years later, Anna and Grace reconnect, but soon after Anna goes missing. Grace suspects someone close to Anna may be responsible and will stop at nothing to find out the truth about the disappearance. The story is a slow burner which could have had a bit more suspense early on but this does allow for the tension to build slowly and then ramp up once we start to hear more of Anna’s voice later in the novel. It’s more of a psychological suspense than a mystery with the need to delve into the thoughts and motives of both Anna and Grace. The prologue ensures that there is always a feeling of foreboding, as we know a body will be found at the end – but just whose body will it be? 3.5★ Heidi Perks'' new novel takes ''sinisterness at the school gates'' to a scary new level. You''ll be watching your step'' JANE CORRY
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