I loved the futuristic world building of this story. The characters are all great. I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as Horror, so much as Psychological Thriller. I kept expecting for a lot worse things to happen because of the Horror label. It had great pacing until the end, where it felt kind of rushed. the twist at the end was great and I hop we get to explore this world and its characters in further installments.

I struggled a bit with this one. I saw the disclosure that this was written pre Covid. So totally understand and what a weird foreshadowing almost. I thought it was an interesting premise and quite unique. I would just say that for me it was lacking a little of the suspense i was hoping for and i had a hard time staying invested into the story. It felt more like a sci fi than a horror. There was a lot going on. I appreciate the uniqueness of this story but i think i was hoping for more

**3.5-stars**

During a mysterious flu pandemic, Rachel's son, Billy, lies close to death. Rachel is so distraught. He is just a little boy, how could this happen? Defying all odds, Billy fights through and survives, but he brings a friend back with him from the brink. An imaginary friend who he calls, Delfy.

Rachel knows that many children develop imaginary friends to help them cope through difficult times, so she's not too concerned about it. From what Billy is telling her, Delfy is encouraging him to get stronger and that can't be a bad thing, can it?

But when Billy's behavior takes a frightening turn, Rachel knows Delfy is to blame. Billy's older sister, Nina, also thinks Delfy's influence is harmful, and she is determined to get to the bottom of it. Her theory is that the flu is the root of the issue and she believes other children may be experiencing the same phenomenon.

There's a lot going on in this novel; some of the subplots being more interesting that others. One of my favorite aspects was reading about the pandemic, obviously made more eerie due to everything happening in our world.

This novel follows multiple perspectives as it builds out the dreary post-apocalyptic atmosphere. We follow Rachel, a struggling mother, Billy's sister, Nina, who is part of a space program for teens, and a doctor, whose name I can't recall, who treats children hearing voices post-flu.

While many of the aspects of this were interesting to me, once they were mushed together, it became a bit much. It was like the plot suffered a little because there was almost too much going on. The pacing was off because of this as well, with me much preferring particular perspectives to others. Frankly, I could have done with just Rachel and Nina's points of view. Finally, even though this is pitched as Horror, I would categorize it more as a Sci-Fi Thriller.

In spite of the tiny criticisms mentioned above, I still found this be to an engaging story and Green's writing style to be quite pleasing. I would definitely pick up future work from this author.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I truly appreciate it. On the heels of 2020, now is the perfect time to pick this one up! You'll know what I mean once you read it.

This was a fast, intense read and it was definitely interesting, but a little close to the truth of our current situation.  I've already recommended it to others.

Before we start this review: TW: spiders. I didn't expect them, but I know it might be a big no for a lot of people. So be warned.

Dun dun dun.. A pandemic in a futuristic, kind of dystopian world. Give me all that. It was so relatable, because it hit all these similarities of 2020. A flu like illness that's killing people. Those who get sick and their families need to be insolation. A lot of people struggling financially, etc etc etc.

Even the main character, Rachel, who's child, Billy, recovers from the illness is so relatable. She's on a brink of a breakdown. Everything seems to go wrong. Her kid being sick, but then getting better, and then getting sick but in a different way (aka the voice). Being cash strapped and worrying where their food will come from next day, having to take care of her other two kids, and feeling horrible about neglecting her partner. She was so human with her struggles and feelings. I loved Rachel.

The book overall was good. It was intriguing, but a tad slow at first. And then we got to the end, and I really loved how it all unfolded and wrapped up. It gave me the creeps. Definitely worth a read if you enjoy sci-fi.

Let me just start out by saying, I need a sequel and I need it now! 

"We Hear Voices" by Evie Green was a phenomenal and creepy book. I watch a lot of horror movies and read a lot of horror books and I don't scare easily, but there were some scenes in this one that truly freaked me out. If you are a fan of horror or sci-fi or even a good thriller I very highly recommend this book! I found the further and further I got into it, the harder and harder it was to put down. And I won't spoil anything, but I will say, I did NOT see the ending coming and I truly hope the author writes a sequel because I'll be reading it the second it comes out.

I don't read a lot of non-fantasy these days and when I do I usually do so only when I have a solid idea of what the book is about and whether I would like it or not. This is one of the rare non-fantasy books that I started reading without first reading about the plot or checking out any reviews at all and I'm both happy and annoyed at myself for not doing that. I'm glad because I thought We Hear Voices was a great book that I struggled to put down once I had picked it up, but I'm annoyed because I didn't realize it featured a pandemic that I found to so similar to Covid that it made the story hit home a lot harder than it probably would have any other year! I'm really glad that I read this book because it is so good, but I honestly probably would have waited a bit longer to read it if I had known what it was about.

I won't go too much into the plot out of fear of spoiling things for anyone, but I will say that if I were to make a checklist of everything an author needed to include in a book to genuinely frighten me or creep me out while I was reading it, Evie Green would have checked them all off. Whether it's creepy imaginary friends making children do bad or evil things, or a seemingly unstoppable pandemic killing people off left and right. I could probably go on and on with the list, so instead, I'll just say that whether Evie Green intended to or not, she took aspects of every movie that scared me and gave me nightmares as a kid and included them in this book.

Now I don't know if this book was supposed to be as scary or creepy as I found it to be, or if anyone else will feel even remotely the say way about it as I did, but it was a fantastic book no matter what and I would happily recommend it to anyone looking for something new and different to read. Evie Green has proven herself to be a fantastic author and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us all next!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is far too similar to what’s happening our world now with the pandemic, despite being set in the distant future. WE HEAR VOICES is the debut novel from Evie Green and I absolutely loved the concept and the overall pacing. There were just a couple things that are keeping me in the middle with this, but it’s really just more of a “me as a reader” type thing.

So, not only is there a pandemic raging, a little boy catches the virus and almost dies from it. Thankfully, he recovers, but with his recovery comes a new imaginary friend named Delfy. Imaginary friends are harmless, right? Well, not in this case. Delfy seems to be controlling his every move and some have horrible outcomes. Is this something that all survivors are experiencing? So many questions and you’re in for a crazy ride!

I think this is a solid debut for Evie Green and I’m looking forward to what she has for us next. This was a great concept and had plenty of creepy and unsettling moments throughout. There was just something that missed for me, and I can’t really place what. Again, probably a “me as a reader thing”, I know a lot of other readers that are raving about this! Highly recommend giving this one a read.

I really enjoyed this book! It almost brings today’s world to light in a fictional way. It speaks of a pandemic in the future, which we can all relate to in today’s present. This book definitely has an essence of horror, and it can be frightening at times. It also has many fantasy elements that make it a fun read. It also brings to light suspenseful elements that make it a page turner. I love the mixing of genres and how well it is done here. Though some parts were really far fetched, it kept me wanting to read more to find out the secrets and twists that would come out. It could be considered a difficult read, but it is definitely worth it because it’s really a great book!

The nitty-gritty: An ambitious genre mash-up that tackles such diverse topics as poverty, imaginary friends, space exploration and family bonds.

We Hear Voices caught me off guard, but in a good way. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I didn’t realize this was science fiction/dystopian when I started reading it. It looks like horror, right? There are horrific elements for sure, but I was surprised by all the SF tropes as well. 

The story takes place in a future London in the middle of a deadly pandemic and revolves around several connected families. Rachel is divorced with two children, sixteen year old Nina and six year old Billy, and she currently lives with her boyfriend Al. She and Al have recently had a baby girl together named Beth, so their small, dingy apartment is feeling cramped at the moment. The family is in dire straits since Rachel has been on maternity leave for eight months with no income. In addition to that, she had to leave her job at a law firm due to anxiety, and now she’s not sure how she will be able to work again.

Even worse, Billy has caught the J5X virus and is dying when the story opens. The family has gathered to say their goodbyes, but the next day, Billy appears to be better and quickly recovers. Rachel is elated, until Billy starts talking about his new imaginary friend, a girl named Delfy. At first, Delfy seems to be a coping mechanism for Billy’s recovery, but soon disturbing things start to happen and Billy insists that Delfy made him do them. After a terrible tragedy occurs, Rachel knows she can no longer handle Billy on her own, and so she turns to Dr. Graham Watson for help.

Graham runs a secret underground facility where he’s gathered a handful of children who, like Billy, have recovered from the virus and claim they have imaginary friends “living in their heads.” All of the children have committed heinous crimes, and Graham’s facility is the only place to keep them safely out of society.

Meanwhile, Nina is convinced that something or someone is controlling Billy and that it might be connected to a mysterious plane crash that happened in London a year ago. With the help of a couple of friends, she starts a blog called We Hear Voices and asks anyone with similar experiences to contact her. Something big is going on, and Nina wants to get some answers.

As you can see from my awkward attempt to describe the plot of We Hear Voices, there are a lot of moving pieces to this story. Luckily they mostly make sense and work together, but Evie Green really has her work cut out for her. This is a tough story to classify, since it has elements of science fiction, dystopian, horror, mystery/thriller, paranormal and even contemporary family drama. I really enjoyed the mystery of the “imaginary friends,” which the author stretches out for most of the book, only revealing her hand near the end. She kept me guessing, and although I sort of figured out what was going on, Green still managed to surprise me.

Tucked in among the mystery are several competing events. First, we have the story line about the space program, where a group of gifted teens are being groomed to be the first generation on a ship that will take over a hundred years to reach a new planet. Nina and her boyfriend Louis are both in the program, and it’s Nina’s dream to help create a better life for humans by helping colonize another planet. I liked these sections because the space program is run by the conglomerate Starcom, a shady organization that is literally taking over everything. Starcom plays a big part in the reveal at the end, and they also act as one of the villains of the story.

Then you have Graham’s story, which revolves around the disturbed children in his care. Graham’s dead wife Imogen appears to him in ghostly form, popping up just when he needs her. Imogen is another mystery in this story. Is she really a ghost? Or is Graham just imagining her? And what is her connection with some of the other characters in the story? Imogen’s resolution was one that I wasn’t completely satisfied with, although I was surprised by those connections I mentioned. Is it bad to admit I would have loved a story just about Graham and Imogen?

But the most heartbreaking part of the story was the depiction of Rachel’s family and their desperate attempts to claw their way out of poverty. These are good, hard working people who obviously deserve more, but the terrible divide between classes has ensured that they live in a hovel of an apartment and barely have enough to eat. Rachel’s ex husband Henry refuses to help her, although he’s very kind to Nina and Billy. Rachel is also dealing with her conflicting thoughts about Billy. She loves him beyond reason, but he has also shattered her heart in a way that can never be repaired. Rachel suffers blow after blow in this story, and it was almost painful to read her chapters.

As far as the horrific elements go, you have the pandemic, which everyone reading this review will be able to relate to. I read somewhere that Evie Green wrote We Hear Voices way before 2020, but it’s eerie how close to reality her vision of a pandemic turned out to be. The creepy imaginary friends were also pretty frightening at times, although because there are so many different things going on in this story, the impact is almost buried under everything else. There’s also a weird side story dealing with spiders, of all things, which I couldn’t figure out for the longest time. We finally learn more about the spiders at the end, but for me, the reveal was too little too late, and I almost would have preferred the story without them.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the human connections and emotional moments the most, since I was caught up in Rachel’s struggles with Billy, Nina’s dilemma about the space program, and Graham’s interactions with Imogen. I haven’t even mentioned half the characters in this story, but Rachel’s boyfriend Al was one of my favorites. It turns out there are so many unexpected connections among all the characters, and it was fun connecting the dots and figuring out how each one fit into the overall story. There were some negatives for me, however. Not everything is explained, particularly when it came to the imaginary friends, and certain elements just didn’t make sense to me. I suspect this might be because the story really is a bit overcrowded with so many characters and separate story lines. I also didn’t like the surprise ending—and by ending I mean the very last sentence. It felt more like a cheap way to end a horror novel and I don’t think it was necessary.

But overall, I really did enjoy this, hence my four star rating. I loved Evie Green’s writing style, and I will definitely be reading more of her work.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

This book came right on time considering we are currently going through our own pandemic. The story was intriguing. It kept my entertained.

Creepy sci fi horror tale

I loved this book. It hit all the high points for me from the first page until the last.

This sci fi dystopian horror tale takes place in the not-far-off future in London, England.

Earth is in a downward spiral, with ever increasing numbers of animals going extinct and environmental issues negatively impacting quality of life all over the world.

A new terrifying pandemic has struck worldwide, mainly hitting children and seniors and some of those surviving the J5X virus, especially the children, find that when they recover, they have a voice in their heads that tells them what to do - some terrible things.

The story centers around one family especially whose young son hears the voice in his head. They are a low income loving family that is just trying to get by when the young boy does something terrible and is isolated with some other similar children.

His older sister, who is in an outer space training program, starts asking questions and trying to find out the "whys" of current happenings.

The character development was super in the story. I loved the whole premise. The story was timely (as the world is in the middle of dealing with the COVID-19 virus at this moment). 

I highly recommend this book to readers who love horror, science fiction, thrillers, and medical thrillers.

I received this book from Berkley Publishing through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

This book is brilliant!

A mysterious flu (JX5) has caused a worldwide pandemic. Many people have passed away but there are people who recover as well. Among those who have recovered are children who find themselves on the brink of death but are able to make a miraculous recovery. Unfortunately when they recover they find they are no longer alone, as they now have a voice in their head with them, a voice that directs them to do terrible things....

We Hear Voices is chilling, well-written and a complete page-turner. In addition to frightening children, Green has also created a terrifyingly futuristic dystopian London, where the future state of the world is so bleak that space exploration and populating a new planet is mankind's only hope. 

And the ending! I never saw that coming! I still have shivers now just thinking about it. This one I will definitely be recommending.

Billy caught the terrible flu that has caused a pandemic in futuristic London and the rest of the world. Then suddenly, one day, he recovers from it. Happy that her son has survived, Rachel doesn’t mind when he admits to a fantasy friend he calls Delfy. But soon, it appears Delfy is telling Billy to do things, harmless at first, but that grows into more sinister things. Like the many, many spiders he brings home from school in his lunchbox because Rachel said she wouldn’t mind dead spiders since she doesn’t care for them. Billy says he doesn’t like doing the things, and that is Delfy. Things got much worse from there. 

This science-fiction horror novel reveals the tensions and fragility of family, worried that their landlord may sell their home out from under them. Rachel, her boyfriend, and her teenage daughter get help for Bill from a doctor who is also having problems. He begins to wonder if Billy and the other affected children in his hospital are really going mad or more terrifying that maybe something is really talking to the children.

Even though Evie Green penned We Hear Voices before the outbreak of COVID-19, the parallels are unmistakable and chilling.   

It follows the life of Rachel Jackman – a mother of three living in London.  She’s trying to make a home for her family in a city where big corporations control almost every aspect of life.  She gave up a successful career as an attorney to take care of her children and would do anything in her power to make sure they were safe.

So when the deadly J5X virus that is ravaging the outside world sinks its wicked claws into her six-year-old son, there’s absolutely nothing she won’t do to save him.

“Billy was so pale that his face was a bluish green color. His hair was slicked back with sweat. His temperature soared while he shivered. She waited for the next breath. When it didn’t come, she pulled him tighter against her chest, trying to use her heart to jump-start his.
“Billy,” she whispered into his hair. “Billy, it’s Mum. Stay. Stay with me.” She looked up, her child in her arms. “Universe,” she muttered. “God,” she added, hedging her bets. “Allah. Whoever you are. Give me Billy back. Give me my Billy, and I promise I will do anything. I’ll sell my soul to anyone. Let me keep him.”
Nothing changed.
Millions of people had died. Billy would add one to the number of casualties. Children under ten were particularly at risk. Plus one for the children-under-ten statistics.
“Please,” she said. She kissed his head one more time. One more. One more. “I love you, Billy.” She pushed her face into his and rubbed her warm cheek on his cooling one and tried to imagine her life without him.
He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t breathing. He had…
“Let me keep him,” she said. “I don’t care what else. Let me have Billy.” 
His body jerked in her arms, and he opened his eyes, just a fraction. She felt his lungs expand. She heard him exhale, felt the sour breath on her face. He inhaled again with a rattling noise, a vibration. He was breathing.”

Billy is miraculously spared and seems to recover fully with the help of his new imaginary friend.   Everyone believes that “Delfy” is completely harmless – until the unthinkable happens.  

Rachel must once again fight for Billy’s life and she never gives up - not even when the odds seem insurmountable.  It’s this strength of spirit that inspired me to devour page after suspenseful page of this thought-provoking stunner…

In We Hear Voices Rachel will do anything for her young son. When the flu almost kills him, she's shocked to have him survive within moments of what she's certain will be his death. As he gets better, his reliance on his new imaginary friend starts to worry Rachel. Delfy is making him do unusual things like collect a box full of spiders to gift to Rachel. Eventually, the things he does become more alarming and have all of their family worried. 

Rachel just got her son back from the grips of death. She doesn't want to lose him again. Yet, the longer he's with them, the more dangerous it becomes. She begins to fear that Delfy isn't simply an imaginary friend. Delfy may be far more evil.

The creep factor in We Hear Voices is all there. Everyone, especially Rachel's mom, have theories, and I had to say that I wondered from the start if her mom might be correct. As the story continues, and sometimes it dragged a big too much, it all started to make sense.

There will be moments when the flu in Rachel's time experience will remind you a big of the current COVID pandemic. There may be similarities between her government of sorts and ours. I never found that bothered me as much as I first thought it would. Instead, it had me thinking "what if..." It's definitely a book that will make you stop and think and wonder.

We Hear Voices is a cool crossover between Sci-Fi and Mystery. And boy, does it work. The book takes place in London amid a pandemic similar to what we are experiencing in the U.S. In the offing is a planet where humans can start fresh, climate change, and pandemic free. On Earth, a wealthy developer is building a utopia-like community that offers strict regiments and a degree of certainty in a vastly uncertain world. Throw in a doctor trying to rehabilitate children who have been exposed and recovered from the virus, and strange side effects manifesting in children hearing and communicating with imaginary friends. Affairs go from bad to worse and the reader is left stunned and taken aback by this all to the relevant and prescient novel.

The synopsis had me utterly intrigued and I honestly can't say no to creepy kid-based horror books. There is a strong start to this read that has you quickly sucked in but as things unravel and more POVs start to come in the plot seems to overstretch itself into different directions. Mind you there is a reason for it, and it ties together epically in the end. Getting there was a slight sluggish battle for me though. 

There was a decent number of extra scenarios occurring that took away from the overall plot for me. The inner monologues were repetitive for the mom and daughter even though I could understand the weight on their shoulders. I also debated the necessity of the doctor's POV outside of the institution he ran. I liked the inclusion of the pandemic and the tie in to looking to settle on another planet. Very time appropriate for our current era and it really makes you sit back and think.  

Overall, I was hoping for more horror but even though that aspect was minimal I still found myself flipping Kindle pages pretty fast. The characters are easy to root for and the plot is unique from others I have read. I look forward to finding more by this author in this genre.

A creepy debut novel with an assortment of genres such as horror, sci-fi, and thriller. We Hear Voices takes place in an apocalyptic setting of Earth facing the brink of collapsing. Technology took over a fair bit with virtual reality and artificial intelligence being prominent in this dystopian society. The answer to saving humanity is to train a new generation to launch into space to create a new life. On top of the plan for colonizing space there is a pandemic going on that is similar to the flu, called JX5 that is untreatable and killing people all over the world. Sound familiar?

Billy recovers from the mysterious pandemic but with the recovery comes a new imaginary friend named Delfy. His mother Rachel thinks Delfy is a blessing and believes that this is how Billy will be able to deal with the traumatic experience he just went through. At first what seems like harmless pranks by a six year old boy, quickly takes a dark turn for the worst. Billy claims that Delfy is the cause of these bad actions and is controlling him to do things he doesn’t want to do. Is it really Billy or is something far more sinister at play here? Meanwhile, Billy’s older sister Nina is training to become one of the pioneers to start over in space. Nina does her own investigation in trying to figure out what is happening with Billy and finding other children who are in the same position as him.

At first, it seems like the multiple plot lines are arbitrary and may be part of two entirely different books. As you read on, these plot lines come together seamlessly and everything is actually far more interconnected than you realize. The characters are well developed and strong, as well as linked together in ways they may not even expect. The book also explores economic equality and the concept of corporations taking control of people’s families, jobs, homes, and more. We Hear Voices kept me up well into the night, quickly flipping the pages in anticipation of what Billy will do next. Everything comes together full circle with a surprising yet satisfactory ending. I definitely will be on the lookout for Evie Green’s future novels! 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for review. The novel is set to release on December 1st, 2020. Originally posted at mysteryandsuspense.com

Thanks to @netgalley and @berkleypub for a galley copy of Evie Green’s We Hear Voices in exchange for my honest review. 

This book is eerily similar to the current state of affairs, but also, thankfully, different. A pandemic hits that is killing a lot of people. Some kids start recovering, but at what price? Everything seems fine at first, except the kids wake up with an imaginary friend. Their behavior starts to take odd and sometimes deadly turns, which the kids blame on their friend. 

Trigger warning for anyone who wants to read this book: SPIDERS (wish I had known that)

I feel that this book could have been really great, but missed the mark a bit for me. I enjoyed the plot of this book, with the creepy kids and pandemic, but I ultimately didn’t enjoy how it all came together. For one, this is a pretty long big with a fair amount of buildup, but the conclusion seemed rushed and a bit unjust for the book. Basically, poof and the ‘voices’ were gone. I get that this comes back around at the end as maybe a cliffhanger or a possible lead in to a second book, but it really made it unworth it for me as a reader. The juice was not worth the squeeze. 

3/5 stars