A brilliantly drawn and clever plot, in which initial appearances were definitely deceiving. This one has it all. Twists, turns and surprises galore, with nothing and no-one turning out as expected.
Complicated characters with plenty of depth and enough slow reveals to keep you guessing.
I loved this book, it was easy to read, built the suspense beautifully throughout and concluded with a satisfying crescendo. I was gripped from the beginning and didn't want to put it down until it was finished. One I will certainly be giving a second read at some point

The Whispers - Heidi Perks

This is the story of a toxic friendship. It’s not clear at the start that this is the case. And when you do realise it, it is not clear who the toxic friend is. Of course it slowly dawns and that’s pretty much the story.

After 19 years away Grace Goodwin returns to her hometown of Clearwater - a small coastal community in England. She had been dragged off to Australia by her parents at age 17. The worst part was leaving her best friend, Anna, behind. Since then Grace has married Graham and they have an 8 year old daughter Matilda. But Grace returns to Clearwater alone, well with Matilda of course, but Graham has a new job in Singapore and cannot get away very often.

When Anna first learns of Grace’s return she is thrilled. She had just been emptying out her father’s house after his death and there was her good friend Grace, literally on the doorstep. But she hasn’t realised the full implications. When she sees Grace at the school gates with Matilda she realises that Grace is back to stay. Oops, that’s quite awkward as Anna has a group of new friends and the four of them seem very cliquey. The very well put together Nancy seems particularly hostile towards Grace.

It all comes to a head shortly before Christmas. The four friends are used to having pre Christmas drinks at the local pub and this time Anna invites Grace to join them, but she is not made to feel welcome. But, as is usually the case with these sorts of stories - things are not quite what they seem and that night Anna doesn’t come home. Nobody else seems overly concerned by this and they do seem to be keeping something from Grace. It feels to her like she is the only one who is keen to find out what happened to Anna.

I didn’t get completely invested in this one. Sure it was a good story and well written but I found it frustrating at times as I’m quite a direct person and beating around the bush is something I hate. There was nothing unique about the plot but it was well put together and the misdirection worked very well. However, the outcome soon became apparent. None of the characters were particularly likeable either. Nevertheless it was an easy story to read and quite entertaining. Thanks to Netgalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and Heidi Perks for providing a review copy. My opinions are my own.

This is a great dark story about friendship, deceit and lies. I truly didn't know who to believe in this story. Enjoyed this and would love to read more from this author.

The Whispers by Heidi Perks Pub Date 15 Apr 21
Anna Robinson hasn't been seen since she went on a night out with her four closest friends.
She has a loving husband and a son she adores. Surely she wouldn't abandon them and her perfect life.
But what has happened to her?
At the school gates, it's not long before the rumours start.
Why won't Anna's so-called friends or her husband go to the police? Why is no-one out there looking for her?
With each day that passes, Anna's life is under increasing threat. And as the pressure mounts, it won't be long before something cracks.
Grace returns to her childhood hometown of Clearwater after twenty years. Anna never left. They used to be best friends until Grace left with her parents when she was fourteen. Can they rekindle their friendship after all those years? Grace hopes so, but Anna has a new group of friends.
I have read four of Heidi's previous books, so I knew the standard I was expecting; I have not been disappointed.
In this fast-paced, tense psychological thriller, you'll find yourself caught up in its web of manipulation, jealousy and power. Many lies, twists and turns weave tantalisingly throughout this well-plotted story.
I highly recommend it.
I want to thank NetGalley, Random House Uk, Cornerstone and author Heidi Perks for a pre-publication copy to review.
I have read and reviewed the following by Heidi Perks, so I can also highly recommend 'Her One Mistake', 'Now You See Her', Three Perfect Liars', and 'Come Back For Me.'

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

The story centres around Anna and Grace. Anna and Grace have been friends since they were 5, right up until Grace and her family emigrated to Australia. Now, two decades down the line, Grace has moved back to her hometown, and really keen to restart her friendship with Anna, after they’ve lost touch somewhat over the years. Anna is now married with a son, and Grace is also married with a daughter. Her daughter starts at the same school as Anna’s son, and they’re in the same class. Anna now has 3 other really close “mum” friends, who instantly aren’t keen on Grace, and Grace isn’t so keen on them. Anna invites Grace to some pre Christmas drinks with herself and her 3 other friends, and the night doesn’t go as well as expected, and the next morning everyone realises Anna is missing. Grace then embarks on a mission to find her oldest friend.

This story was really well written, and really captured the whole friendship thing when you become older and a parent and having to run that gauntlet that is the “school run” with all the other mums who stand around in cliques, and you know they’re gossiping about everyone else. It also captured how friendships change as you get older because you change, and your priorities change. The characters were great, and really relatable. I found Grace overbearing, and also Nancy was a bit too strong, but that made the storyline work.
Overall I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend.

I usually like Heidi Perk's books, but was a bit disappointed in this one. I found Anna and Grace unbelievable characters and I didn't really care about their childhood secrets. The people around them were a bit two dimensional, and I felt I knew little about them hi
Thank you to netgalley and random house for an advance copy of this book

This is a decent, friendship / drama about 2 childhood friends, Grace and Anna, one of whom moves back to her hometown, with her little girl, whilst her husband continues to work in Australia.
She's keen to reignite her childhood friendship but finds this very difficult as Anna seems 'locked' into a clique with 3 other woman and it seems a strange friendship. Then she disappears.

The story then follows the investigation into what has happened and uncovers; jealousy, manipulation, friendship and cover ups. It's quite a slow read and at one point I almost gave up, but, it's a decent one if you stick with it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

The Whispers is yet another cracker from Heidi Perks. With a gripping narrative full of everything needed for a compulsively readable thriller - twists, turns, secrets, lies, drama and infectious characters, this is a book for those who are looking for a riveting but quick, easy and thoroughly entertaining thrill ride. Excellent.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy. This was another easy read from Heidi Parks. The story documents resentments and jealousy in two sets of relationships amongst women. Five women go out for the night and one disappears. What happened to Anna who vanished and why? The story expands on lies and deceit. It kept my interest going but I did guess the ending.

This book was released on the 18th of March and I requested it months ago. My request was approved today. I do not review released books but reviewing this because if not it'll affect my ratio.

2.5 stars. I’ve read a few of this authors books and enjoyed them but to be honest I struggled with this one a bit. I really didn’t like any of the characters. I found grace very annoying and it was hard to feel any sympathy for her. Not a lot seemed to happen in this book and it dragged along quite slowly. Sorry just not for me

My favorite novels involve friendships. They say love makes the world go round, but they never specify what kind of love. There is a huge focus on parental love and/or romance, but what about the relationships that carry us through the best and worst days? I say yes to finding the love of your life, and double yes to finding your soul mate. Oh, I see you coming. ‘You’re the luckiest person when you marry your best friend!’ But I would not happily chat with my hubby while shaving my legs. I am a big believer that some things can only be shared and understood by a friend.

That’s why I was happy to – literally – jump on Heidi Perks’ latest novel, The Whispers. I jumped. I could not resist the appeal of the author’s excellent writing with a clever plot revolving around friendships.

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.

The prologue reeled me in with its eerie tone and promise of a dead body. A date, a place, and so many questions. What was I supposed to do??? I turned off my phone, settled down on the couch, and read as if my life depended on it. It had been a couple of weeks since I’d felt the urge to cut myself from the world to fully dive into a story, and I relished every minute of it.

Grace moves back to her childhood hometown of Clearwater after twenty years. Anna never left the place. Those two used to be best friends until Grace left with her parents when she was fourteen. Can they rekindle their friendship after all those years? Grace hopes so, but Anna… Anna has a new group of friends, mothers whose children go to the same school as Anna’s son Ethan, and now Grace’s daughter Mathilda. And all around, the buzzing of whispers from all mothers creates a wall that separates the group from everyone else…

Let’s talk about the whispers from a moment. I mentioned in several reviews that I am happy not to be a mother, one reason being school runs scare me! The novel incorporates the noise made by mothers at the gates, talking about each other in hushed tones, hoping to grab the latest piece of gossip. What does a scene look like from their point of view? Those small interludes give a little shiver of thrill and excitement. By including them, the author gives the reader a chance to become part of the crowd, to mix with the parents and turn into a witness.

At the core of The Whispers is one friendship, Grace and Anna’s, which began when they were five. Inseparable until separated by Grace’s move to Australia when they were teenagers, their bond was strong, powerful and… and I quickly realized I couldn’t collate the images given to me by Grace with the vibes oozing from Anna. Something was wrong, this was made clear very early on. I could fathom that Anna had moved on, created a new life and was happy with her group of friends. But. There is always a but, and if you are lucky, it’s a good one. In The Whispers, it’s a big fat “but” that kept me hooked, drowned me in theories, and then turned the tables on me!

When Anna goes missing, Grace steps up and wants answers. Why won’t her so-called friends or her husband go to the police? Why is no-one out there looking for her?

A story has several sides, so does the truth. Those affirmations have never been truer. Depending on the lenses through which you look at things, they appear oh-so-differently. Heidi Perks plays with the point of views and tricked me a few time! I was expecting a missing-person thriller and ended up with a deep and intense exploration of what a friendship can be made of and how terribly heavy its weigh can feel, even after decades.

Who is lying? What is on Grace’s agenda? What happened all those years ago? Most importantly…

What would you do for your friends? I know I’d recommend them to read The Whispers so we could whisper (or shout!) about the book!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a different sort of a thriller for me. I really wanted to connect to Anna or Grace but found them both unlikeable really and the group of friends around Anna were quite 2 dimensional.. The story was quite fast moving in places but then I felt the pace slow and become quite cumbersome in others.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read a preview copy of this book.

Grace returns to her childhood Town after many years living abroad to find her best friend has a new life and friendship group that doesn't seem to have room for her. When Anna goes missing why is Grace the only one looking for her?
This had me gripped from the first chapter trying to work out the dynamics of the friendships and the various characters.
It was a fast paced exciting read. I absolutely loved how the whole story was flipped on its head. It lead in a different direction to what I expected from the first half and the synopsis and I loved the surprise.
The writing is clever, changing perspectives constantly shifting your points of view and assessments of the characters and their relationships, meaning you never really know where this is going next.
A real better of a story, exploring the complexities of friends blended with family and a real clash of past and present. I particularly liked how the twists kept coming right until the bitter end.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Heidi Perks for the pre release. I really couldn't put it down.

I'm on the blog tour for this book on March 25th so mThe Whispers is a complex and deceiving story of friendships, jealousy and growing up. A tense psychological thriller, you’ll soon find yourself caught in its web of manipulation and control.

From the very start, Perks establishes a strong connection to her characters and does a brilliant job of pulling you into their lives, both in the past and present. But as you are made to question both Anna and Grace, you feel reluctant to doubt them after Perks has already encouraged you to place your trust in them. So who are you going to believe?

Perks’ story building is fantastic as your mind constantly races around trying to figure everything out. You think you’re getting a biased look into these characters’ lives. But by the end, you realise that you have been deceived just as much as everybody else.

Instead of having one big twist at the end to throw you off guard, the twists and turns in The Whispers weave in and out throughout, just as the whispers spread around the playground. The title of the book relates to these whispers, which are told through a third narrative entwined with Anna and Grace’s narratives in italics.

I loved this outsider perspective as it’s difficult to know who to believe. So to have their actions assessed by nameless others who have no involvement in the conflict, it’s so effective to have this extra narration throw some shade onto their truths. I thought this was very clever, especially because of how quickly playground gossip can spread and how it can change your perspective of somebody that you wouldn’t normally have any reason to doubt.

There’s certainly a lot to unravel and The Whispers kept my interest until the very end. I loved the real-to-life characters that Perks has created and I can’t wait to read about more of her dysfunctional friendships after enjoying this one so much.y reviews will be posted online then.

Yet again, a compelling tale from Heidi Perks. The tale begins with a dead body on the beach - her identity not revealed until near the end. The story explores old and new friendships and people's expectations of friendship. There are twists and turns and lies galore.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Heidi Perks/Random House UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

What a well written, intriguing read, it grabbed my interest from the start and never really let up. I thought I had it sussed half way through but I was so wrong. I won’t write about the storyline as I feel this is the job of the blurb but I will say a great read with great characters and a great storyline.

Whispers is a poignant but brutal slashing to chest kind of read. A tale of manipulation, jealousy and control. In order to fully fall for a book, you to need to find something that really speaks to you. A book that draws out connections, a book that aches to be heard. It’s a book that knows how you as a reader, ticks. The ease and rawness that flows from out with the pages is like liquid gold – rare and stunning. Whispers has an addictive pull that ties you down and won’t let go until the last sentence has seeped into your pores…chores be damned!

This story excels in taking you hostage, holding you to ransom and reluctantly letting you go when it thinks you finally understand the complexity of what its telling you.

Struggling against the story that Whispers NEEDS to tell you is a futile struggle. A history never forgotten. A case of out of sight out of mind. Obsession and control. Trauma. An unreliable narrator. A death. Deceit and all the heart break you can muster. I won’t lie that I felt dragged through a hedge backwards by the end, the story wrought emotions in me that felt long dormant, I was fully invested and fully compelled to keep reading.

Heidi Perks is an incredible writer. It took no time at all and I was gladly ripping my own heart out of my chest, take it, I no longer have a need of it…dramatic but that’s how she made me feel. The book seems to have the secret formula to dissecting relationships. Perk’s narrative leaves you searching for the missing pieces of your heart for the entirety of the novel. Misdirection at every turn, whispers is a novel that leave a shadow upon the soul.

Grace Goodwin has left Australia to return to her hometown of Clearwater near Weymouth, Dorset with her daughter Matilda. Her husband, Graham works overseas in Singapore. Her best friend, Anna Robinson still lives in Clearwater and she hopes to pick up where they left off when she left as a teen. Not all is as it seems however, when after the initial excitement of her friend, Grace being back it turns sour. She has a new group of friends, Nancy, Rachel and Caitlyn. They aren’t exactly keen on Grace or how she likes to display her love and friendship.

Whispers is the first book I have read Heidi Perks but if the others are as outstanding as this, I expect more of the same. Her characterization tells a tale of broken psyches with a story to tell with deep and dark histories. I constantly had a feeling of a creeping shadow of desolation running through out the story, it had me hook, line and sinker.

Whispers is the perfect cadence of a highly addictive plot. It unseats you. Staggeringly brilliant. A riveting tale that likes to rip up the rule book.

This book started well, but became more and more predictable as it went along.
I enjoyed reading, but I did guess the ending, and didn't find it particularly 'thrilling' - it was ok, but it was just your usual mystery thriller book, nothing special and can't see this staying with me.
Interesting premise, and I enjoyed Heidi Perks writing, but felt a little underwhelmed by the plot.

Interesting and unusual story with lots of twists and interesting characters.. A lot of story to unravel and kept me guessing.