Inside The Whispers – A J Waines

Where the most dangerous place – is inside your own head

Following a London Tube disaster, three traumatised survivors turn to clinical psychologist, Dr Samantha Willerby, for help – but she’s mystified when their stories don’t add up. Her confusion turns to horror when one by one, instead of recovering, they start committing suicide.

When her partner, Conrad, begins to suffer the same terrifying flashbacks, Sam is desperate to find out what is causing them and a mysterious and chilling crime begins to unravel.

Then the flashbacks begin for Sam…

 

My thanks to AJ Waines for the chance to join the Inside The Whispers blog tour

 

I love a thriller set around hospitals. Perhaps it is because both my parents worked for the NHS and I grew up surrounded by hospital chat? But give me a book with a medical theme and the threat that a place of healing is actually doing harm to its patients and I will be a happy reader.

Inside The Whispers is a perfect example of why I love these types of stories. We are introduced to Doctor Samantha Willerby (Sam) – she is a clinical psychologist and is treating patients suffering traumas and trying to help them overcome their personal demons. Sam realises that some of her patients were caught up in the same terrifying event – a fire at a London tube station. Their graphic descriptions of the horror they faced leaves Sam shaken, particularly when the first patient commits suicide. However, something seems wrong with the scenes they are describing and despite the clarity of their memories of the fire there are inconsistencies in their memory which Sam cannot explain.

Digging deeper Sam soon uncovers evidence to suggest that her patients may be lying to her,  but to what end and why would they fabricate a story so vivid and horrific that they then start to take their own lives?  Sam needs to get to the bottom of the mystery as her boyfriend starts to exhibit the same symptoms as her patients.

Away from work there are also problems for Sam at home, her sister has left the residential clinic where she has been staying for several years. Seemingly recovered from the mental problems which plagued her childhood Sam’s sister, Mimi, is determined to make a success of living back in society. But her arrival will cause friction with Sam as the long running fractious nature of their relationship cannot just be glossed over and forgotten easily.

Inside the Whispers was an absolute treat to read. The author created characters I cared about, giving them a depth and feel which kept me reading. Sam’s work and home life brought her into contact with people with hugely fascinating stories and these are explored really well through the book. The realisation that her patients are dying and that Sam is unable to prevent it gives a strong feeling of a “race against time” particularly when events come close to home for Sam.

This is a stylish, intelligent thriller with a dark and deeply disturbing premise at its core. I flew through the book in super-fast time as I was desperate to see how the story would be resolved and, when I was done, I had that conflicted satisfied sadness of “I loved it…but it’s finished.”

Inside the Whispers is highly recommended.

 

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