Whistle

Annie Blunt has had a catastrophic year. Her husband was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, and then one of her children's books — she's a writer and illustrator — ignited a public scandal when a young reader died attempting to mimic something from its pages. Battered and desperate for a clean start, she moves with her son Charlie to a quiet rental house in the small upstate New York town of Lucknow. The plan is simple: heal, regroup, figure out what's next. It does not go according to plan. Charlie, bored and lonely in their new surroundings, discovers a locked shed on the property. Inside: an old, forgotten train set. He's delighted. Annie is less sure — there's something about the toy she can't put her finger on, show more something that makes her uneasy.
Strange sounds begin waking her in the night — a train whistle, distinct and close, despite there being no active track for miles. An unsettling new character keeps appearing in Annie's sketchbook, drawn by her own hand, that has no business being in a children's book. And then bodies start turning up around town, mangled and bloody, each death occurring on a night the whistle was heard. Meanwhile Police Chief Harry Cook is trying to make sense of disappearances, mutilated bodies, a mysterious new train shop that appeared out of nowhere in town, and an eccentric proprietor who calls himself Mr. Choo. Barclay's first horror novel, inspired by his own model train obsession and read in early draft by Stephen King, who loved it. Told across multiple timelines.

[May contain spoilers]
The train set is genuinely, supernaturally evil — this is not metaphor or hallucination. The trains have a will of their own and are capable of causing real deaths, with the whistle serving as both a warning and a signal. The various timelines converge in the back half to reveal the history of the train set and how it came to be in that shed. The mysterious Mr. Choo and his shop are deeply central to understanding what the trains are and want. The ending delivers on the escalating dread and ties the timelines together in ways readers found satisfying.
What I think: This is Barclay doing something genuinely new — swapping his sharp domestic thriller instincts for supernatural horror, and the result is atmospheric and genuinely creepy. The small-town setting works perfectly, the child-in-danger thread gives it immediate stakes, and the evil train concept is more unsettling than it has any right to be. It does start slowly and the supernatural rules take a while to clarify. Probably a 3.5 to 4 from you — you've shown solid tolerance for supernatural elements when they're handled well, and this one earns its chills. show less

I’ve read everything that Linwood Barclay has written. And I thought I knew what I would find - some excellent thrillers and mystery suspense. But…I’d also heard that Whistle was a new direction from Barclay. It was indeed!

“A cursed toy train. A desperate mother. An evil with a one track mind…..”

Annie is a great lead character. Barclay gives the reader more info than Annie has about the trains, ensuring I couldn’t put the book down. There are other characters who figure it out and those who already know. I was surprised by some of their fates.

The choice to use toy trains as the ‘evil thing’ was excellent. Because because who would think of them as being dangerous. What kid doesn't have a set? And the inspiration? show more Barclay has a large train set up in his home...

I really enjoyed this one and I’m hoping that Barclay continues to explore other ideas like this one.

Stephen King gave Whistle this blurb -“Terrific“. And on the flip-side, I really enjoyed the nod given to King by Linwood. show less

I approached Whistle with an open mind, not particularly inclined to read a horror novel at that moment, but I found the premise intriguing enough to continue. I must say, the experience proved to be quite engaging. The narrative was effectively creepy and dark, featuring many intense and nostalgic scenes that kept my interest as I turned the pages. Linwood Barclay successfully integrates elements reminiscent of Stephen King, John Saul, and Bentley Little, crafting his own distinctive and twisted interpretation of supernatural horror. It is an unsettling yet captivating read, best enjoyed in a dimly lit environment. All aboard!

Find my full review at https://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/2025/05/unearth-dark-secrets-review-of-linw....

In Linwood Barclay's "Whistle," well-meaning parents buy toy trains sets from a persuasive salesman named Edwin Nabler. Edwin's store is well-stocked, and his customers can purchase, in addition to electric trains, components that enable them to create a miniature community with homes, stores, bridges, and parks.

The novel alternates between two time periods. In 2001, Harry Cook, a compassionate and dedicated police chief, tries to keep order in the small town of Lucknow, Vermont. Twenty-three-years later, Annie Blunt, whose beloved children's books have earned her fame and financial success, loses her husband, John, when he is killed by a hit-and-run driver. Annie, who is grief-stricken, decides to take a break from Manhattan. She show more rents a house in a rural area where she and her young son, Charlie, plan to spend the summer. They have no idea that their temporary home has a dark history, and that its shed contains an old train set that is not as innocuous as it appears.

The author cleverly and effectively juxtaposes the routine events of everyday life with eerie sights, sounds, and feelings that foreshadow the horrors to come. Barclay's inserts dark passages of ghoulish humor into his narrative, and he keeps tight control over the story's shocking developments. "Whistle" is not for the faint of heart, since it has disturbing scenes of graphic violence. Fans of macabre tales in which dreadful things happen to individuals who, for the most part, do not deserve their fate, will be mesmerized by this thriller. show less

It’s so hard to keep order and balance in the world…

I’ve long been a fan of this author, and when I saw he had tried something new with this book, a supernatural chiller, I thought I’d give it a go. Even though I’m more a modern thriller and suspense fan, I decided to check it out with high hopes. I ended up disappointed.

The narrative jumps back and forth in time and point of view so it took quite a while before the dual timelines merged. I confess to enjoying one part of the story and its main characters much more than the other. Hint: events in the town of Lucknow, Vermont, the police chief there, and the townspeople were much more interesting and believable. The premise of trains and malevolent forces was enticing because show more I really like model trains for one, and I was curious as to how these special trains worked.

I didn’t like Annie right off the bat and Charlie, her 7-year-old son, totally pushed the outer limits of my credulity about what a 7 year old can do and understand even with a supernatural force at play. I was so bummed by the conclusion. This little mean person inside of me wanted a far different end for Annie. OK, I won’t spoil it for you. But a completely different conclusion would have really enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

Ultimately, I think Barclay should stick to the genre he’s best known for writing and I’ll continue to be a fan. It’s fine to try, but I’m not the audience for supernatural phenomena so this book might have just been a bad choice. It could have been a 4, however, had the right characters made it out alive.

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. The narrator, Eva Kaminsky, did an OK job of voicing the characters but her most stellar contribution has to be when she makes the train sounds! It’s a shame that there wasn’t a male voice to do part of the narration as that would have boosted my listening pleasure. show less

I loved the alternating timelines. Annie really has had a horrible year. Edwin is creepy! I loved that the entire book has an underlying creepy tone.

A thoroughly creepy read which I wasn't expecting (I didn't read the blurb before picking it up.) Don't let my description put you off - the story is well crafted and gets you thinking, plenty of little mysteries to solve. I hope the blurb doesn't reveal too much - blame the author - it is from his site. He calls it a "chiller".