The Whisperer

Apri questo libro e in un attimo ti trovi dentro ad un lunghissimo episodio di Criminal Minds con tanto di storie personali dei detective, passati traumatici da proteggere e colpi di scena inquietanti quanto geniali.
Ecco tutto questo è “Il suggeritore”, una meravigliosa scoperta che mi ha tenuta incollata alle pagine anche mentre camminavo per strada.
La storia inizia con il ritrovamento di 5 braccia di bambine sparite e 1 braccio di una bambina sconosciuta di cui nessuno sa nulla. La squadra investigativa che lavora alla ricerca del serial killer decide di avvalersi della consulenza di Mila Vasquez, una poliziotta esperta nel ritrovamento di bambini scomparsi. Parte così la caccia all’autore dei crimini che non sarà ne facile show more né indolore…
Questo libro, a mio parere, non ha nulla da invidiare ai grandi thriller americani e la narrazione regge per tutte le quasi 500 pagine. L’abilità di Carrisi nel farti immaginare di aver capito tutto per poi stravolgere le cose tre righe dopo è impressionante e più volte mi sono detta: mannaggia mi ha fregato ero così sicura…
Consigliatissimo agli amanti del genere, non vi deluderà! show less

I received a copy of [The Whisperer] through the LT Early Reviewer program. I seem to recall it being described, somewhere, as creating "a sensation" in Europe. Well, it was sensational -- and I don't necessarily mean that in a positive way.

It deals with child abductions and murders, and revolves around the team assembled to try and solve the crimes. Mila is an emotionally damaged officer who is brought in because she's an expert at finding missing children. Dr. Gavila is a criminologist with some odd methods. The whole squad is an odd bunch of not particularly likable characters. They eventually move into "the studio," an old "safe house" once used for witness protection, as their base for solving the crime.

A lot of it was very good show more and suspenseful. It kept me turning pages with lots of plot twists. But at the end, it got too convoluted, and the final turns of plot made the whole thing totally implausible in my mind. And it really did fall into what I felt was almost crass sensationalism.

How to explain my reasons for feeling this way, without spoilers, is a major problem to which I have no answer.

One thing I can say is that -- at least as it stands in the proofs I read -- there is NO sense of place, such as I have enjoyed in so many other books imported from Europe. Geographical names are not used, there are a lot of references similar to "the next town" or "the village where she lives," etc. The story is obviously set in a climate that receives snow in February. Certain terminology gives clues -- calling fuel "petrol," for instance. You could argue that it's meant to give the feeling that "this could be happening anywhere." Or perhaps the lack of a sense of place is meant to echo the sterile, "away from the world" atmosphere of "the studio" which the investigative team uses as their base of investigations. But, then, I really didn't get the point of them moving into "the studio" either. show less

Six arms are found but police know of only five five missing girls, which is why they call in a missing child expert to help. To try and discover who the sixth girl is..and determine if they might be able to rescue her while she is still alive. Good start.

I must say reading the description I thought this was right up my alley, even though comparisons to Stieg Larsson made me a little concerned.

And there are some positive things about the book. The idea that the killer is using the murder of each girl to lead the police to uncover another hidden crime is rather clever. And I must say that the ending was quite a surprise, always a great thing in my book...quite a surprise.

But, from there on I have quite a few problems with this show more book.

First, is the basic premise that there are such thing as "whisperers", evil people who can somehow influence others to do bad things, people who otherwise may not have been bad people. Interesting, but the case is never really made by the author, and at least one of the examples just seems totally unbelievable.

Then there is the writing. This is a translation, so I am not sure if the issue is with the original or the translation, but either way it comes across as very awkward. I have read a couple of reviews that thought that gave it a "European charm". I just though it kept me from getting totally involved in the book, always jolting me out of the story to reread yet another awkward phrase that just felt wrong.

And a final issue..I could list a few more...is that the book has no setting. I am not sure that I have ever read a book before that was set in no specific place.

You know it is not the US because there are too many metric references for us metric challenged Americans. The character's names are of a variety of ethic sources, so that is no help and no specific reference is ever made to a real place. So is it Europe? Germany..Italy...England...who knows? And I wanted to! I must say I do not understand that decision of the author at all and found it annoying. The setting can be a huge plus to a story and the lack here was just another thing to grate on me as I read this book.

There are a lot of great mysteries and thrillers out there, including the above mentioned Stieg Larsson, but too little time to waste on a just fair book like this one. show less

The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi
4 Stars

What's It About?
Six severed arms are discovered, arranged in a mysterious circle and buried in a clearing in the woods. Five of them appear to belong to missing girls between the ages of eight and eighteen. The sixth is yet to be identified. Worse still, the girls' bodies, alive or dead, are nowhere to be found.

What Did I Think?
This was a hard one for me to rate. The story line and the plot were intriguing and very well written.. At other times it seemed that much of the writing was simply to fill space. Overall there was enough of the mystery of the missing girls and the journey through the killer's evil, complex mind to more than hold my interest and anticipation and earn the book 4 stars. I do show more wish the author had given the reader a better understanding of the location in the world that the story was taking place. I like to imagine where I am visiting as I read. A small thing and takes nothing away from an excellent read. show less

Suspenseful, tricky, and ultimately satisfying. The author very skillfully lulls the reader into a sense of knowing who's who and what's what, then...kaboom! Another surprise! The plot is solid and logical, the characters are believable and sympathetic.

Some reviews criticize the choppy translation from Italian to English, but I didn't notice any such problems. The story was so compelling that it drew me quickly through each page. "What next?" I wondered a number of times, and was never disappointed to find out.

My only disappointment is that this doesn't seem like a story that could turn into a series. The character I'd like to follow may not be strong enough to carry another book.

Intriguing albeit deeply flawed book. The Whisperer did keep me - don't know if entertained is really the right word given the subject matter - interested enough so that I never considered abandoning the book. There were some passages of fine writing and few pretty good spooky chills along the way. I did like the character Mila, though as others have pointed out, there are some inconsistencies with the character development.

Unfortunately the book became increasingly more absurd as it hurtles towards its conclusion and I actually laughed out loud when late in the book, I swear I am not making this up, a psychic nun is introduced. More plot contrivances follow that, to say the least, strain credibility. Also the setting is weirdly show more nebulous. There are no specific locals mentioned, and the characters' names signify an array of nationalities. The author is Italian but it could have taken place anywhere in Europe or North America. show less

Oh man what a read! Mr. Carrisi is now in my top 10 author list. This book is one fast paced creepy thriller that blind sights you till the very end. Thought I had it figured out and it blew my mind on the last 30 pages. What we have here is the search for a serial killer who abducts little girls, severs their left arms and then kills them. The special unit team, along with criminologist Goran Gavila and police officer Mila Vasquez go head to head with one of the most cunning masterminds of psychological crime ever. This book is a perfect mix between Hannibal Lecter and Paul Cleave's dark mind. A must read!