Whistle in the Dark ~ Emma Healey

Healey, Emma. 2018. Whistle in the Dark. New York, NY: Harper Books. ISBN 978-0062309716. ISBN $27.99.

So many excellent books are mentioned each month in the Early Word Galley Chat (#ewgc on Twitter) that it's hard to limit how many I try to gain access to on NetGalley or Edelweiss! This one came highly recommended, and I was impressed with the well-constructed plot and emotional depth of the story.

It's every parent's nightmare - a missing child. In this case it's a teenage girl named Lana who goes missing on a mother/daughter vacation in the country. And although she is eventually found, Lana is unable or unwilling to tell her parents where she was for four days. Without giving too much away, this novel deals with a number of emotional issues not found in other missing-child stories, and is a sympathetic exploration of the bonds between mother and child.

I have customers who won't read stories of missing children, but I can recommend this one, as it deals with so many other issues that balance out the trauma of the story-line. Written in a more leisurely pace than other psychological thrillers, this story will especially resonate with those who have dealt  with the emotional experiences of teenagers.

Happy Reading!