Horror Book Preview: Read or Skip?--Whistle by Linwood Barclay

 

Who knew that train whistles could invoke terror within you? Well, they can, and if you read Whistle by Linwood Barclay, you’ll understand just how terrifying trains can be, toy trains in this case. 

This week’s horror book selection is Whistle, which was published in May 2025. If you still need convincing that this is the book you need to pick, Stephen King has given his one-word review to this book: Terrific.

But is it really? Let’s find out. 

WHISTLE Book Summary

Annie Blunt has had a tragic year. First, there was a scandal in her writing and illustration career. Then her husband was killed. Looking for a fresh start, she moved to a new town with her son Charlie. 

But it is when Charlie finds a train set that things get even more complicated. As much as Charlie adores the new toy, Annie can’t help but feel that there’s something deeply unsettling about it. On top of everything, she keeps hearing strange sounds, and bizarre things keep happening in the neighborhood. 

Annie soon realizes that in trying to escape one nightmare, she has just walked into another. 

WHISTLE Book Preview and My Take

The prologue takes us back to Christmas 2001. We meet a seven-year-old Jeremy who is having a disappointing Christmas. His nine-year-old sister Glynis keeps bursting his bubble where Santa and the Tooth Fairy are concerned. There’s some atypical sibling rivalry going on here. 

To be honest, the writing does not flow as well here in the opening paragraphs. It is clunky and hard to understand whose POV we are experiencing. But things get better on the next page, where we get to experience the ultimate disappointment through Jeremy’s eyes. 

We have all pined for some toy or another in our childhood, had our parents tell us we would receive it on a special occasion, only to be met with sheer disappointment when it was something else in the gift box. 

Jeremy’s disappointment is palpable here as the one thing he wanted, a PlayStation, is missing from his pile of presents. 

His father brings in a large box, and for a few seconds, Jeremy is sure that his father did get him the PlayStation after all, only to find a train set inside. 

Glynis taunts him for receiving a secondhand gift while she got something new. Jeremy doesn’t care much for the train set until he touches it and feels a tingling. 

From then on, he becomes a bit obsessed. He sets up the train with his father, who is relieved his son isn’t sad on Christmas after all. When his sister leaves the room and her doll behind, Jeremy ties up the doll on the track, just like in the movies, and runs his new train over it. 

In the other room, Glynis has accidentally cut off her finger. Clearly, the train has something to do with it. 

We then meet Annie in the present time. She’s in a restaurant with her editor Finnegan, and discussing the possibility of moving to a quiet little town. 

Anni has had a terrible year. She’s a children’s book author and illustrator, and one of her books, Pierce Takes Flight, caused a young child to pretend to be like the fictional penguin and jump off a balcony. 

Following that, Annie’s husband, John, dies in a hit-and-run. She strongly believes she’s been a victim of karma and wants a fresh start. 

We learn about how Annie had picked herself up from the beginning. How John and she met, and how they got conveniently married. Not the most romantic story, but then this book is about grief and the supernatural. 

Towards the end of the sample, Annie and her husband are trying to make ends meet, but Annie’s Pierce the Penguin book gets an offer, and Finnegan urges her to get an agent. 

Read or Skip?

WHISTLE does have an interesting premise. The story does flow better after initial hiccups. A quick glance at the reviews left by readers suggests that the story takes a supernatural turn, one that is reminiscent of Stephen King’s Christine and Needful Things. 

In fact, some reviewers have called out the author for trying to write like Stephen King. 

However, many horror writers have naturally been influenced by Stephen King and are bound to be inspired by his stories. That does not make WHISTLE any less inspiring. 

The author gives us an interesting take on how authors deal with incidents that occur after a reader gets too influenced by their work. It must be a harrowing experience, and Linwood Barclay is able to convey it through Annie’s story. 

WHISTLE may have touches of stories you have read in the past, but it certainly offers a spooky experience. 

I would want to continue reading this story. 

If you want to check out the book or read the sample, click here to see the book