Well.... wasn't this something a little different from one of my favourite authors... and I blooming loved it! It really took me back to of some of the old school horror that I read in the 80s.
Anyway... we start with Annie who has really not had a great time of late. She is a children's author, creator of the wonderful Pierce the Penguin. But tragedy strikes when a young child takes something she wrote too literally and falls to his death. She is still reeling from that when her husband dies in a hit-and-run. She's really had enough... so much so that she is well overdue submitting her next book that she hasn't even started yet. Her agent and friend, Finn, decides that she could do with a break so he rents her a huge Victorian house in a quiet upstate New York town where, hopefully she can rest, recuperate and spend some quality time with her young son Charlie.
Meanwhile, in another timeline, we follow the shenanigans in Lucknow where Police Chief Harry is investigating the disappearance of two men, which gets so much weirder when the body of one is found. Soon after there's a spate of accidents and incidents and more weird deaths. Harry notices that they have all occurred since a new shop opened in town...
Oh My Days was this all things chilling and horrific. There are some crazy shenanigans to be found, along with some rather gruesome deaths and, well, this guy pulls no punches with the whole horror theme! Quite how the two timelines connect I will leave you to discover for yourself, suffice to say when I got there and the whole truth was laid bare, I did have to sit back and applaud the author for a job well done.
Characterisation is, as always for this author, brilliant. Spoilers prevent me from going much further with this, but I can say that I absolutely loved Annie and Charlie. I also felt so much for Harry and what he went through.
And the main story - like I said - impressed the heck out of me. I am a big fan of this genre, especially when executed as well as here. Gratuitous violence with a story line and a point. Basically old school SK at his best.
All in all a cracking book which I thoroughly recommend to both fans of the author and the genre. I do hope he writes more in the genre going forward... Choo-freaking-choo...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Celebrated children’s author and illustrator Annie Blunt has had a dreadful year. Her husband was killed in a tragic accident, then one of her children’s books ignited a major scandal. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her young son Charlie to a charming small town in upstate New York where they can begin to heal.
But Annie’s year is about to get worse.

I enjoyed this book but it wasn't anything like a Linwood Barclay thriller of the past. Very much Stephen King influence I think. It’s well written and the story rattles along at a good pace so it’s well worth the read.
This is still a great book, it’s just different. Its got a terrific ending too.

This being the first of its kind for Linwood, I really enjoyed it!! It was the right amount of spooky and and a really clever concept - haunted train sets! This was a page-turner and I loved it. I loved all the characters and I liked the two different time periods. I would have liked to see a bit more of Annie and Charlie’s story alongside Daniel and his wife. But I loved Harry’s story and the ending of that side was completely unexpected. A great first spooky book from Linwood!

This wasn't my favourite Linwood book, I have enjoyed this full on thrillers and this one just didn't grab me

I had such a great time reading Whistle. I wrote lots of notes and did some doodles of some of the scenes and events during the book. I found the way Linwood wrote Whistle really clever with the break down into Parts and following different characters. I enjoyed how everything interlinked as the book went on. Very creepy and eerie. I don’t think I will be going into any Train shops anytime soon as don’t want to risk hearing ChuffchuffChuffchuffChuffchuffChuffchuff.
There were some shocking and tense moments where I was gripped and on the edge of my seat. I’m so glad I read this and highly recommend it.

Linwood Barclay has branched off in an exciting new direction with this dark and thoroughly absorbing horror story.

Tension builds apace when strange things start to happen to the customers of a newly established model railway shop in the small town of Lucknow.

The story is set over two alternating timelines that eventually collide in a satisfying and fast-paced conclusion.

A creepy and atmospheric book with a very intriguing premise.

With thanks to the publisher for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to the Author publisher's and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
I have previously read and thoroughly enjoyed several books by this Author, so without reading the blurb i jumped at the chance to read another of his exciting page turning mystery thrillers.
WRONG.
This was a new venture for the Author, a well written mystery but with a touch of Stephen King horror about it, Nonetheless completely entertaining from first to last page.
Utterly recommended.

A very weird book in my opinion and I have been a follower of this author for many years but this one wasn't for me unfortunately.

I couldn't get into the storyline or gel with the characters so overall I was very disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ for this ARC I just wish I could have enjoyed it.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this book for review.

This is Linwood Barclays first foray into horror. And this creepy atmospheric story does not disappoint. The town and residents of Lucknow. The story of Annie and Charlie pull at the heartstrings while making you hope. The cause of the horror i believe is a genius concept. I absolutely loved this book, being a Linwood Barclay fan anyway it was an absolute must read for me.

Rather disappointed with this novel as it was so unoriginal in voice. He was clearly heavily influenced by Stephen King and even mentions him and his books in the story. The story was entertaining enough but it felt like reading a Temu version of a Stephen King novel

I'm really not sure if this book was for me, once you suspend your disbelief and go into a darker world, fine....but I prefer a thriller!

Having read most of this author’s previous novels I was surprised to see the latest book was a different genre to his usual and not my normal choice but I loved it. The usual brilliant writing with well crafted characters and settings was seamlessly blended into a unique supernatural tale that brings two separate stories together with a dramatic turn of events and a thrilling ending. The possessed toy train idea really worked, it’s dark and has a vintage feel to it as well, great book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of Whistle.

I have read a fair few books by Linwood Barclay and always enjoyed them. This was *far out* and by far the most unconventional book I have read by him. Definitely one to suspend belief!

After saying that, however, I must say I enjoyed it in a strange sort of way. It kept me occupied on the sunny afternoon balcony visits while on holiday. I would recommend this is labelled as science fiction as well as thriller, as it is not something that would happen in the real world… I will not be buying a toy train track ever again though!

A solid 4 stars and recommended if you are able to delve a little into the unbelievable.

I am a big fan of Barclay's and I was unsure what to expect from this new, darker book. This reminded me a lot of Stephen King books and I truly thought this was a sensational read.
Taking something mundane, like toy trains and making them terrifying is a brilliant move as it means the reader is scared more and can believe in the story more.
The plot of this is honestly grotesque and horrific but it is also incredibly gripping and I was obsessed, and unable to put this down.
Barclay's characters are brilliant too, Annie and Charlie are so likeable and a real team. The many other characters in this are also great and tell the story well.
There are many twists throughout the book which made it a real rollercoaster of a read. I really loved this and look forward to more dark reads from Barclay.
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for an advance copy.

Well I’m never having a toy train set in my house…ever.

I am a huge fan of Linwood Barclay and have read everything he has written. He is my top thriller author so I was very interested to find out his newest book leaned more towards horror than thriller.

We follow three main stories, a mother dealing with the grief of losing a husband, a sheriff who’s trying to solve a crime which increasingly seems impossible and a toy train store owner with an ulterior motive.

What I loved most about this book was the combination of the eerie horror aspects commingling with the classic twists of a Linwood Barclay thriller. I particularly enjoyed following Harry, a small town sheriff who was trying to solve the disappearance of men in the local area which spirals into something horrific and possibly paranormal.

Whistle does something most mixed timeline books can’t, which is make all perspectives as interesting as the others. I wanted to know what happened to each character and was just as excited to read current day as well as the past. Honestly, no surprise, Linwood smashed it out of the park again! The only small thing I would have liked was more of a backstory for Mr Choo! His character was so morbid and his backstory could have been so interesting.

I would recommend this book particularly to thriller lovers who want to dip their toes into something a bit more horroresque as it combines the genres so well!

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC copy of Whistle!

I enjoyed this one for the most part, it was interesting and held my attention. It just reminded me of a Stephen King book that I lobe which I found a little offputting. I liked the characters and the train twist was good....

Back in 2023 Linwood Barclay wrote Look Both Ways - something of a departure from his usual genre pieces, which had a more technology based feel to its self driving cars premise (ah, how times change quickly...)
With Whistle, he's gone all out horror and tells the reader in his acknowledgement at the end that this may be the end of his ventures into the genre.
He also thanks one Stephen King in those acknowledgements who he said was encouraging from his very first read of a draft. Anyone who's read either author will be aware of their mutual respect and it comes through not only in the thanks but elements of the plot too: the most obvious influence in this tale about a strange little shopkeeper turning up in a small town American village to sell his trainsets is Needful Things (Barclay even has one of his protagonists reading that book in the story), but for those of us who are King fans you'll get easter eggs of Christine, Pet Semetary, The Dark Tower and more if you look deep enough (or perhaps it's just me reading too much into some of that).
There is something of a nostalgic '80s horror feel to this book - and I mean that in a good way - and like some/ much of King's work at times I found myself thinking 'this would look so bad on screen' but due to the author's skill you go with it.
There's a clever turn towards the tail end of the book - I'm not sure you could even call it a 'twist', but at the least it's a turn that made me think, "Of course - that's why the book felt... ' well, I'll not go into spoilers, suffice to say it made a lot of things make a lot more sense for me.
The ending is fast paced to the point some readers might find it a little rushed as it draws a lot of strings together - if the author is intending to write more in this genre it'll be interesting to see if he returns to the bigger theme of evil that is left somewhat ambiguous/ unexplained in this novel.
I'm guessing a few Linwood Barclay fans will be disappointed with this genre switch if they're not horror fans and just auto order any new book by him, but I think a lot of people will get a kick out of this.

I thought I’d read something by this author before but I haven’t. This was giving me very Stephen King vibes reading this, and it was TENSE in the way ‘a haunted toy train’ just shouldn’t, if that makes sense ? I think this author mostly does crime books but his dalliance with horror has been successful!
This almost felt like a throwback to like 80s/early 90s style of horror which I loved! It had nods to Christine and Jaws which I was thrilled by!

This a dual POV story and it is done well , strong characters and good pacing throughout the novel! A high body count - not always human either! This was an original story told really well. I had great fun reading it, and whilst I personally didn’t find it scary it was pretty creepy!

There was a period in the eighties and nineties when horror was at its peak, and writers in the genre were going unapologetically mad premises that they somehow made (mostly) work. In this sense, Barclay's latest novel feels like a throwback to a more innocent time in horror fiction when Stephen King's influence on small town horror and that mix of the mundane and the profane were all the rage.

Yes, Whistle really is about a cursed set of toy trains. And yet it leans this premise with utter seriousness, which means that because the writer takes it seriously, so do we (once our suspension of disbelief settles down).

Annie Blunt is recently widowed and still coming to terms with the notion that one of her bestselling children's books accidentally convinced a young boy he could fly, leading to his death. Trying to restart her imagination and help her son deal with his own feelings, she moves to a holiday let in upstate New York, thinking that time away from the city will help.

But in the nearby town of Lucknow, an evil from the past has returned. A seemingly innocent toy train enthusiast who runs his own store and whose connections to the local area go back further than anyone could imagine. What is his connection to Annie, and why are the recent spate of deaths proceeded by the sound of a train whistling....?

Everything about the novel -- including its structure of using the middle to expand the story into the lives of the local townsfolk -- feels retro horror, but in the best possible way. There's a genuine joy in reading this that reminded me of when I first found the horror genre with its lurid covers and tales of America's small towns held captive by forces beyond their imagination. As well as King, there's clear influence from the likes of John Saul and early Bentley Little in the sheer "what the hell!" attitude of the story contrasted with the easy-going, always in control voice that assures you no matter how mad things get, the book won't (pardon the pun) go off the rails.

I had a ball with Whistle, even though some of the story felt a little baggy in places and its retro charm meant I was kind of of aware where it was going. Barclay's having a ball here, and if you love good old-fashioned tale of supernatural corruption in small-town America, and ordinary people facing up to extraordinary events, then I think you're going to have a great time with this one, too.

I enjoy Linwood Barclays conventional thrillers and this is a first venture into horror. The writing is excellent but the story was creepy and not really enjoyable. The denouement was slightly rushed.