I was slightly disappointed in this book. It started really well and kept you guessing all the way through and I definitely felt the need to finish it. I thought, however, that it was too long and, although all is made clear at the end, certain aspects of the parents behaviour didn't ring true.

Writing in reverse from finding a missing teenager asking why she went missing

Why write a novel when the plot starts where the missing person is found and there is heartfelt relief from teenager Lana Maddox’s parents. This is why the novel is so brilliant!

Lana’s parents, Jen and Hugh, are with her at her hospital bedside comforted that their daughter appears to be unharmed after going missing. But Lana cannot remember anything at all about being missing. Her mother, Jen, is concerned about this enough to try to piece together the days before and during her daughter’s disappearance. Jen is particularly mindful of the fact that before the disappearance, Lana had been a depressed teenager who inflicted wounds on herself. Jen questions whether Lana is actually without memory or lying about where she was.

If you have teenagers this novel will resonate with you and is well worth reading particularly to understand yourself as a parent with an inevitably troubled teenager. Jen disliked coming to terms with losing her little girl to the dreadful teenage years. Emma Healey goes deep into Jen’s mind and digs up crazy thoughts that most of us probably would not admit to. She takes us into Jen’s mind while trying to get to grips where her daughter was, who perhaps abducted her, what happened to her and how she could protect her in future.

Jen literally takes on the role of detective to uncover why and where her daughter went missing. While doing so she investigates her daughter’s crazy obsessions, her own and those of her two ‘suspects’. During her investigation, she also uncovers a lot about herself and Emma Healey brilliantly combines humour with some very dark spaces - in the mind as well as in reality.

It is superior, vivid and densely descriptive. This is a fascinating novel well worth reading.

BonnieK

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I managed to miss Healey’s first book, Costa-winner Elizabeth is Missing, but I heard such good things about it that I was keen to read this. The story is told by Jen and describes the aftermath of what must be one of any parent’s worst nightmares. Lana, Jen and her husband Hugh’s teenaged daughter, went missing for four days while on a painting holiday in the Peak District. The holiday itself and the four days of parental panic are skimmed over a little: what we are really exploring in this book is the relationship between mother and daughter and Jen’s reactions to both the disappearance and Lana’s refusal (or inability) to say what happened.

It is understandable why Jen is worried – Lana has had episodes of depression in the recent past, culminating in an overdose attempt which led Jen to visits to all local pharmacies with a request not to sell painkillers to her daughter – but it seemed to me that Jen is experiencing mental health issues of her own. She obsesses over what could have happened – fearing all the usual worsts since Lana had befriended a teenaged boy on the holiday and was eventually discovered by a man on an isolated farm – becoming anxious, suspicious and a bit paranoid. The whole situation isn’t helped by the fact that the media follows the story closely and that one of the other people on the painting holiday is a slightly strange man whose religious beliefs include the possibility that some children can travel to hell and back. Jen almost stalks her own daughter to try to find answers – listening in on phone calls, searching bedrooms and following her to school – but doesn’t find them until she returns to the Peak.

Not quite a psychological thriller this is a fascinating look into the mind of a woman driven to extremes by the fear of what could have happened to her daughter. The characters are realistically drawn, both Jen and Lana but also Hugh and the older daughter, Meg, and the situation is plausibly dealt with. The final answers (which I won’t give away) are perhaps a little more far-fetched but possible all the same. I’m not a parent but the pain and worry of learning to deal with the fact that a beloved child is both growing apart from you and potentially putting themselves in danger seems very well described.

I loved Emma Healey’s first book ‘Elizabeth Is Missing’, so I grabbed the opportunity to read her new book ‘Whistle in the Dark’ through Netgalley..

The book started well and it got my attention. Lana, a troubled teenager disappears while on a painting camp with her mum Jen. She reappears several days later and the book focuses on Jen’s trying to find out what happened to her daughter during her disappearance. It is slow moving and mainly an introspection on family relationships.

The problem is that I fairly quickly lost the interest in the plot - probably due to the fact that I couldn’t warm up to any of the characters. I found both Lana and Jen more and more annoying as the story developed and as a result the reading dragged.

By the end, I would have given this only 2 stars, had it not been for the fact that I do like the author’s writing style.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest and impartial review.

This is a complex telling of the aftermath of a young person going missing and being found, told, in the main, from the point of view of her mother. At one point I thought it was more about a descent into madness and it turns out that this is a literal not mental descent is in the final section of the book, which is truly terrifying to read. To be honest it was frustrating to read as the characters seemed to need to be shaken into reality at times, but it was interesting and engaging.

Oh this is a brilliant little book this is. Great page turner full of intrigue and I really enjoyed it. The characters were well written and the it had a great pace to it.

Elizabeth is Missing was one of my favourite books of recent years. I thought it was a clever story with an interesting protagonist. Something I hadn’t read before. I had hoped for the same with Whistle In The Dark and, in many ways, I got that.
This is the story of Jen, mother to Lana, a fifteen year old who goes missing for four days only to turn up battered and bruised and refusing to tell anyone what happened to her. Or at least Jen think’s Lana is refusing. Lana herself says that she can’t remember anything.
Jen is probably right to question Lana as her daughter has a history of mental health problems and their relationship is rocky at best. She questions too much though, pushing Lana, her husband Hugh and her daughter, Meg, away. You’ve also got to wonder about Jen’s mental health as her moods swing from happy to sad so quickly it was giving me whiplash.
With all this, I felt Emma Healey had painted a great picture of what it is like to live with someone with mental health problems and how it can be like walking on a knife edge. How you can feel like you’re never saying the right thing and second-guess everything you do say.
Where I felt the book didn’t do so well was in the story itself. It presents a plot that reads like a domestic thriller but isn’t, which left me confused. It also left me slightly bored after a while. I found myself drifting after another difficult conversation between Jen and Lana. I got action but it was action that went nowhere and I got an ending that was sad but, somehow, unsatisfying.
I really wanted to like this book but I just didn’t. It wasn’t all bad. It started well and the writing kept me interested, as did the characters, but somewhere along the way it lost me and didn’t get me back. Meaning, when all is said and done, it really wasn’t for me. Sorry!

I did not like this book at all. The main character was painfully hard to relate to, I just could not feel sorry for her at all. I feel as though the author did well to portray the hopelessness and paranoia a mother might feel in that situation, however I firmly believe that hyper realistic does not always make for a good story and as a result I struggled to engage with the character. The mystery was not well written and the ending was so anti-climactic that it made me feel as though I'd completely wasted my time reading that far.

Emma Healey took on another difficult subject area for her second novel. Coping with a child with serious mental health problems who goes missing for A few days and returns unable to explain her absence. How does a mother cope with this? I did not find this second novel as spell binding as her first, Elizabeth is missing. I struggled with the central part as I thought it was drawn out too much. I do admire the author for setting out to tackle the inherent issues. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of the book to review

When her daughter goes missing, Jen is sent I to a frenzy of paranoia and over protectiveness. This is the most relatable part of the novel. The world of depression and how difficult it can feel to help those around you suffering is played out well. However, it is hard going, especially if that's your reality. I felt the book dragging me down with the character and had to skip quickly to the end after about 65% of the way through as the relentless sadness was just a bit much for me. This demonstrates the issue was communicated effectively, it just isn't a world I want to spend my leisure time in.

Meet Jen a mother of two daughters, Meg is a lesbian who is pregnant and has broken up with her girlfriend and Lana is depressed and suicidal and has been found after 4 days of being missing. This is difficult to read at some points but overall I enjoyed the book. Feel the author has handled the subjects well and I’ll definitely think of this book each time I look at the sky.

This is not at all what I expected, and that's no bad thing. Despite the fact that I found the characters mildly annoying, I was compelled to keep reading to find out the mystery of Lana's disappearance. I'm surprised to say I quite liked the ending. The whole book teases you as Jen tries to find out what happened to her daughter when she went missing, and I can honestly say she wasn't where I thought! I found the end tough to read, I felt like I was with Jen on her journey. I think this would make a great reading group book.

his is a fast paced novel of a teenage girl who is suffering from severe depression, and who cuts her arms when sthings get stressful. She has an older sister who is now pregnant, but neither of them can deal with their mother, who wants to control their lives, and know everything they do and where they go.
The mother takes Lana (the depressed girl) to a painting and drawing week in Derbyshire, where she disappears for four days. No-one can find her, and when they do find her, she claims she cannot remember where she has been or what happened to her.
This novel is very edgy, and portrays uncomfortable sides of being a secretive teenager's parent.
However, the ending felt a little bit flat, when the mother ends up in the cave where her daughter tried to commit suicide, and nearly ends up being stuck in that cave. It just felt like the end was rushed.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.T

Whistle in the Dark is unique in the way that it approaches the subject matter of the disappearance of a young woman - unlike other thrillers who amp up the mystery by examining the family during a disappearance, Emma Healey instead focuses on them after fifteen-year-old Lana returns home.
Unfortunately, this unique take on the subject was literally the only thing about the novel that I enjoyed, primarily because both Lana and her mother Jen, whose point of view carries the book, are relentlessly unlikeable characters. When it comes to the mother, her anxiety (or more accurately, paranoia) was just next level. I mean, I thought mine was bad but Jesus Christ, even with the circumstances of her daughter going missing, Jen’s thought-patterns and the inclusion of magical realism through hallucinations, were pretty damn extreme.
Just being in her head made me itch with stress.
And then we have Lana and, through her, I understand why most writers make sure that their victims remain missing for most of the novel - reading some of the things she said, the empathy that I felt for her declined ridiculously fast. The commentary that Whistle in the Dark has on both mental health and Lana’s older sister’s sexuality, most of which is done through Lana and her mother, was both offensive and just frankly unnecessary.
And, after pushing myself through seemingly endless pages of this book to get to reveal - also known as the part of a thriller that can turn a 2-star rating into a 5-star one - the ending was just unneeded, unwanted, and just added yet another book to the offensive pile of ones that attempt to turn mental illness into something that people who have perfect mental health can get emotional about, or hide from.
I just…. No.

Whistle in the Dark is such a powerful read. Not only boasting a compelling storyline with a definite air of mystery (something that always pulls me into a novel), it also has some really interesting characters of the type I really like reading about - not always hugely likable, but captivating all the same.

The story itself addresses some really serious issues, including missing children and mental health. I don't want to give anything away you can't glean from the synopsis, but this is very far away from a light-hearted read about a family; at times it's shocking, surprising and heartbreaking, but it never feels like this for the sake of being shocking/surprising/heartbreaking. It all feels very genuine, and I can (unfortunately) imagine many families having to deal with elements of this novel applied to their families on a day to day basis.

I really warmed to main character Jen, perhaps because we see things from her perspective, but also because Emma Healey manages to convey her rapidly changing emotions so well.  I felt like I was right there with her as she worried, wondered and drove herself half-mad trying to guess what exactly had happened to her daughter Lana over those four days. What actually did happen actually becomes less key to the story than the relationship between Jen and Lana, and Lana's father Hugh. The characterisation is brilliant, and though Lana really irritated me, I felt for her too - she's not having the easiest time herself.

I know this is a fairly vague review but I don't really want to give much away about this beautifully crafted story. It really struck a chord with me and left me thinking about it long after finishing which is, for me, the sign of a powerful, masterfully-written novel. Definitely recommended and an excellent new release after the brilliant Elizabeth is Missing... in fact, I think Whistle in the Dark is even better!

Having enjoyed Elizabeth is Missing I really looked forward to this book. However I am admitting to a huge disappointment and have decided not to plough on after having read 35%. The relationship between mother and daughter was irritating and I really didn’t like or care about either Jen or Lana. I’m sorry that this book didn’t live up to the high expectations I had after Elizabeth is Missing

I loved Elizabeth is Missing, so am grateful to Netgalley for approving my request.
Whistle in the Dark follows Jen whose 15-Year old daughter Lana goes missing only to be found 4 days later. Besides a few scratches and bruises Lana seems fine, but she won’t tell anyone what happened during those 4 days she went missing...And Jen starts to notice unusual things about Lana...
Told in 3rd person narrative with flashbacks to the past Whistle in the Dark is a quirky family drama that uses the missing person trope in a fresh way. I won’t say anymore to avoid spoilers but I highly enjoyed this warm-hearted and tender story that at core is about a lovely mother-daughter relationship. I did, however, find the story a bit predictable and saw where it was going (hence the 4 stars), but the prose was good with hilarious dialogues and short chapters that I didn’t mind too much the lack of twists.

This book is rather creepy but written really well! You really get sucked into the book and the lead up to the ending will have you reading with a lump in your throat waiting to see what happens. Really well written!`

WHISTLE IN THE DARK

Emma Healey

Troubled teenage daughter goes missing – every mother's nightmare - except that this daughter has been found just before the story starts, and a different nightmare begins.

Lana is fifteen, and disappeared unexpectedly when she and her mother Jen were on a painting course in the Peak District, a course that was an attempt by Jen to re-connect with her troubled daughter; an attempt perhaps doomed to failure, as Lana has history – she has been hoarding pills and she has been self-harming. Once she has been “recovered” (actually, she simply appears on the hills near the setting of the course), she refuses the police offer of a forensic examination (“a rape kit” as the police so sensitively tell her parents). Other than that, Lana insists that she can't remember anything about the four or five missing days and, just like any normal teenager, bitterly resents her mother's questions. Just in case you were wondering, Lana's father Hugh, goes with the flow, but even his optimism eventually feels the strain.

Emma Healey throws quite a few ingredients into the emotional mix swirling round Lana's anxious mother – could the girl's disappearance be connected to Matthew, the teenage boyfriend picked up during the course, with whom Lana shared a bottle of vodka ? Or to Stephen, the older fellow-painter who apparently successfully tried to interest her in his religious cult ? Is there anything in the local legend that a young boy was once taken down to Hell through a cave in the area where the course was held ? If all that weren't enough, Lana's much older gay sister announces her donor-inseminated pregnancy, Jen's mother trawls the papers for cuttings about Lana's disappearance and posts all of them on to Lana, Jen's friend Grace enthusiastically presses her to try all sorts of alternative healing from crystals to esoteric diets; and inevitably the internet, social media, and the mobile phone all exercise their baleful influence on Jen's desperate efforts to make contact with a daughter who flatly insists that she can't remember what happened to her. The fact that Jen opens Lana's letters and tries to eavesdrop on her phone calls to school friends only makes matters worse.

Then, rather disappointingly, Jen's desperate effort to get to the bottom of Lana's missing days suddenly brings about an explanation of what happened, enlightenment and even resolution ~ “Mum … where are you ? Dad says you're on your way.” “I am on my way.” “Good,” Lana said. “Because we need you.”

Nigel Melville

I loved Emma Healey's debut, ELIZABETH IS MISSING, so I went into this with really high expectations. It's a careful, empathetic exploration of a difficult mother/daughter relationship. In some ways, it surprised me - my allegiances kept shifting, and there were moments where I felt completely on Lana's side, or on Jen's, or on Meg's. But I wasn't as surprised by the central mystery to this, which felt like a story I'd heard before. WHISTLE IN THE DARK is a clever, dark and oddly tender family drama - just don't go in looking for a mystery.