British narrator - wish I didn't listen to this on audio. However, I didn't really love the storyline regardless of that, so I don't think it would have made much of a difference. This just felt really catty and immature and I just didn't connect with it.

A great read by this author. I definitely recommend checking this one out!
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Whispers is the second novel by Heidi Perks that I have read, and I must say that it is every bit as compelling as the first.

Grace and Anna are the best of friends and share a lifetime of memories together, including their ritual of Girls' Night, where Anna is usually the life and soul of the party. But when Anna fails to materialize at the school gate on the morning after one such night, rumours are rife among the community, and suspicions are raised. Grace knows that she must do whatever it takes to find her friend, no matter the cost.

This is a gripping read that kept me turning the pages late into the night. I look forward to whatever comes next from this author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC.

Anna and Grace were BEST friends growing up, until Grace and her family left the UK. Now Grace is back and tries to rekindle the friendship they once shared, but Anna has a new circle of besties. After a girls night out drinking, Anna doesn't come home.... And Grace is on the case to find out what happened to her friend.

Talk about possessive friendships! Anna and Grace's friendship instantly made me think of the friendship between Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme (now know as Anne Perry, the author). Definitely recommend reading up on their lives if you're not familiar.

The Whispers is a psychological suspense with mean girls, obsession, murder, unreliable narrators and past and present secrets. The short chapters help you fly through the book. I love the split POVs- we start with Grace's perspective and end with Anna's. This really creates ambiguity about who is telling the truth this uneasiness of who to trust flows throughout the entire story.

This book is fun read and a winning combo for me!

Thank you S&S Canada and Netgalley for the e-ARC to read!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a good read, intriguing, would recommend to others.

I was so excited to be approved for this title on Netgalley because Perks last book Her One Mistake is a story that has stuck with me through reading many thrillers. I really enjoyed The Whispers as well, and flew through it very quickly! This book is one of the most well done tales I've seen as far as how the same story is extremely different when told from a different perspective.

However I will say that I don't think The Whispers is going to have the same lasting effects on me that Her One Mistake did. Definitely a quick, enjoyable thriller read!

I loved all of Heidi's previous books and own them all. This was just okay for me. The pace of the book started extremely slow and once I got 1/2 through it picked up. Normally I wouldn't make myself finish a book I didnt love but all of her other books are amazing. This was my least fave of hers so far.

The Whispers is the the second book I have read by Heidi Perks and it did not disappoint. I was immediately drawn into the story by the first line, “The body has been found on the beach”. Such a bone chilling opener. The story starts off with a bang and ends with fireworks. The pace does not slow at all. The excitement builds and builds until you feel like you are about to explode if you don’t get to the end and figure out what happens.

Anna and Grace met in Clearwater, UK when they were five years old, quickly becoming best friends. Anna’s mother abandoned her when she was little and her father was always working, so Grace and her mother, Catherine, welcomed her into the folds of their tiny family. Anna and Grace were almost like sisters and inseparable. But when the girls were 14 years old, Anna was awestruck with Heather. A new rebellious student in her class and Anna started to pull away from Grace. Grace could feel Anna slipping away, no longer needing her and she would do anything to get Anna back! Suddenly Heather vanishes, a week later her body was discovered at the bottom of Crayne’s Cliff. Both girls were questioned but were adamant they hadn’t seen Heather and had nothing to do with her death. With Heather out of the picture Grace stakes her claim as Anna’s best friend. Their friendship becoming toxic and obsessive as they share a deep dark secret that has bonded them together forever.

When Grace is 17 her family emigrates to Australia, leaving Anna behind to move on with her life. Anna marries Ben, has a beautiful son Ethan and formed a very strong bond with three other woman. Thinking she has left her troubled twisted past behind, imagine her shock when suddenly many years later Grace shows up in Clearwater and tries to be a part of Anna’s life again. But Anna is cold and distant and reluctant to let Grace back into her life, but if she doesn’t there could be grave consequences.

I have to say it’s going to be hard to pick up a new book to read after the intensity of The Whispers. My mind is reeling and buzzing with energy and excitement.

Thank you so much Simon & Schuster Canada, NetGalley and Heidi Perks for my arc of The Whispers in exchange for my honest review. A definite 5/5 from me.

I've enjoyed a previous book from Heidi Perks and was eager to listen to her latest - The Whispers.

Anna and Grace were the best of friends as children, almost sisters you might say. When one of the families moves away, the friendship drifts to an end. But Grace misses Anna terribly and when the opportunity arises to move back to their British hometown, she doesn't think twice. Except....things aren't the same as she had imagined. Anna has a new group of friends and doesn't seem to want to rekindle the relationship with Grace.

Well, I'm sure you've heard the phrase "Mean Girls'. How about Mean Mommies? Anna and her cohorts seem to fit the label. The title of the book brings to mind gossiping parents by the school gate.

I thought I had figured out where Perks was going to take her tale. Wrong. (Happily!) Anna goes missing. (Aha!) And Perks completely turns things upside down. (Captivating!) Both Anna and Grace are given a voice, so the listener is privy to both lead character's thoughts and actions. (Riveting!)

Perks explores friendships, the good, the bad and the ugly - and the secrets friends keep in The Whispers to great effect. A slow burn, but a good one! 3.5

This book had me hooked right from the start, I enjoyed the format of the book with both dual perspectives and the now and then timeline, and through in "the whispers" too and it was just so well done. The story is more of a slow burn at the beginning but the book picks up its pace and gets rather suspenseful.The book is centered around friendships particularly women's friendshipso the pages were filled with dram, jealousy, toxicity and obsession.

This novel wasn’t for me. I found it difficult to pick up multiple times and struggled to push through. Although written well, I felt like it was missing “oomf” that I have come to expect in the genre. There were a couple lies in the web of this story that I wasn’t sure really added anything to the overall plot line and were a bit distracting. The main “twist” for me was immediately obvious, and perhaps is what set me off/really lost my interest so quickly after starting.
Will definitely look to another book from Perks, in hopes it appeals to me a bit more.
Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for this ARC.
2.5/5

CW: parent death, grief, manipulation, fatal accident

I liked that this was based on friends and not spouses. I think that was a nice change and we need to see more emphasis on friendships in books. What I didn't like was the twist and it made everything after it fall flat for me. I wish the author had gone in another direction but I did enjoy everything I read before it. Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for the gifted copy and to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Heidi Perks and Simon & Schuster Canada for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This was quite a wild ride! I really enjoyed this one and the twists that I didn't see coming, It starts off like you know exactly what is happening and just more adult school yard drama; but it is so much more than that. I really didn't like any of the characters, but that works for this novel and I love how twisted some of the characters end up being. It was quite a fast paced novel and I enjoyed it all.

Grace and Anna are school friends as close as sisters would be, then Grace moves away , time goes on and each get married have a child but no contact until one day Grace is standing at the end of Anna’s driveway. Anna now has her own life with treasured friends and is not sure she wants Grace back in her life no matter how hard Grace tries to show Anna she is what she needs. Then Anna disappears ……
A great psychological thriller about past secrets that threaten to ruin one’s lives and friendships that aren’t what they seem….
This was a great quick read , I could not put it down…….loved the character development and how we learned about all the relationships throughout the book and what we see on the outside is not always what is true.

I received a free copy from NetGalley all opinions are my own .

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend or my book club to read.

The Whispers of school parents with nothing better to do..... They do tend to whisper about the 4 elusive mothers who always stand away from everyone else and do everything together.
Then Anna's friend Grace returns after being gone for years.... This causes serious issues for the foursome.. Issues so bad that Anna disappears after a night with all 5 of them.
Grace is the only who seems to want to find out what happened that night. Can she find out what the 4 women are hiding? Grace is Anna's only hope..

Ok this one was a little disappointing. The writing was good but it was a little slow in places. The tone was kind of the same all the way through which is what lost a star for it. It could have done with some changes in pace and this would have been a winner.

I loved that it was twisty and you never really knew what was going on but none of the twists were mind blowing and that was a bit of a let down. As far of psychological thrillers go, this one was pretty good just there some room in the writing to really blow my mind and it just fell short.

The character development was well done and planned out. No plot holes and you can tell the author has a lot of talent.

If you love a good psychological read then this is the one for you.

4 stars

The Whispers opens with a dead body at the bottom of a cliff on New Year's Day.

Who is it?

Grace has returned to her hometown after many years and hope to renew her long time friendship with her best friend Anna.

Both have dark secrets and one that they share.

Anna' new friends are distant and not welcoming.

Anna goes missing and Grace is obsessed with finding her and slowly their secret comes out.

Thomas Wolfe said it the best " You Can't go Home Again."

Grace should have listened .

Who can you trust , who is telling the truth.

The Whispers is a dark yet compelling read that will have the lights on for one more chapter.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada, Gallery books for a page turning read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, and the author Heidi Perks. This book started off really good and then it went really flat, I do not know what happened. It also went weird in a very non realistic way. Like mature women do not stress over not having their high school friends.....do they? I do not know but once the book took a weird direction I was done. I read a good portion of this book and stopped at about 60% because it just did not change.
Heidi Perks normally writes good ones but this was not the one.

There will always be someone whispering something…….whispers are often like a game of telephone, evolving and twisting from the original message. Anna and Grace shared a complicated past. No one, even themselves, would ever be able to understand just how complicated that past was or where the truth actually laid. Nothing is single faceted.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A slow burn that didn't really ignite for me. The characters were unlikeable and the plot was a bit boring at times. Usually Heidi Perks hits them out of the park. Maybe next time.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc

Both Her One Mistake and Three Perfect Liars by this author were hits for me and Heidi Perks continues her clever psychological thriller streak with The Whispers.

I started this just before bed last night, at ten o'clock, and stayed up until four thirty to finish it. It sucked me into the characters lives right away and when I got got to part two I thought one chapter then sleep. Well we know THAT didn't happen as part two blew me away with the twist. Yes the book is a tad far fetched BUT I can forgive that when I am being surprised and entertained as much as I was reading this. There are many timelines and points of view but Perks writing is seamlessly woven and I just had to find out what happens next. Not only does the writing keep you engaged by the time I was half done with part three there were so many twists I thought I'd get whiplash. I love being surprised and enthralled while reading.

All I can say is Heidi Perks has done it yet again and I will be first in line for whatever she comes up with next.