While the writing style was fine in the beginning, it is quite clunky in dialogue. Tthe book didn't create a sufficient atmosphere for me. The parallels to Stokers 'Dracula' are obvious and trigger a whole new discussion about inspiration and/or copying.

This novel was written epistolary style, and from the first journal entry of Gerard, our lawyer friend who is on his way to a mysterious castle, it reminded me of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Told through various journal entries, notes, and letters from one character to another, this is the story of a group of people fighting a supernatural force/creature that they ultimately come to know as the Xana. And it's just not one creature but a family of it.

I enjoyed many parts of the book but one thing that did ruin it for me was how often the characters would up and disappear without informing their friends or partners. I would be really upset and annoyed if my fiance up and left without so much as a note, and in the midst of a dangerous mystery!! That lack of communication as a plot device is really not my cup of tea.

If the book was also told in first or third person, I feel I may have enjoyed it more as well. There's just something about this book that made it feel as if dragged toward the end. All in all, not a bad story and I learned about a new creature!

TW of child disappearance/kidnapping

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4596372603?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

I received this book from Netgalley (courtesy of TCK Publishing) for an advanced copy to review.

I'm a fan of gothic horror stories and classic horror. This is why I chose to read 'The Devil's Whispers' when I saw it on Netgalley. Cleaver title. However, I am curious to where the areas of the book are along the lines of Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray. I very much see the Dracula style, it's very heavily Dracula style with little sprinkles of Frankenstein. After I released I was reading a similar story to Dracula and just went along for the ride.

I felt the story was organized well. Very clear chapters (journal and letter style) and I knew the POV with the many characters. The descriptions of the places and environment in the setting was done very well and planted great images in my head while reading the story.

One note to our author (I read at the end of the book he reads all reviews), during this time period there were no women doctors. Midwives--yes but men were doctors during that time period. I didn't let that get in the way of the story. I did enjoy Raelyn was an educated lady that was strong and determined.

I have always said that when writing a horror novel, you need to try to make the storyline as simple as possible whilst having on the most important characters named and play a role in the story. This book does just this and it does it quite well. The success of the book truly comes from having a good amount of emotional connection to each character since the narrative shifts around so often. Unfortunately, this is also its undoing as the entire book is written in a series of diary entries by different characters in which the tone becomes so similar from time to time that you more or less lose who is talking and who is telling you which subplot.
The story of helping a dying man in his final affairs is something that I heartily enjoyed. The echoes of Dracula and even ideas surrounding older gothic tropes such as castles and antiquity are inviting when you are looking to read something chilling and atmospheric. However, the way in which the story is told breaks the book up too much and too often. Your ability to get stuck into the text becomes short-lived and feigning as the narrative switches from one person's diary to another person's diary and back again.
I think the letters were far more successfully written than the diaries since the letters were written for someone else to read. The problem with the diary entries is they too, were written as if someone else was going to read them. For example: someone explaining who their cousin is in a diary entry wouldn't happen. They aren't looking for someone to read their diary so the fact that they are cousins should have been established through the language they use towards each other. Another example would be the sheer amount of dialogue in the diaries. Dialogue in diaries is all perfectly fine, but when entire conversations go on for minutes at a time with hardly any room or place for extra thought because of a conversation between two or more people, then you are moving far towards the first person narrative storytelling aspect rather than a believable diary.
(The rating stands at 2.5/5)
I think this book would have succeeded better in being told like Frankenstein. A series of letters followed by a straight first person narrative story. I think the mixture between the post-modern narrative style and the old-world 18th century gothic sense didn't really work. However, it was a great attempt and someone had to be brave enough to try.
Another thought I have on this book is that there was far too much concentration on gore and chilad abduction rather than the essence of the monster itself. Yes, it was somewhat chilling but after a while, that chill dies out and the monster becomes a bit predictable. However, I think that this book would've worked better again if advertised as a pastiche novel of Dracula or something rather than just a stand-alone original seeing as a lot has been borrowed but also some has been changed. A concentration on the ideas of mystery and otherness would have brought it closer to the 18th century gothic strangeness it was so aptly searching for.
In conclusion, I believe that this novel was a great attempt at a gothic post-modernist nightmare, but turned out to fall a bit flat towards the end. With various plot holes and the fact that the diary entries didn't sound like diary entries at all, we are forced to come to the conclusion that this book definitely has its ups and downs - unfortunately for me personally, there were more downs than ups.

I’m a person who loves a good creature feature, and while this was a quick read, it wasn’t for me.


I ultimately think that it’s Dracula, with a different creature instead of a true vampire, but with all the vampire behaviors. Trapped in a castle is also straight out of Dracula. The things that made it unique were too few and far between for me. Some conversations were repeated just with a different POV, but the characters didn’t necessarily have anything different to say. The informal speech of the characters doesn’t seem suited for the time period, but I do prefer ornate gothic language in these types of settings.

i found this book to be repetitive and boring. half the time i kept wondering if i had already read a scenario like this earlier in its pages. didn't grab me as a horror or a thriller. just a snooze fest. the journal entries were an interesting touch, but not enough to keep me invested.

The devil's whispers by Lucas Hault.
In a silent, sleepy castle, evil has awakened…Famed British lawyer Gerard Woodward is summoned to an ancient Welsh castle to assist a dying lord in his final affairs. But as his host slips closer to death, Gerard begins to feel less like a guest and more like a prisoner. When he finds himself locked inside his room, he realizes he must escape.After finding his way out of his room, Gerard begins to wonder if he was safer locked inside. The labyrinthine halls echo secrets. A terrible wail and the rattling of chains sets his nerves on end. Something sinister is happening within the walls of Mathers Castle, and when he descends into the dungeons, he discovers a horrible secret…In nearby London, children vanish into the night, animals are horribly mutilated, and a savage creature stalks the shadows. When Gerard’s wife, Raelyn, becomes the creature’s next target, his need to escape reaches a fever pitch. He must get out alive so he can dispel the evil that threatens to destroy his beloved Raelyn… and the rest of us.
A brilliant read. Spooky and creepy. Unputdownable. 5*.

This book is one of Gothic horror taking place in 1903 England, told in the perspective of various journal and diary entries, and letters and telegrams between characters. It definitely feels like horror stories of that era, and even begins in what seems a familiar way, invoking the tale of Dracula. The story is deftly written and seems to bring something new to the table. However, the whole journal entry shtick feels more appropriate to the beginning; as many of the later characters' journal entries ramble on, they may just as well have been written as normal book narrative. And towards the middle the story felt like it was being drawn out longer than necessary, it's big saving grace being that towards the end the action finally picked up and became more exciting.

I liked the idea of presenting the story through correspondence and journal entries, but this book was a painfully slow read. It was not an original idea and I do not think it was executed perfectly enough to have been an homage. A lot of character details did not make sense and I found that I ended up with more questions than answers at the end.

Here is a link to my review on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4555698115

I was looking forward to reading this, after reading promises that fans of Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Picture of Dorian Gray would devour this book.

However, I was left disappointed. The Devil's Whispers is very clearly written in homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula, but unfortunately it is written too closely and is too pale in comparison to the greater work.

I did enjoy parts of the book, and I wouldn't ordinarily be too critical of a book when comparing to a classic. However, this is very clearly heavily inspired by Dracula so it is difficult not to.

I would be interested to read something else by Hault, as there are definitely good aspects to their writing.

Thanks to Lucas Hault, NetGalley, and TCK Publishing for this copy.

I love reading gothic mysteries, and this one did not disappoint. I should warn people that plan on picking up this book to prepare themselves for this book touches on very serious subject matters (tw// kidnapping, abuse, animal violence, and detailed gore). As for me, I always enjoy reading about dark castles and manors. I admit that there are some certain lapses in the execution, but apart from that, this book entertained me a lot. I find myself not being too disappointed with how it ended, which speaks a lot.

Read the journals and letters of the people caught up in this atmospheric gothic. This book reminds me a lot of Dracula- the parallels of visiting a noble, being trapped in his castle, beautiful women, fiancé’s and friends being put under a spell. But the first part of the book emphasizes that this is not about another vampire, but something even more sinister.

The lack of 2nd or 3rd person story added to the jumble of letters and journal entries would have added more color and depth.

It got repetitive, with multiple characters relaying the same information about the same events they witnessed. And there's a lot of nonsense letter- talk that can be skipped over.

It would be better if it wasn't just letters and journals.

It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on gore, animal abuse, excessive violence, kidnapping, & others.

In 1903 a lawyer travels to the countryside to stand over the bed of a dying man as is his duty, to update his final testaments, reflecting the whispers of the man before passing on. Unfortunately, Gerard realizes that his bedroom door is being locked from the outside, day-in & day-out, & his only source of social interaction is the delivery of his meals by a morose servant who seems to vanish at the drop of a hat. Back in the city, Realyn awaits with desolate dread, the return of her fiancé; having pleaded with him to not traverse the countryside for no other reason than she felt in her bones that he should not go. Amongst the cast of characters the reader encounters we see the flummoxed behaviours of people who are both miraculously courageous in the dead of night & suddenly withheld by fear in broad daylight. Every bizarre action culminating in a grand battle of brute force & will against the demons who manifest themselves into beauty & beast.

Readers who are knowledgeable on the work of Bram Stoker will immediately recognize this book for what it is; an exact replica of the delivery of Dracula. I can appreciate when an author seeks to pay homage to a classic piece of literature however, I could not piece together the premise of this plot with a thick enough thread to lead me to the conclusion that Stoker’s estate might view this as being a tribute rather than a copycat. Early on in my reading I posed the question whether or not Nosferatu’s fate would befall this work as well or, perhaps had there been some understanding between the two parties that I am not aware of. Therefore, because I am unfamiliar with the legality behind the decision to entirely replicate the plot of Dracula in this modified work, I shall review the book at face value & speak no further on the similarities between the two works.

I will praise Hault for what he sought to achieve with this book. I truly think that with some tweaking & changes made to the delivery of the story, he could have a great success in translating his story into a movie format. The scenes which were intended to render terror & horror would so delightfully play-out in a film & I do feel hopeful that this book will find its way into the hands of someone who could recreate the gore written in this story so as to really terrify audiences of all ages.

That being said, I found myself laughing more often than I think was intended. I truly appreciated the desire for Shapeshifters & Changelings to feature in this plot. However, writing style left something to be desired; often, due to the intense similarities between Stoker & Hault’s delivery, I felt confused if the story was taking place in a more modern setting or in times of old. Due to this, & the inconsistent approach of vocabulary & grammar of the characters (primarily the women) I was unable to fully immerse myself in the story. By this I mean, sometimes Raelyn would speak very eloquently & as a woman in the United Kingdom of 1903 might be expected to vocalize things. Then, she would be saying she wanted to murder someone & run rampant in the middle of the night chasing blood trails as well as using ‘hell’ in her wording. Had the character been developed over the course of the story I might have viewed this shift appraisingly. Unfortunately, her character & that of Jayda’s felt somewhat out of place in the time & period in which the story takes place.

Perhaps I need it explained to me but, how is a woman who is weeping into her journal about the departure of her husband, the same person who is opening her door in the middle of the night when she knows there is a terror out in the streets mutilating animals? This same person is said to be a doctor but, looks upon her cousin, Nathan, who is very evidently having a psychological break, & decides to leave him to his own devices even after watching him consume an entire rat in a single gulp. The inconsistencies made it difficult to appreciate all the effort that was put forth in vanquishing the demons because everyone made such pitiful decision throughout the story.

This book would benefit from a longer lead-up to the panic that the characters experience. Gerard is in the castle something like two nights & is immediately in hysterics because the door to his room is locked. He rants on & on about being a prisoner right after arriving & there was little build-up to feeling that way. This alongside the descriptions of babies being kidnapped in the surrounding village & the appearance of a demonic ape; I wanted to understand the actual dread that was being trailed throughout the story but I had to laugh because we read so little of anything to allow us to feel afraid.

It is difficult to write horror, I am not taking that away from the author & I am not saying that they did a horrendous job. What I am saying is that, the scene of Nathan eating an entire rat is gruesome & should be played-up. Instead, Raelyn walks away thinking “ew”. The scene in which a giant-fanged primate is gripping the side of the estate as Gerard holds on to bricks for his life, should have been further explored & because the story was written through journal entries, if a character was too frail to explain something, we didn’t hear about it again. The folktales surrounding Shapeshifters live in almost every culture & society of people. The stories following these horrific creatures is as common in our verbal histories as any other. It would have been to the benefit of the story to lean-into that. This story had so many good opportunities to instil horror into the hearts of the reader; mothers watching their children adopt adult-like facial patterns & perform absurd physical actions only to fall into death days later is horrific - describe that further, tell me what the surrounding areas think about these happenings.

Overall, had this story approached the retelling of folktales & myths in a different way I think I would have really loved the story. The combined efforts of Shapeshifters with Changelings was so very interesting & the edition of gruesome behaviour from otherwise psychotically sane individuals was so enticing. Had we explored that further, rather than the emotional ineptitudes of all the characters, I would have adored this story. I will hold-out hope that this story becomes a movie because I truly feel as though the scenery could present a viewer with a horrific story.

Thank you to NetGalley, TCK Publishing & Lucas Hault for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

#TheDevilsWhispers #NetGalley

This book screams Dracula meets Carmilla meets The Pit and the Pendulum.
The way is written by journal entries and the classical gothic language, chefs kiss! I was expecting a darker ending for the story to be honest but this ending works for me too. This is a perfect reading for spooky season or a dreary day or if you're into dark fantasy worlds this is a great option too.
Will look forward this author's next projects.