Linwood Barclay ventures into supernatural horror with Whistle, delivering a chilling and gripping story that keeps readers hooked from start to finish. Known for his suspenseful thrillers, Barclay seamlessly blends eerie, otherworldly horror with his signature fast-paced storytelling, making this novel an instant standout.

The story follows Annie Blunt, a children’s book author and illustrator who, after enduring a tragic year, moves to a quiet town in upstate New York with her son, Charlie. Their fresh start quickly takes a sinister turn when Charlie discovers an old train set in a locked shed on their property. At first, it seems like a harmless relic—until Annie starts hearing phantom train whistles in the dead of night, and strange occurrences begin to spiral around them. Worse, Annie finds herself uncontrollably drawing an unsettling figure that doesn’t belong in any children’s book. As the mystery deepens, it becomes clear that something far darker is at play, tied to a world beyond comprehension.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its atmosphere. Barclay masterfully builds suspense, layering dread through eerie sounds, uncanny visions, and a growing sense of isolation. The horror is both psychological and supernatural, making the reader question what’s real and what’s a manifestation of grief and trauma. Annie is a compelling protagonist—flawed, strong, and relatable in her struggle to protect her son while battling the unknown. The Sliver, the sinister force at the heart of the mystery, is a truly haunting creation, and its lore is fascinating.

The pacing is excellent, with well-timed reveals and tension that escalates to a thrilling climax. Unlike many horror novels that falter in their endings, Whistle delivers a satisfying and well-earned conclusion, leaving just enough mystery to linger in the reader’s mind.

This was my first Linwood Barclay book, and it certainly won’t be my last. The writing is sharp, the concept is fresh, and the execution is flawless. Whether more stories will be set in this eerie universe remains to be seen, but if they are, I’ll be first in line. Whistle is a must-read for horror and thriller fans alike—highly recommended!

Thanks to Wm. Morrow & NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really like Linwood Barclay and have read most of his stuff. This one is a departure from his more recent work, and a bit of a throwback to his early stuff, which can be more supernatural in tone. Not sure if this exactly worked, though.

The plot: Annie is a recently-widowed children's book author. The previous year, her book inspired a small child to believe he could fly, resulting in his death. Then, Annie's husband died in an accident. Now, in an effort to make Annie take a mental break (and possibly jog her creative spark, dormant since the child's death), her editor entices her to rent a house upstate. where she and her kid can take it easy.

Everything is mostly OK until the kid, Charlie, finds some old toy trains in a Tide box in the locked shed outside the house. Then, weird things start to happen.

Not sure if this one worked for me. It's an interesting concept, and I certainly didn't hate it. Annie is a bit prickly, and it was difficult for me to get into her as a character. Charlie is like any other little boy. Barclay does a good job of ramping up the dread, <spoiler>and the details of what is occurring in what turns out to be the past are unsettling, but intriguing, and by far the best part of the plot</spoiler>. Lots of Stephen King territory being trod here, and Barclay even thanks SK and admits he had the man himself read a draft.

I would usually give LB 4 stars, so let's call this one 3.5, rounded down. Linwood, please return to Promise Falls, TYSM.

A departure from Barclay's usual style had this horror fan grinning with appreciation. I've enjoyed previous titles from his backlist, but one of the advantages of loving many genres is being able to enjoy the surprise of an author changing lanes. As horror goes this is the sort that takes an ordinary situation and introduces a supernatural element to give readers a front row seat to watch all hell break loose. It's my favorite kind because by grounding the setting and characters it makes it easy to envision the big scares. Not to mention experience the spook factor when the atmosphere jumps from business as usual to chilling.

Famed children's author Annie moves out of the city with her son Charlie following professional woes and the death of her husband. Their new existence is more isolated and what begins as an opportunity for a much-needed reset becomes marred by strange occurrences. Charlie begins to have vivid dreams and sleepwalking. He feels a pull to investigate an old shed on the property where he finds an old train set. Annie keeps hearing unexplained sounds and drawing a character that has no place in children's books.

Why are they hearing a train whistle when the local railroad is defunct?

The skillful foreshadowing, solid plot, swift pace and fleshed out characters made for a page turning read. Creepy vibes saturate this story in a most thrilling way. Fans of Stephen King are going to want to grab this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for providing an Advance Reading Copy for review. These are my unbiased opinions.

Okay, Whistle seriously got under my skin. It starts off with pure sadness—Annie and Charlie just trying to rebuild their lives—but then it shifts into something much, much darker. A random train set? Cool. A forgotten train set hidden away in a locked shed that maybe shouldn’t have been found? Yeah, NOPE. 🚂😳

The way this book builds tension is so good. Strange sounds at night, Annie drawing something horrifying without realizing it, that eerie small-town vibe where you know something isn’t right… I felt just as paranoid as she did. And Charlie being so obsessed with that train set? Straight-up chilling.

It’s definitely a slow burn, so if you want non-stop action, this might not be for you. But if you love books that make you question reality and creep you out bit by bit, you’ll love this one. The ending leaves a few things unanswered, but honestly? That just made it scarier.

If you like eerie, psychological horror with a side of grief-fueled madness, grab this ASAP. Just… maybe don’t play with any old toys you find in locked sheds. 😬🚂🔥

This was definitely different from what I'm used to by Linwood Barclay. The story was great and suspenseful. It also was terrifying and kept me up a good part of the night. The character development was excellent like always. I definitely look forward to seeing more horror work from this author! A huge thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc!

Extremely reminiscent of Stephen King, Linwood Barclay's "Whistle" is a solid attempt at a supernatural thriller. While I never found it particularly frightening, there were some solid suspenseful portions, and it kept me hooked until the end. This is the first book I've read of Barclay's, and I found his narration style and characterization interesting. How rooted a lot of the story was in reality only made the supernatural parts feel more...well, supernatural! It was a nice contrast.

Structurally, not everything came together as neatly as it could have. It felt a little unsettling when we skipped from different timelines, trying to figure out how everyone was connected. I also felt a bit cheated that the book's summary primarily focuses on Annie and her son, but a huge portion of the book focuses on other things. It all came together in the end, but as it was building up to the ending, I was wondering how it'd all connect. There were a few other personal hang ups, but it's nothing would particularly impact the story overall.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Whistle by Linwood Barclay had such a great premise and summary that I was stoked when I was able to get an early read on this. However, after finishing this story, I was overall disappointed. The story has two timelines telling the story and both story lines were less than thrilling. I kept having to force myself back to the story to finish this. I was desperately hoping for something to happen but even the ending was terribly disappointing. I liked how the story was written and the characters were fully fleshed out and 3 dimensional (except for our villian). This novel was lulling me to sleep and not even a train whistle would wake me up.

This is a slow burn supernatural thriller set in a small town. Annie Blunt and her son Charlie are looking for a fresh start. But their new home has a strange surprise - a creepy old tran set hidden in the shed.

They assume it's just an interesting antique but then odd things start happening. The train seems to have a mind of its own, and Charlie starts having unsettling visions that don't really feel like visions at all. They start to realize this strange train, with no nearby train tracks, is connected to the town's dark past.

I really enjoyed this one. It's very creepy and suspenseful the whole way through. Thank you William Morrow and netgalley for giving me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publishes May 20th!

Not what expected from Barclay, but holy....

I am a huge fan of Barclay and love that he is mixing up his style. Where he ever came up with this idea.....WOW.

If you ever thought your toys were watching you, this goes beyond. When a small boy grieves his Dad, plays with a toy train and tries to ride his bike to a small town that was destroyed in a train explosion almost 3 decades earlier.....the dots to connect.

Highly recommend!

I am very sad to say that this is quite a disappointment for me as I was very much looking forward to this because of how much I have enjoyed Lynwood Barclays books in the past. He is one of those offers that manages to nicks compulsive readability, Wes 👨🏻‍🚒, realistic, endings, and great character portrayals all into one which is a very difficult thing to do. Barkley has written some of my most favorite feathers and until now I thought that he could do no wrong.

One thing I will say to practice test is that I have found that expectations can dramatically alter my enjoyment at the dock. If I pick up a book, expecting one thing and then get something completely different. I am very much a mood reader, so when I pick some thing up, I do it because I feel that that is what I am in the mood for in that moment, so, when I am surprised, and end up reading a completely different book than I was expecting, it can really throw me off and often affects my rating. That of course happened here because in all of the Barclays books today I have Brad not a single one of them has been supernatural, so I was very surprised when I realized that this was going in that direction, but I kept reading thinking that it was likely just hinting to supernatural as a distraction, but I was wrong. It very much turned out to be supernatural and Hannah. I’ve been warned of that I would not have picked this up. It might just be the fact, and I have preconceived notion‘s, but I really felt bad even as a book with supernatural features. This felt wildly unrealistic, which is the one thing that I never can stand, even when I read fantastical books or science fiction or supernatural books, I expect there to be a certain believability factor, yes, we suspend our disbelief when it comes to the fantastical elements with the caveat that everything else is to be something that could really happen, like in the sense of people in the way that they act, and what we can expect from people in relationships, and that was not the case in this book, this felt like it was sound really ridiculous campy piece of horror, which is not what Linwood Barclay typically right which is why it threw me off guard

And I have to say this, the most obnoxious part of all where is the bag that I had to read and listen amount of text about trains granted I should have Nana going in that that would be the case because of the humongous tree out of the cupboard but I really thought that if anyone could make it work, it would be fine with Mike lindsay but unfortunately, even if you couldn’t pull it off. I also noticed that Riley Sager has a book coming out that also has a train on the phone, it looks like an almost identical cover with subtle differences in the colors. This really makes me wonder how publishing works as there always seems to be a bout of books about one topic, I always thought that it likely was a matter of other authors copying the first one that released a book on the topic, but considering both of these books books are still unreleased. I can’t understand how it is that it came to be that two major thriller authors are releasing a book about a train and have a train on a train track on the cover. If I was not somebody that paid attention to authors names, and remember them, I would surely think that this was the same book, if this is completely by chance that these two authors happened to write a book about the same thing at the same time, and that is super weird, but like last year, there were several Or releases about horror, movies, things like how to guide to handle a horror movie or what to do if you’re the final girl, etc. etc. Like I said, I initially thought that it must be in Humber of Central orthodontics, copying the first answer, and choosing to write their own variation, but seeing these two released around the same time without prior knowledge of each other, makes me question how it is that this usually works in publishing, is it possible that publishers?

I've been a fan of Linwood Barclay since his first book - but this book - WOW!!! He has really gone over to the dark "Stephen King" side and he masterfully accomplishes this goal. Do not read this book late into the night and beware the next time you hear a train and a whistle. Kudos Barclay for a "scrary" job well done! Thanks for the ARC!

I found this to be an incredibly interesting premise - something so innocuous becoming so sinister. Stephen King would be proud.

I LOVED this book. This creepy story-telling style is what Stephen King's long-time fans miss about his books. This was reminiscent of his very early work and I even wondered towards the middle of the story if this could be a new pseudonym he'd picked for himself.

This was hard to put down and I loved every minute of reading it. I'm disappointed as upon investigation, it doesn't seem like this author normally writes horror and that's a shame. I would love to read more from him in this genre.

This was such a WILD ride! Completely unhinged, eerie and evil.

Annie Blunt has had a hard year after losing her husband in a tragic hit and run accident. Then one of the children's books she wrote inspired an event that ended in tragedy. To get away from it all, her publisher finds her a home to escape to for a short break. A home in a charming small town in upstate New York. But as they explore their new surroundings, it is clear Annie's year is about to get far worse. Charlie finds a train in the shed and as he begins to play, strange things start to happen. Annie thinks she may be seeing things but then, so are others.

I can't say more, save for spoilers but this was a true HORROR novel, mixed with a paranormal element. It was gruesome in places and certainly not for the faint hearted. It was a daytime read for me but it will stay in my mind for some time to come. Despite being terrified, it was such a great novel and I always love this author's writing.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and William Morrow for this gifted review copy.

Thank you William Morrow Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this book. It was certainly creepy, suspenseful, and had twists I didn't see coming. However, it was a bit slow at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC!!
This was an atmospheric and gripping read that captivated me! While there were moments that felt a bit slow, I was engaged throughout. I especially enjoyed the writing style and the unexpected twists!

This was an overall good book, but it didn't have any "wow" factor for me. A couple times I felt myself asking "where is this going" during long stretches of what felt like unrelated story. There were definitely parts that kept me interested and the ending was not what I was expecting either. It kind of felt like an abrupt end to a long story.

I was left with a lot of questions also which I don't like. When I am finished reading, I want that feeling of satisfaction of knowing I understood everything in the book and I just didn't get that.

Another unique and inventive novel from a true literary master. Whistle is a thrilling adventure that is unputdownable and will haunt your thoughts long after the last page is read.

I enjoyed this but not as much as I thought I would, the plot was great but the pacing felt a little off in some parts, it was diffucult to keep track of what was happening, very creepy however!

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish the book. I started getting confused with with the transitions between the chapters