The Whistler is a chilling blend of prequel and sequel to Indian Burial Ground, but it stands firmly on its own. Creepy from the first page, it dives into haunted houses, ghost hunting, and the eerie consequences of whistling at night. Medina’s understated writing style hides shocking revelations in casual lines, making for an addictive, twist-filled read. Though the hopeful ending felt a bit jarring after so much darkness, it didn’t take away from the unsettling atmosphere or emotional depth. A haunting, twisty ride that lingers long after the final page.

3 stars

Henry Hotard is a young man who lives just off the Tamara Indian Reservation, and it was his original home: vHe now lives with his girlfriend, Jade. He, Jade and his best friend, Toad were getting some traction on Henry’s ghost hunting You Tube channel when a terrible incident occurred. Now Henry lives with his grandparents (the fabulous Pawpaw Mac and Mawmaw Tilly) caring for him. I just realized that there’s never information about what Henry does for money.

Anyway, Henry believes that he is being haunted and that it stems from an old tale and from an old superstition about whistling at night.

Apparently Medina writes quite a bit about Natuve American characters, but, actually, there’s not a lot of NA content here, other than the proximity of the reservation and my assumption that, at least, Henry, Pawpaw and Mawmaw are members of the tribe. The horror story is very scattered, but overall I liked the book.

Thank you so much Berkley for the e-arc! I just want to start off by saying this story had me hooked and I finished it in a few hours. I could not stop reading it. However, I will say that the structure of this story didn’t flow for me. It starts off with a story in the past and shows the danger of whistling at night. Then it jumps to a story about a boy with a hole in his belly that later has two faces. Then it jumps to another story in modern day. It jumps between a couple different stories and each chapter has a little cliffhanger. I know that the author did that to keep the story interesting, but at times it felt that I had missing information. I did enjoy that you don’t find out what had happened to the main character until the end though because that made it so mysterious. I really love the setting for the story and the reservation. The side characters were amazing to me especially Pawpaw and Mawmaw. The main character Henry is a quadriplegic and shows the daily struggles that he faces. His family and friends are very supportive of him and there’s a big theme of finding a way to do the things that bring you joy again after a major life change. There were some really scary moments to me and I don’t think I could have read this at night. The author did an amazing job incorporating indigenous stories and elements of suspense. The end of the story adds in more true crime that I actually wish had been added in from the beginning because it shines a light on native girls who go missing. I think that’s too big of a topic to add in at the end, but I did appreciate it was there. Overall I would definitely read more from this author and the bones of the story were good!!

First, I wanna give credit where credit is due: I really enjoyed this book. I love flawed characters with slow realistic redemption arcs, and self journeys, which we get in spades via Henry. I love legends and folktales, and what Medina has done here is presenting one while making it feel real. I was tense reading this, it didn't feel like some unimaginable monster was waiting: it was genuine anxiety due to how immersive and subtle Medina was with his writing.

Even more impressing, I didn't know this was a companion novel to another of his works. That, to me, is the mark of a fantastic writer: writing a fleshed out emotional story with three dimensional characters, that completely stands on its own without prior knowledge or in text expedition of other connected works.

I do wish that the horror had been more....horror, though. This felt much more like a slow burn, psychological thriller and mystery with elements of horror sprinkled in. And trust, when the horror is there, it's brilliant. That is partly on me for expecting it to be full blown horror, because I wouldn't want to lose any of the subtlety Medina brings.

Formatting wise, it was confusing for the first few chapters because it goes from a prologue, to a traditional legend, then current day, then two years ago, back to another legend, back to the present. I had to look back and forth a few times before I realized this was going to be told from Henry's POV in the past and present, alternating. As the legend progressed I realized it was more of a framing device. I feel like some of that could be due to the format itself since this is an unedited ARC, and will be much more clear once it's tangible in print.

For these little nitpicks I give it a 4, really more of a 4.5. The only other aspect that brought more points down is that I REALLY wanted more wrap up for the Jacqueline Cadow tragedy at the beginning. That prologue is pure horror, and I wish we could have spent more time with the environment there, possibly from her boyfriend Gabe's point of view. It's mentioned later that he continued to live on the reservation, but aside from his appearance in the prologue we don't see him again. There's great potential there and I would love to see what his world was like and what he experienced after the opening tragedy. That might be in another book somewhere and I just don't know it, but either way I WANT Gabe's story.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize I had read short stories by Nick Medina before, and I'm eager to visit more of his novels. Definitely read the acknowledgements at the end, the care and respect he put into this is beautiful and admirable.

Check this one out, I know it's one I'll be purchasing once in print.

Nick Medina’s The Whistler is a horror novel steeped in Indigenous folklore and intergenerational trauma.. It walks a line between supernatural and internal fears. Henry, once on the cusp of viral fame as a ghost-hunting content creator, returns to his childhood reservation after a life-altering accident leaves him quadriplegic. He has lost not just mobility, but also independence, direction, and identity. The catch, something else has followed him home, something that appears when the lights go out

As Henry navigates grief, guilt, and a growing sense of dread, Medina masterfully layers psychological tension with culture. The haunting doesn’t feel like a trope; it’s a manifestation of fear and pain.

What sets The Whistler apart is its refusal to over-explain. Medina respects the power of silence and lets cultural context speak through setting, dialogue, and ritual.

This is a horror that lingers due to its emotional depth.
Highly recommended for fans of Stephen Graham Jones, Cherie Dimaline, or The Only Good Indians.
#TheWhistler #NickMedina #BerkleyHorror #OwnVoices #NativeHorror #NocturnalTerror #WhistlingAtNight #LiteraryGothic #SlowBurnHorror

Nick Medina ties together indigenous lore and modern horror in a masterful knot. The Whistler is a genuinely frightening ghost story, a tale of overcoming, a lesson in morality, and a tribute to friendship all in one. There are unexpected turns on this path, and the spookiness walks beside the reader all the way.

Nick Medina weaves in important cultural themes - accessible healthcare, ableism and even brings in MMIW, and their impact to indigenous culture and wraps them in a supernatural and horror-inspired setting. I will say this up front, I thought the book was “ok”. I really enjoyed “Sisters of a Lost Nation” and was eagerly looking forward to this. The story sets out with high potential. The supernatural horror is strong and Medina builds tension wonderfully. You easily buy into the eerie world of indigenous folklore, evil spirits and ghost hunting. But, for me, the writing style made it miss the mark. As Medina artfully builds tension he undoes his work by structuring the book in a nonlinear narrative. He bounces back and forth from present to past with the start of each chapter, and as each chapter is left on a mini cliffhanger, the constant use of nonlinear narrative rips the reader from the flow of the story. While it worked well in “Sisters of a Lost Nation”, it unfortunately does “The Whistler” a disservice by pulling the reader out of the tension and out of the story’s immersion.

His minor characters stand out and are likable. Pawpaw and Mawmaw Tilly are particularly dear. However, even before the main protagonist suffers from the accident that drives so much of the plot and characters, I found him to be unlikable and I struggled for empathy. This was generated from an early scene where he pressures his girlfriend into sex- not taking no for an answer. Medina attempts to write it as “playful” but it absolutely does not hit that way. This element of the protagonist’s personality carries forward throughout the novel, and he does later acknowledge his “persistence” and its consequences. And while this may be intentional by Medina, it was just really hard for me to feel compassion toward the protagonist.

I want to sincerely thank NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for the e-ARC of “The Whistler.”

4.5 stars

Love love LOVE!

Medina always comes through with a totally engrossing story, and I just love when authors play around in the same universe while still being able to keep the books as stand alone novels.
Mist read!

This book had me on the edge of my seat for the several days I enjoyed reading it. I took my time to savor the storyline and terrifying events. And the characters! They all felt so alive and fleshed out. I wish I could meet them. The story comes together in such a beautiful and profound way. The book exceeded my expectations and I already want to read it again. I definitely recommend reading this - you won’t regret it!
Thank you to NetGally for the ARC in exchange for my honest review..

Well written with fully fleshed characters, filled with legends and lore. When evil settles into a small rez and the surrounding areas, everyone feels it's touch. Love and loss echo throughout the book, and the reality of how difficult life can be is illustrated with no rose tinted glasses. Solid four stars.

My only complaint here is that it seems like reading the authors other book, Indian Burial Ground, while not required reading, would be a good start. Unfortunately, I read this first, so I'm a little disappointed that I didn't make it priority to read the other before.

I was so not expecting The Whistler to be both a prequel and a sequel to Medina's previous novel, Indian Burial Ground. You don't need to have read it in order to enjoy this one since the two storylines follow different main characters and focus on separate (but interrelated) mysteries, but they do heavily intersect at times. If you finished Indian Burial Ground wondering why Roddy Bishop ran in front of the Jeep that night, reading this novel will provide you with all of the answers.

Like its predecessor, The Whistler is rather depressing and dark, but also fantastically creepy. The prologue is terrifying, and it does't get much less scary from there … at least until the very end, anyway. The flashbacks to pre-Henry's accident were my favorite parts of the book, mainly because I'm a sucker for anything that involves reality TV-ish ghost hunting and haunted houses. Henry is determined to make it big as a paranormal investigator, but things take a dark turn when he investigates the abandoned Cadow house and makes the mistake of whistling at night.

Medina is undisputedly the master of dropping important bombshell tidbits into the story in the most understated and casual way possible. Like, “Stanislaus milked the cow that he considered to be his girlfriend, and then he went back inside to do the dishes” sort of casual. There were so many “Wait … what?!?” moments in this book and it delighted me every single time it happened. I never saw the big twist coming, and I can't help but to wonder how many little hints and clues I missed along the way because I wasn't paying close enough attention to the text.

Medina also does a fantastic job of portraying the everyday struggles of a quadriplegic and the initial feeling of helplessness that must accompany such a diagnosis. Henry's anger and depression are palpable, and you can't help but feel for him even though he's a bit of an unappreciative wanker for most of the book.

My one small complaint is that the ending feels so out of place compared to the rest of the novel. It's just so saccharine and hopeful, which is jarring when compared to the sadness that permeates the previous chapters. I know, I know, it's impossible to satisfy me – half the time I'm complaining about depressing endings and now I'm complaining about the happy ones. Sorry. It doesn't ruin the story or anything and it wasn't necessarily a bad ending, but it was definitely not the ending I was expecting.

There are a few loose ends in this story that were never adequately wrapped up, which I'm hoping means there might be another future novel set on the Takoda Indian Reservation? I still have nightmares about creepy people crawling backward to their doom from Indian Burial Ground and now a brand new fear of whistling at night, so I look forward whatever trauma Medina's next novel will bring me.

My overall rating: 4.15 stars, rounded down.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is September 16, 2025.

Atmospheric and culturally rich, The Whistler blends Native folklore with a modern missing persons mystery. Medina builds an eerie, slow-burning tension that pays off with a chilling sense of dread. While the pacing may feel uneven at times, the unique voice and emotional weight give the story depth. A strong debut for readers who enjoy horror rooted in legend and family bonds.

Told in two timelines, from 2023 and the present, we meet Henry, a young Native American man living in Louisiana. In 2023, Henry is social and outgoing, loves playing his guitar on stage at the local bar, lives with his girlfriend, and makes YouTube videos visiting haunted sites. In the present, Henry is in a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury. He is grieving his former life, lives with his grandparents, can no longer play the guitar, and has given up ghost hunting. A few tales are told of the haunted places Henry and his friends visit, the Whistler case being the most unsettling. A Native American tale says evil will be attracted if you whistle at night and Henry whistles after visiting an abandoned home where a family was killed. Could evil be attached to Henry? This was a unique horror book, eerie scenes and haunted places are combined with the struggles many disabled people face as well as the way non-disabled feel and act around them.

There’ are a lot of reasons Nick Medina’s books always jump to the front of my queue. I have no idea how he writes so well so fast, but his third book, THE WHISTLER, delivers on all of them in a tighter and even more intense story so that had me wound up enough that I jump scared when my cat’s tail went by in my peripheral vision during a climactic moment.
The horror: a sort of indigenous gothic that balances a knife blade of hallucinatory/real. The characters: flawed, fascinating, human, The story: never what you expect (especially this one), but always, ALWAYS, a tribute to those who are lost and hidden and forgotten.
Medina always talks about missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in his books, whether or not they’re directly related to the story; his first novel has me looking up statistics and his second actually led me to change my plans for what I’m going to do with my body after death - I’m donating it to a body farm now which will, hopefully, one day, help families get closure on what happened to the women and two spirit individuals in their families who are found too late. What we really need to do, however, is use our privilege to bring this issue to the fore and work with members of indigenous communities to stop disappearances from happening by increasing resources and training community and peer counselors, etc. Trust won’t come easily but that’s on us. Start doing some work.