#BlogTour ‘The Whispers’ by Heidi Perks

About the book…

A MISSING WIFE. FOUR FRIENDS. WHO IS TELLING THE TRUTH?

Anna Robinson hasn’t been seen since she went on a night out with her four closest friends.

She has a loving husband and a son she adores. Surely she wouldn’t abandon them and her perfect life. . .

But what has happened to her?

At the school gates, it’s not long before the rumours start. Anna’s oldest friend Grace is beside herself with worry – desperately searching for answers, and certain that someone is hiding the truth.

With each day that passes, Anna’s life is under increasing threat. And a the pressure mounts, it won’t be long before something cracks. . .

Huge thanks to the awesome Rachel at Penguin Random House for taking a chance on this very slow, book reading idiot and inviting me to read ‘The Whispers’, huge apologies for the delay, I wanted to do the book justice and it seems that my concentration is not the greatest at the moment.

This book shines a light on the toxic nature of not only female friendships, but the way it is used to control and manipulate the narrative around women.

Forced together out of necessity -at the school gates-or by intervention-a move back to your country of origin-this novel starts with a gripping crime scene discovery, of a body, at the base of a cliff and leaves us, perilously dangling with fingerholds into the plot, to the very last page.

Between Grace and Anna’s now/then chapters, there are the whispers as the interludes, a veritable Greek chorus which does a grand job of fleshing out the background and environs of the school and community where the women live. The suspicions and mutterings escalate, and no one really knows what happened on New Year’s Eve where 5 women went out, and only 4 returned.

The first half of the book is primarily told from Grace’s point of view and she does genuinely seem like the only person who cares about what has happened to Anna. Even her own husband hasn’t reported her missing to the police!
And then, the story flips 180 and leaves you with an entirely different perspective on Anna’s disappearance and has you reeling from the shock.

What exactly happened when Grace and Anna were children? And who is the missing girl who vanished from her foster home shortly before Grace emigrated to Australia with her family? And are the mothers at the school right in their suspicions that Anna’s 3 friends are a toxic combination of need for validation, and don’t really like each other?

A twisting, suspense filled story that is driven by a strong cast of women, I really enjoyed this novel and definitely want to read more by this author!

About the author…

Heidi Perks was born in 1973. She lives by the sea in Bournemouth with her husband and two children.
Heidi graduated from Bournemouth University in 1997 with a BA (Hons) in Retail Management, and then enjoyed a career in Marketing before leaving in 2012 to focus on both bringing up her family and writing.
Heidi successfully applied for a place on the inaugural Curtis Brown Creative online Novel Writing Course and after that dedicated her time to completing her first novel, ‘Beneath The Surface’.
She has a huge interest in what makes people tick and loves to write about family relationships, especially where some of the characters are slightly dysfunctional.

Links-http://www.heidiperksauthor.co.uk/

Twitter @heidiperks1 @MichaelJBooks