Whistle in the Dark

A Novel

By: Emma Healey

Narrated by: Julia Deakin, Laura Aikman

Emma Healey follows the success of her #1 internationally bestselling debut novel Elizabeth Is Missing, winner of the Costa First Novel Award, with this beautiful, thought-provoking, and psychologically complex tale that affirms her status as one of the most inventive and original literary novelists today.

Jen and Hugh Maddox have just survived every parent’s worst nightmare.

Relieved, but still terrified, they sit by the hospital bedside of their fifteen-year-old daughter, Lana, who was found bloodied, bruised, and disoriented after going missing for four days during a mother-daughter vacation in the country. As Lana lies mute in the bed, unwilling or unable to articulate what happened to her during that period, the national media speculates wildly and Jen and Hugh try to answer many questions.

Where was Lana? How did she get hurt? Was the teenage boy who befriended her involved? How did she survive outside for all those days? Even when she returns to the family home and her school routine, Lana only provides the same frustrating answer over and over: ""I can’t remember.""

For years, Jen had tried to soothe the depressive demons plaguing her younger child, and had always dreaded the worst. Now she has hope—the family has gone through hell and come out the other side. But Jen cannot let go of her need to find the truth. Without telling Hugh or their pregnant older daughter Meg, Jen sets off to retrace Lana’s steps, a journey that will lead her to a deeper understanding of her youngest daughter, her family, and herself.

A wry, poignant, and masterfully drawn story that explores the bonds and duress of family life, the pain of mental illness, and the fraught yet enduring connection between mothers and daughters, Whistle in the Dark is a story of guilt, fear, hope, and love that explores what it means to lose and find ourselves and those we love.

Not what I expected

Not what I expected. The Author definitely took me on an adventure of trying to figure out what the heck was going on. At the end -- not what I expected at all.

Well done :)

umm...disappointed

I thought there would be more of a twist , it was a bit long for the conclusion that didn't leave me satisfied. I would add something scandalous for the movie version.

First book I had to stop listening to!

This was hard to listen to. Whiny characters, whiny voice for Lana, the daughter, clueless mother, and still trying to figure out what could possibly happen that might peak my interest. Finally just stopped. Enough time wasted.

A little slow

It took me a little longer than normal to get into this book. A slow start.

Do not waste your money

This audiobook was awful. The story was extremely dull and overdrawn, and the narrator was incredibly whiny! I wish I hadn't wasted my time