Sunday, August 15, 2021

Book Review: Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman

 


 

Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published April 6th 2021 by Quirk Books



I don’t remember how or why this book got on my radar; I am assuming a friend talked about it on Twitter but my normal plan worked perfectly. I put this book on hold at the library and by the time it came in and I picked it up I remembered nothing about it and went into reading this totally cold. I will say I was rooting for this book and while I didn’t love it, I liked it and was impressed enough that I will be reading more books by Clay McLeod Chapman.

The reason I didn’t fall in deep love with this book may be less on the book and more on my personal taste. This novel is about the satanic of the 80s. I am old enough to remember this happening.  While I had smart parents who didn’t hide the world from me, I was aware of this stuff happening. I mean our generation grew up despising Tipper Gore and PMRC (google it youngins) so this topic is one I was excited to see tackled in a horror novel.

I think once the novel started, I found myself sorta wishing for a less personal and more global take on the whole Satanic Panic thing. That however would require more shifting points of view like lawyers, cops, political figures. Sounds interesting, but this story could not do that as its narrative is deeply personal.

The narrative structure shifts from two points of view and timelines. Richard in 2013 and Sean in 1982. Richard ends up living a teacher’s worst nightmare, an accusation of abuse in his classroom. At the same time, we are cross-cutting with the Sean storyline where he might be connected to abuse and even SATAN. All caps to invoke Dana Carvey doing the church lady.

The second act twist wasn’t much of one but again that was the story and Chapman told it correctly. It is a spoiler (you are warned) but going back and reading the dust jacket (I didn’t do that till starting this review) it should be obvious. The stories are of course connected and of course, Sean and Richard are the same person. For that reason, the book had to have a tight narrow focus. The book was not exactly what I wanted but it was what it needed to be.

The best and most impressive thing about this novel is implied in the title. Whisper Down the Lane is another name for the game of ‘Telephone.’  How a story can mutate as it spreads as a rumor. That makes this a great title for a novel about this topic. In some ways, this novel is as much about manipulation. Chapman puts amazing amounts of attention to the moments where investigators manipulate and twist Sean into lying and making an accusation.

False confessions are a huge problem. Investigators use leading questions to plant seeds. So Chapman for very good reason puts entire interviews in the book. It is clear he did his research and that the details mattered. For that reason, Sean’s storyline required a certain detachment and I am assuming that is his storyline is in third person and Richard’s was first person.  Again that could also be to preserve the twist.

On pages 170-74 during one of the interviews has a perfect chilly example.  Kinderman (Exorcist easter egg) the investigating cop first gently works to earn the trust of Sean. Gives him a trick to feel comfortable telling him a secret and then berates him for being afraid. These are some of the most harrowing moments of the book.

This is a good novel, but I just didn’t love it like I felt I could have. The story is well told, but the events feel a little cataloged to me. I didn’t feel much dread outside watching the trainwreck of the interviews. For example, there is a scene where Richard goes to a meeting about the abuse accusations, in order to preserve the ‘Twist’ we don’t know his history, I actually think knowing this and building off his anguish and fear of his history turning on him would have been a scarier experience for the reader.

Inspired by true events Whisper Down the Lane weaves commentary on the real-life events and fiction into the story. I caught many of the references to Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist but I don’t know the real-life case, so there may be elements I was missing.  In this novel paranoia is like gas being thrown on the fire of a rumor. The ingredients are there for mass hysteria.

This is a case where I think my personal taste got in the way. I think Chapman wrote an important horror novel. I think many readers will like it more than I did. The best thing I can say about it is that Chapman just sold a reader on checking out his other books. I am excited to see what he can do outside of a novel inspired by a true case.  

 


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