“A diabolically creepy hybrid of horror and psychological suspense that thrills as much as it unsettles. You’ll keep turning the pages even as your hands shake.”—Riley Sager, New York Times best-selling author of Home Before DarkA pulse-pounding, true-crime-based horror novel inspired by the McMartin preschool trial and Satanic Panic of the ’80s.Richard doesn’t have a past. For him, there is only … ’80s.
Richard doesn’t have a past. For him, there is only the present: a new marriage, a first chance at fatherhood, and a quiet life as an art teacher in Virginia. Then the body of a ritualistically murdered rabbit appears on his school’s playground, along with a birthday card for him. But Richard hasn’t celebrated his birthday since he was known as Sean . . .
In the 1980s, Sean was five years old when his mother unwittingly led him to tell a lie about his teacher. When school administrators, cops, and therapists questioned him, he told another. And another. And another. Each was more outlandish than the last—and fueled a moral panic that engulfed the nation and destroyed the lives of everyone around him.
Now, thirty years later, someone is here to tell Richard that they know what Sean did. But who would even know that these two are one and the same? Whisper Down the Lane is a tense and compulsively readable exploration of a world primed by paranoia to believe the unbelievable.
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I came across this book by accident and wow, what a pleasant surprise it was! It’s super dark, starting with what looks like a ritualistic killing and ending with a growing sense of paranoia that will almost certainly result in a catastrophe. Tension almost jumps from the pages and the parallel timelines are used magnificently to show that mistakes of the past need to be atoned for and sometimes, the price one has to pay is one’s own life. I devoured this dark masterpiece in a couple of evenings. An edge-of-your-seat read!
Richard Bellamy has moved his livelihood to the small town of Danvers. There he begins his kindergarten art teacher job as well as his new role of husband and step-father to wife Tamara and step-son Elijah. However, when Richard’s childhood torments begin gradually emerging, accusations of the most heinous crimes begin to surface from the past, linking itself to present day occurrences and beyond. Could history have begun to repeat itself, or is it a disturbing masquerade of sinister intentions?
Set in the 1980s, author Clay McLeod Chapman delves into the horror behind the term “satanic panic” that was so well known within this time period. His fusion of past and present ping pong back and forth with tense, abhorrent subject matter. Having a vessel to guide satanic ritualistic undertones throughout the storyline, Chapman proclaims an evil and combines it with unimaginable coercive accusations. While treading on explosive and edgy topics, the central characters suffer because of hidden implications that are slowly revealed. What happens if you believe in a lie so much it comes true, even if the voice happens to be coming from an innocent kindergartener?
To be the intended target of such a terrible accusation is scary enough, but when it involves children, that fear doubles. This is where the reader will experience how a narrative can become a fountain of false testimony and how evil can be perceived and misconstrued into something that it’s not.
Chapman is a maestro at building grim suspense to the point of unimaginable consequences, proving genuine horror dwells in the world we live in today. Potential psychological damage may not come from a source one expects. It could very well come from authoritative figures such as teachers, preachers, and political leaders.
The reading audience will attend activities such as midnight masses, grave robbing, and satanic orgies involving cannibalism. Introductions will be made to personalities in all their distorted glory; in particular Mr. Stitch, Mr. Yucky, and The Bad Snatcher. These hidden truths and unconventional personas are explored in Whisper Down The Lane, with a plot that subverts expectations.
Readers, be prepared to play a deranged version of the children’s game, Whisper Down The Lane. Hearing classroom whispers of welcoming Devil’s disciples and Satan worshippers to come out and play along with their demented games, will eventually lead to a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” life lesson. A very strong recommendation to read this one. Enjoy the façade.
(originally posted at mysteryandsuspense.com)