The Whisper

• Author: Chelsea Iversen
• Genre: Thriller
• Publication Date: July 28, 2026
• Publisher: Sourcebooks

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman and Riley Sager’s Middle of the Night, comes a sweeping, atmospheric thriller following a group of friends and the power given to them by the trees…

Rule 1: When the trees whisper, listen. 

Rule 2: Don’t go into the woods alone. 

In the small mountain town of Whisper Ridge, the girls were inseparable. Joey, Quinn, Sophie, and Elena. Together, they channeled magic in the woods, living by six simple rules. The first when the trees whisper, listen. 

But all rules are forgotten, all bonds broken, when Quinn is found dead in the trees. 

In the aftermath, the friends scattered. All except Joey, who still can’t move on. Until now, over a decade later, she again hears the trees whisper. 

Those woods remember some of Quinn’s last words, and for the first time, Joey realizes she may learn the truth of what happened to her best friend. And so, the friends return to Whisper Ridge, to the woods that once held their magic and their secrets. But unearthing the truth about Quinn puts them all in danger, and in order to survive they’ll need to channel their power for the first time in fifteen years to finally put the past to rest.

Since I’m a fan of both Alice Hoffman and Riley Sager, this one seemed like a no-brainer. I also loved that it was offered as an audiobook, and it sounded so good. The summary reminded me of Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert, another book that I loved, which also centered around magic. However, this one didn’t reach my high expectations, even though it was an interesting read.

The story is told through four different POVs, some of which are flashbacks to both the distant and recent past. Since there were so many characters, I had a hard time differentiating who was narrating and when things were taking place. Even with Quinn, who only narrates as a teenager, it was still difficult to separate her voice from the others. I was disappointed to realize that all of the characters sounded alike, and it was even more jarring since it was an audiobook. For basically every chapter, I found myself having to go back to the beginning and see who was narrating. Unfortunately, the chapter title didn’t include the timeline of dates that was spoken at the beginning of each chapter, so reading this visually instead of as an audiobook might have made it easier for me to follow.

Despite the short, snappy chapters, this wasn’t a fast-paced thriller, and wound up being more of a slow-burn thriller than I was expecting. The chapters went by quickly, and there is a different narrator for each chapter, it was giving me a little bit of whiplash with how fast the perspectives changed, the time jumped back or forward years or months or days. I found it difficult to follow in audiobook format, and might have had an easier time if I had a book to refer back to. 

With four perspective characters, including one from fifteen years prior, they come into contact with a lot of people. There are a ton of characters in the book, and this might just be me, but I had trouble keeping track of all of them. It made the twist at the end feel even more surprising, and there were a few red herrings that seemed really likely, 

The small-town, claustrophobic setting of Whisper Ridge and the woods was done really well, and lent an atmospheric feel to the story that would make this a great autumn read. As to be expected, the four teenage girls who have been initiated into magic granted by the forest are close friends, but still keep secrets from each other. There are some big content warnings in the story, including suicide, parental abandonment, alcoholism, and sexual assault, and it added some additional gravity to the story. 

Overall, this wasn’t my favorite book even if it did have some aspects that I enjoyed, but it wasn’t a bad book either. However, the next time I read a book by Iversen, it will be in either print or e-book format. The atmospheric, claustrophobic setting of a small town in the woods was a highlight, as was the way that the perspective characters have to change how they interact with each other over time—from their early friendship and elements of magical realism to adulthood and how their lives have unfolded. As for the mystery of who killed Quinn, flashbacks into the past drop breadcrumbs, and as the past timeline inches closer to the death of Quinn, I found myself getting more sucked in to the story. Unfortunately, the issues I had with the perspective characters and being able to follow what was happening to each different character outweighed my engagement and enjoyment of the book. I do think that I went into this read with high expectations that weren’t met, but this was a pretty good book.

Bottom line: This book had some positives, like the atmospheric setting, writing, and storyline, but these were overshadowed by the jarring timeline and narrator changes, along with the similarity of the voice between the narrators and an overly large cast of characters.

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