ARC Review: Whispering Pines

 

Title: Whispering Pines

Author: Heidi Lang and Katie Bartkowski

Publication Date: September 1, 2020

Genre: Middle Grade/Horror/Supernatural

Recommended If You Like: spooky stories, child heroes and heroines, exploration of families and friendships, a side of wacky, creepy settings where all is definitely not what it seems, supernatural tales

The Book:

Rae's family has moved to Whispering Pines, minus her father, who disappeared a year ago. Whispering Pines is supposed to be a fresh start, but Rae immediately notices there are strange things occurring everywhere, things that may be connected to her father's disappearance (which Rae believes was caused by him seeing an alien at the lab he worked at). She makes some new friends, including Caden, whose family has a ghost hunting business, and together they work to figure out why children are disappearing and then being found without their eyes.

What I Liked:

This book slides right into a good amount of creep factor. It's definitely appropriate for middle grade, but also still eerie enough for adults. I was creeped out for sure, especially towards the end of the book. And I didn't see the big scary reveal coming until just a few pages beforehand, which is always a plus for me.

There's some clever humor in this book, where Rae, as the new girl, is looking in on these wacky things that everyone else just takes as normal.

I also really liked the group of main characters and their friendships. Rae's sister is also an intriguing side character who I supect will have a bigger role as the series progresses.

Anything I Didn't Like? 

It did feel a bit like Lang and Bartkowski were throwing the whole kitchen sink at readers-mysterious and possibly evil science lab corporation, disappearances, sinkholes, haunted woods, ghost hunting business, brother who is trapped in another dimension, children getting their eyes stolen, possible aliens and spaceships, conspiracies...I'm hopeful that in later books in what is clearly being set up as a series, things get a bit more focused.

So...?

I definitely had fun reading this book-good scares and interesting storylines. I'm curious enough about what will happen to the characters next. I just need the next book to become a little more focused and for the authors to decide what story or stories they truly want to be telling.