Linwood Barclay has long been a master of psychological suspense. In fact, I consider his debut, NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, to be the blueprint for the perfect thriller --- filled with high tension and unbelievable twists. Now, he has penned his first pure supernatural/horror novel, which is being called a “chiller.” I am overjoyed to report that WHISTLE is a winner on every level.

The Prologue is set in 2001 and features a family at Christmas. Seven-year-old Jeremy has been given a previously owned electric train set. He has had it with his sister’s snide remarks regarding his “used” gift, so he puts one of her dolls on the tracks. She is involved in a gruesome accident as a result, and her loved ones rush her to the hospital.

"I am overjoyed to report that WHISTLE is a winner on every level.... You may never hear the whistle before this freight train of a novel runs you over!"

This incident acts as a foretelling of what is to come, for this particular train set has existed for a very long time and originally came from a shop that specializes in them. However, it will not surprise readers that the train sets being sold by this establishment may not be your typical child’s toy or hobbyist’s delight. They represent something far less innocent and way more evil.

In the present day, we meet popular children’s author Annie Blunt, who has endured some extremely horrific events in her life that will prompt a temporary move from New York City to a small town upstate. The first tragedy to befall her is when a six-year-old boy tries to imitate the lead character in her Pierce the Penguin books by creating wings made out of cardboard and flying from the balcony of his apartment building. Although Annie should not feel guilty or blame herself for what happened, it has impacted her profoundly and kept her from writing anything else.

Annie also lost her husband in a hit-and-run accident and is trying to believe that it was not some sort of cosmic retaliation for the boy’s death. Annie and her son, Charlie, could use a fresh start and are hopeful that this change of scenery will be therapeutic. Regrettably, they chose the wrong town and house to rent. Readers will recognize that the situation is about to take a horrible turn when Annie and Charlie find an old Tide box in the shed on the property they are renting that houses a really old electric train set. This happens to be the same box we saw in the Prologue.

Annie is happy that Charlie has something in which to engage his interest. However, she finds it strange when she hears train whistles at night rolling through the neighborhood. She learns from one of the only neighbors they have that no working trains come through their area anymore. He also shares that he and his wife hear the same sounds that she does, but it’s not what it seems.

Things get much creepier from this point on, and there is a secondary narrative involving the police chief of a small town in Vermont who has become highly suspicious of a new shop, Choo-Choo's Trains. It will be this very place that calls to Charlie and later to Annie, and will become the location for the final showdown between good/innocence and an ancient evil embodied by the owner of the shop, Edwin Nabler.

Nabler calls to mind Leland Gaunt, the purveyor of “what you need” from Stephen King’s NEEDFUL THINGS, but with far more nefarious intentions. His presence is the engine that hurtles this classic horror tale forward. You may never hear the whistle before this freight train of a novel runs you over!