Satan Whisphers

by Clarissa Ross

THE WHISPERING SHADOWS CALLED HER... TOLD HER... INSISTED THAT SHE KILL!As a curly-topped infant, Sarah was loved and cherished--even though her birth almost killed her mother... As a winsome five-year-old with shiny blue eyes, she was the perfect child--except for her terrifyingly destructive tantrums... Creeping panic soon enveloped her parents and neighbors... the gruesome deaths... the strange painting... Sarah befriended the whispering shadows... 150 years of patient evil had waited for Sarah, and now she must listen to the darkness... she must obey... she must seduce... she must kill...THE HORROR BEGINSBetty grasped the old woman by the arm. "Don't talk in circles! Tell me what has happened!"Mrs. Doherty made a visible effort to pull herself together, and said, "It all happened about an hour ago. The storm began and I noticed that Sarah was not here. I went looking for her in the rain and met Mrs. Osborne looking for George...""Go on!" Betty said tautly. "We went down to the lake,"Mrs. Doherty continued, "and we saw a rowboat out in the middle of the lake. There was someone in it. Despite the storm, we took one of the other boats and rowed out there.""And the children were safe?""Sarah was in the boat, waiting for us and crying," Mrs. Doherty said, her voice breaking. "But the little boy was gone!"Filled with horror, Betty whispered, "Drowned?""Sarah says he became terrified of the storm and toppled over the side," Mrs. Doherty said. "Too horrible!"Betty sobbed. She impulsively got up and ran up the stairs to Sarah's bedroom. The beautiful little girl in the bed was sleeping peacefully, a sweet smile on her face. Betty could not understand why, but something about the child's placidity sent a fresh surge of fear and guilt through her.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1981

About the author

William Edward Daniel Ross, W. E. Daniel "Dan" Ross (born 1912) is a bestselling Canadian novelist from Saint John, New Brunswick who wrote over 300 books in a variety of genres and under a variety of mostly female pseudonyms such as Laura Frances Brooks, Lydia Colby, Rose Dana, Jan Daniels, Ross Olin, Diane Randall, Clarissa Ross, Leslie Ames, Ruth Dorset, Ann Gilmer, Jane Rossiter, Dan Ross, Dana Ross, Marilyn Ross, Dan Roberts, and W.E.D. Ross. As Marilyn Ross he wrote popular Gothic fiction including a series of novels about the vampire Barnabas Collins based on the American TV series Dark Shadows (1966-71).

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pre-reading review:

I have but one excuse. This book features my namesake as a murdering brat who hears the devil whispering in her ear. EVIL SARAH!


Post-reading review:

Basic summary: A linguistically-challenged reincarnation tale about a girl named Sarah (1970s) who is somehow entwined with the spirit of a violent, horny teenage heiress (1750s). At the time of her pregnancy, Sarah's mother (a dreadfully dim bulb on her good days) becomes fascinated with a painting of said heiress, which is somehow responsible for them being so closely knit...I guess. No doubt Ross intended to ask whether Sarah was violent & precociously sexual in her own right, or merely blighted by the spirit of Teh Evul Undead. This is a good sort of question for reincarnation horror, & in the hands of a better author it would've made a pretty good story.

...But this is Dan Ross, & don't you forget it. :P

Nobody will ever claim Ross was the Shakespeare of his generation, but Satan Whispers is terrible even when measured against his less-than-stellar standards. The details are vague. The dialogue is wooden. The horror is campy. It's utter hackwork, so read with low standards & expect some LOLz sandwiched between stretches of filler.

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George Osborne gets drowned by a devil child. #althistory