Whispers and Lies

by Joy Fielding

Terry Painter enjoys her quiet life in tranquil Delray, Florida, where the single, forty-year-old nurse lives alone in the house she inherited from her mother. When young, vibrant Alison Simms rents the cottage on her property, the two women strike up a fast friendship -- and Terry is swept into a fantastic new life: dinners out, shopping, makeovers, even flirting with the handsome son of one of her elderly patients. But nothing about her newfound companion is as it appears, as Terry discovers when Alison's closely guarded past comes to light. Now Terry is locked into a race to reclaim her own life -- before she opens the door any further to the stranger she thought she knew...

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Audiobook

357 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 13, 2002

About the author

Joy Fielding (née Tepperman; born March 18, 1945) is a Canadian novelist and actress. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, she graduated from the University of Toronto in 1966, with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. As Joy Tepperman, she had a brief acting career, appearing in the film Winter Kept Us Warm (1965) and in an episode of Gunsmoke. She later changed her last name to Fielding (after Henry Fielding) and began writing novels.
Fielding is also the screenwriter of the television film Golden Will: The Silken Laumann Story.

At the age of 8, Joy Tepperman wrote her first story and sent it into a local magazine, and at age 12 sent in her first TV script, however both were rejected. She had a brief acting career, eventually giving it up to write full-time in 1972. She has published to date 22 novels, two of which were converted into film. Fielding's process of having an idea to the point the novel is finished generally takes a year, the writing itself taking four to eight months. Joy Fielding sets most of her novels in American cities such as Boston and Chicago. She has said that she prefers to set her novels in "big American cities, [as the] landscape seems best for [her] themes of urban alienation and loss of identity. Fielding is a Canadian citizen. Her husband's name is Warren, and they have two daughters, Annie and Shannon. They have property in Toronto, Ontario, as well as Palm Beach, Florida.

Fielding had an interview with the Vancouver Sun in 2007, just after her publication of Heartstopper. She enjoys catching readers off guard with the endings of her stories, but insists that "[it] isn't what her fiction is about", but rather more about the development of her characters. Discussing her novels with the Toronto Star in 2008, she said "I might not write fiction in the literary sense. But I write very well. My characters are good. My dialog is good. And my stories are really involving. I'm writing exactly the kind of books I like to write. And they're the kind of books I like to read. They're popular commercial fiction. That's what they are."

Fielding has been noted as a novelist who is more popular in the United States and foreign countries, rather than in her native Canada. For example, the novel Kiss Mommy Goodbye was more popular in the States, and See Jane Run in Germany. In addition, she had an American agent and publisher, although she has now switched to a Canadian publisher.

Reviews

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy crap, that ending was insane! I love it when I'm so thoroughly surprised by a book - I probably would not have even picked this one up except I wanted a small, light paperback to bring along on my hiking trip, and this was one of maybe four in my collection that fit the bill. I've never read anything by this author before, but I'll absolutely read more - this was creepy and kept me guessing, and I always love that!

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book until I got to the end. I didn't like who the villian turned out to be and it just ruined the book for me.

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 1 out of 5]

"The name tumbled slowly, almost languorously, from her lips, the way honey slides from the blade of a knife".

Whispers and Lies
by Joy Fielding



SPOILERS:

I love this writer's work. But this book was a major miss for me.

I hardly ever give ones and I do not like giving one now. I suppose I feel a bit cheated.

This book is not a psychological thriller. It is gory horror. Period. Anyone going in expecting a clever mystery with little gore should be warned.

I like my horror to be a little more subtle. There wasn't anything subtle about this.

It was also a bit icky. I mean..I read lots of books but at the end..wait..I should say

SPOILERS!

The "twist" was not good. And not believable or clever. It was very disturbing and frankly the book only gets more so.

I do not see how having a mother and daughter almost..kiss? Yuck..makes the story more clever.

It descends into a gore fest and nothing makes sense. By the end, there is no plot, only a body count.

I wan you to go into this with caution. I HATE giving ones but I do not see how I could give anything else with this one. At least it should be marketed as a traditional horror because that's what it is.

[Yun Yi · Rating 5 out of 5]

(My second review of this book:
http://humanwithoutgod.blogspot.com/2...)

How am I going to put this? A little strange yet extreme alluring story about a "boring" life a middle aged woman? No. The first thing I would tell you is: You are not going to believe what you get at the end! Never ever a book shocked me like that!

Whispers and Lies (by Joy Fielding) tells a story about a single middle aged nurse Terry Painter, who rents her cottage to an attractive young woman Alison Simms. After the young lady moves in, Terry's life changes, from a monotone routine life into some seemingly exciting social events, one after another, even a possibly perfect love affair, which she has not dreamed for long time. But things do not go like what she expected, she soon finds herself lose control of all these "excitements".

The beginning chapter is extremely captive (at least to me), but the first 80% of book requires some patience, then, you will get a real treat, finding yourself on a roller-coaster, experiencing something absolutely breathtaking!

The story is more than just murder. The psychological twists in this book reveal a very dark side of family relationship. It probably is the darkest I have ever experienced among all mystery fictions I've read, and real life as well.

I have read many murder mysteries and forgot many of them, but this one (along with several other favorites) remain unforgotten, both the story and the shocking moments. It is indeed a strange yet extremely well composed suspense novel.

[Hannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, dat einde zag ik niet aankomen. Ik was van plan het boek drie sterren te geven, maar na dit einde krijgt het een ster extra. Het is echt verrassend. Ik vertel er verder niets over, want ik wil niet te veel verklappen voor de mensen die het boek nog willen lezen. De spanning in het boek bouwt steeds meer op. Ook leest het verhaal vlot. Wel had ik op ongeveer tweederde van het verhaal dat ik het wat saai vond worden. Toen had ik zoiets van nu mag het wel gebeuren. Toch zorgde dat er ook voor dat ik bleef doorlezen, omdat ik zo graag wilde weten hoe het verhaal in elkaar stak. Dit is mijn tweede boek van Joy Fielding, maar zeker niet mijn laatste.

[Nicole Sackin · Rating 3 out of 5]

very enjoyable read. The mystery is engaging and the ending is a total shocker!

[Sepide · Rating 2 out of 5]

پایانش اصلا خوب نبود ولی خود کتاب به شدت روون بود و خوب پیش می رفت . شخصیت پردازی نسبتا خوبی داشت و ازشون خوب استفاده شده بود اما کتاب نوآوری جدیدی نداشت و مثل بیشتر کتاب های ژانر خودش با کلیشه پیش رفته بود . به نظرم قابلیت اینو داشت که از روش یه فیلم ساخته باشه اما همچنان موردعلاقه من نبود
کتاب نسبتا ضخیمی هست اما راحت خونده میشه و از این لحاظ خیلی خوبه . داستان کلی و کشش خوبه اما در کل از کلیشه ای بودن خارج نشده.
خلاصه : داستان درمورد پرستار زنی چهل ساله به نام تری است که تنها زندگی می کند و هرگز ازدواج نکرده است داستان با اجاره دادن خانه پشتی اش به دختری به نام الیسون شروع میشود که او را از تنهایی در می آورد و رازهایی که فاش می شود ....
اگه دوست داشتید بخونید
پایان ۳ مرداد ماه ۱۴۰۴
ساعت ۲:۳۰ دقیقه بعدازظهر

[CLM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite of her books - this was too creepy for me.

[Brandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! This book was so good! I finished it in one day because I couldn't put it down! Very suspenseful with a great twist. I recommend this book to everyone!

[Kathy Gange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book the ending was not what I expected at all. Wow very suprising.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slightly odd book, I wasn't exactly sure where it was going at first. There appeared to be a mystery running in the background, and the focus of the book was generally thoughts from the main character, some humorous. Suspicions abound about a few of the characters, but just when you begin to get a feel for what is going on, the book takes a full 180 degree turn. Definitely a surprise at this point! The remainder of the book does not hit quite as high as the middle, but it kept my full attention from that point on. I would call this suspense rather than mystery. I haven't read any of Joy Fielding's books before, so I don't know if this is her usual writing form. Regardless, it ends with a grande finale!

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by my Mom, which surprised me because a lot of the books she reads are totally different from the books I read, but we like some of the same type of books, she just happened to come across Whispers And Lies at Goodwill and she was just looking for someone to read so she bought it. She really liked it so that's why she recommended it to me, so I decided to give it a shot, and I'm glad I did.

I really like Fielding's writing style and the setting of the book, I'd never heard of her until my Mom bought the book.

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Throughout, liked it a lot, very surprising mystery. Then, the end, big twist that made me mad and felt very manipulated as a reader.

[Bettina_kPunkt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beim zweiten Mal leider nur noch 4 Sterne. Aber ich habe mich lesetechnisch auch sehr verändert.

[Live Your Life Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spannend en een totaal onverwacht einde!!!!

[Jennifer Jowsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

wow, this was pretty bad. maybe i had high expectations? my mother's coworker was reading it and said she was scared to read it at night and that it was really good, so i borrowed it (in the meantime, i had read another joy fielding book that was an okay story with good writing and decent characters). i don't know what she was afraid of - this was a snoozefest. she immediately thought one character was creepy, i immediately thought the other one. the characters are neither likable nor interesting; the writing is repetitive, the story seems like it's trying too hard to make you think one thing, but i think it's pretty obvious the other thing is going on (can't write too much without giving away spoilers). i have a recommendation from another friend for another joy fielding book, but right now i'm a little hesitant to buy.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can't call this a romance so I guess it is a mystery, so I guess I will call it a mystery, but the mystery is why I finished reading this book.

I have read other Joy Fielding novels and enjoyed them. This one was not for me.

A single woman lives in Delray Florida in a home she inherited from her mother. She works as nurse. There is cottage on the property and a young woman, Alison Sims, rents the cottage. They become fast friends but several times it appears that Alison is not what she has represented herself to be. Terry and Alison become friends and Alison's brother, a figure that doesn't somehow ring true, is often around.

The story digs deeper into each character and to reveal any more would cause this review to become a spoiler. If you run into a copy at a used bookstore, take a look, but I wouldn't buy it again.

[Holly Vickrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible.

[alexander shay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually bought this book by mistake. I knew there was a Joy Fielding book on my TBR and thought it was this one, but it was actually "Lost"; the copy at my library combines that book with this one and I didn't notice they were actually 2 distinct titles. After reading the back of this one though, I decided to give it a try. Making myself read it turned out to be almost as bad as pulling my own teeth out.

I would classify this book as (as much as I don't like to use this as a genre label) "chick lit" mystery/thriller, or perhaps domestic. I use chick lit specifically because there was definitely focus within this book on clothes/makeup/fashion; romantic partners/relationships were a large part of the plot (but did not have that much of an impact on it), and the majority of the book was spent following Terry and her new friend Alison as they went shopping, did each other's makeup, admired jewelry, and shared drinks and bonded.

The mystery/thriller aspect is essentially absent from the first 85% of the book, and then crammed into every page from that point until the end. Every couple pages, Terry will remind us something horrible is going to happen by saying "I didn't know then" or "if only I'd noticed". This begins on page one. It was annoying by page 15. I wanted to throw the book in the garbage by page 50. There are moments throughout the briefly raise the tension, like a mystery man threateningly calling Terry, and weird moments that you can't quite explain and so become suspicious like Terry does, but overall it's quite a low-stakes and no-building-momentum story, and the majority of what happens in the book is not that important to the plot.

Terry as a character herself is a bit annoying. I'm not sure if it's her style or Fielding's as an author, but the tendency was to double or triple explain every moment of the story; a character would say something, the dialogue tag would further explain why it was said and the way it was said, and then Terry would make a comment on it or slip into some daydream of a memory that has nothing to do with the current plot and think about that thing for several paragraphs. Unfortunately dialogue is quite abundant in this book so these instances happened almost constantly. It felt a bit like someone trying to take an adult novel and dumb it down to make a children's version of it. This is not helped by the passiveness of Terry as a character or the constant use of "I felt"/"I saw" etc, instead of describing those things directly for a more active read.

The only reason this book gets 2 stars and not 1 is because of the ending. It was not good, and in fact is one of the most cliche and overused twists I can possibly think of. After finishing this book I was very irritated that I had wasted so much time on it when it had turned out so dumb and predictable. That said, until I read the lines that reveal everything, I didn't see it coming. Fielding does a decent job of making every character unreliable I suppose. But the reveal, because of its cliche nature, did not make me think "damn I didn't see that coming" but "I should have seen this coming from miles away". I'm putting it down to the fact that I began skim-reading pretty early on and had such long gaps between reading sessions that I didn't remember enough clues to put everything together before then. It actually reminded me a lot of another terrible book I've read, Safe With Me by K.L. Slater, in which the entire plot seems engineered into existence just to give reason for the ending to occur, an ending that is simply melodramatic and unoriginal. It also reminded me of that book because of the twist revolving around a protagonist who is not revealed to be unreliable until the plot twist, and them being unreliable IS the twist. When done well, that kind of twist can be very satisfying, but in this book I could almost feel at a chapter break the moment the story shifted and Terry changed completely as a character, too much in too short a time.

[Ina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who can you trust?

Nurse Terry is a middel aged woman who lives by herself after her mom died. After her mom has been sick a while, her life eventually takes an end and Terry is on her own. Since then she has had a tenant living in the cottage by the house, in that way Terry is less lonely. After Eric, the tenant one night escaped without paying the rent the past few months, Terry has been very sceptical about seeking after another tenant. She doesn't want to do the same mistake. She wants a tenant that she can trust. So she takes the chance to seek after a another tenant. She gets contacted by Alison Simms and Terry thinks she is a young and nice woman, and the two of them becomes friends immediately. They do things together all the time. But Terry gets worried when friends of Alison suddenly shows up. She hasn't even heard of some of them, and why did Alison move to Florida? Can Terry trust her?

I don't actually know for sure what I expected from this book before I read it. It seemed interesting and the cover was tempting and creepy. It made me curious about the book. Everytime I come across books that says on the cover that it's a page-turner and has a surprising ending, I have to admit that I always get suspicious 'cause that's not always true. But I still thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

Something about this story got me really interested and even though there were dialogues that didn't really belong in the book in some way I really did like the main character, Terry a lot. Terry was exciting and fascinating to read about. And when it comes to twists and turns in most books I am not easily fooled, I see that sort of things happen before we get to know the whole story I was really fooled this time! I didn't see that coming! And it happens very, very rarely! Believe me! Instead of being mad for not having it right this time I was pleased. 'Cause it's boring to know what already is going on way before we get to know how it all will turn out. I mean, it's good to have right too but it's fun to get fooled as well!


Even though the book had a very surprising twist, the book didn't live up to my expectations. I wish the story was a little tighter and that I got to know few of the persons better who always popped up but most of them was sort of flat and it was a bit hard to imagine them.


But ... all in all Whispers and lies was very interesting and entertaining and it was fun as long as it lasted. Reading it was like watching a TV-produced movies (by Lifetime/Hallmark, but that's not a bad thing). I like those kind of movies too. The book gave me several entertaining hours, no more, no less ...

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to women mystery writers, I am truly devoted to Joy Fielding. She has the ability to probe into the psyches of her characters with the precision worthy of a gifted surgeon. She forces her readers to question their own feelings about love, trust, truth, friendship, and whether or not we should listen to the "little man in our heads" and follow our instincts.

Without sacrificing the plot line or giving away pertinent details, let me just say that this story of two women of divergent age and character living on a property in Delray Florida is guaranteed to hook you from the first page. You will find yourself being slowly reeled into this drama that begins as a light spring shower, builds to a thunderstorm and finally ramps up into a full scale hurricane. The unexpected twists and turns keep you continuously second-guessing the actions and decisions being made by the characters and the finale will leave you dumbfounded.

WARNING: Get out your rubber finger protector because if you fail to protect your digit you will, in all probability, develop a blister caused by the speed at which you will be turning the pages to see what happens next.

[tobi10 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ist Terry wie sie scheint oder doch nicht ?

In dem Buch Schlaf nicht, wenn es dunkel wird von Joy Fielding, geht es um Terry Painter, welche Alison ihre Gartenhütte vermietet. Eigentlich verstehen sich die zwei Frauen gut miteinander, aber Terry hat, denkt Alison, verheimlicht etwas gegenüber Terry. Hat Terry Recht oder nicht ? Und was hat es mit dem Bruder von Alison auf sich, der dann plötzlich nach Weihnachten da ist und sich seltsam benimmt ? Ist es alles so wie es scheint ?

Meine Meinung:
Ich fand die Geschichte spannend geschrieben und zu hören. Manchmal haben mich die Inneren Monologe von Terry genervt, besonders wenn sie über ihrer Mutter nachgedacht hat oder was ihre Muter in dieser Situation dazu gesagt hätte. Obwohl ihre Mutter nicht mal lieb und nett zu ihr war. Die Auflösung war überraschend, hat aber alle offenen Fragen geklärt. Hinter die Auflösung wäre ich nicht gekommen.

Fazit:
Ein spannendes Buch mit einer guten Story, kann ich nur empfehlen, falls man über mit dem Inneren Monolog von Terry klar kommt.

[Cathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The beginning of this book was good and held my interest, but it quickly became very boring, where nothing happened for a good eighty percent of the book, and then it shoots itself down the drain. And that's the nicest way I can put what a terrible book this ended up being. Ten percent of this book was enjoyable; the rest was horrendous.

I loved Joy Fielding's "See Jane Run", and read a few of her books because of it. But they keep going from bad to worse. This one takes the cake. I hated it so much, that I will never read another Joy Fielding book ever again. I'm serious when I say I wonder if the author might have developed mental problems, because this is not a sane person's book. This is not an enjoyable book. This book is sick. And it left me with a sick feeling. I read for enjoyment, not to be left with a sense of head-scratching, sickening nausea.

[Kaitlyn Frey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was horrible, depressing and uneventful. The author makes the 40 year old female protagonist sound like a 70 year old homebody. It is far from exciting or captivating. AVOID.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review will be short. My experience with this book went from interesting to unbelievable (drinking champagne in the nurse's station, no!!) to ludicrous. The narrator for the 25 years old character emphasized the absolute childness which to me could have been my 8 year old granddaughter. Yep. Pure silliness. The reveal of the real villain was water down evidently by all this silliness IMHO. Sigh

[Thessia · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow, was für eine Wendung. Damit hätte ich niemals gerechnet!
Mein erster Fielding, und es wird nicht der letzte gewesen sein! :)

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kudos to Joy Fielding for breaking me out of my recent reading slump. First, because I'm in a really critical mood right now, I'm going to mention a few things that bothered me. 1. I don't like her blatant, in-your-face foreshadowing. Instead of assuming her reader has a brain, she has to point out every little detail - remember when I warned you about this? She might as well have numbered her clues. 2. BUT, maybe I should've paid more attention to her clues because I totally didn't get why Terry felt so discombobulated after every time Alison gave her something to drink. There was no explanation for that at the end. 3. Joy LOVES the word "errant". It's a good word, but she used it copiously.

Criticism out of the way, I can now say that this book kept me reading. The characters were interesting. The plot had some intriguing twists.

What word WOULD I use to describe this book, Alison might ask. Delusional.

[Saskia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lekker boek! Ik was een beetje bang om erin te beginnen want eerder heb ik al Het spoor bijster gelezen van Joy Fielding maar die heb ik niet uitgelezen, het kon me niet boeien. Dit boek kon me zeker wel boeien, sterker nog, ik vond het plot geweldig, dat had ik echt nooit verwacht. Jammer dat op de achterkant eigenlijk al heel de inhoud van het boek weergegeven staat. Behalve dan het plot...
Eigenlijk gebeurt er heel het boek weinig bijzonders, op de laatste vier/vijf hoofdstukken na, dan gaat het ineens heel snel. Wel voelde ik gedurende heel het boek een bepaalde spanning, dus toch een lekker boek om te lezen!

[jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt like this book cheated me. We're following this innocent woman this whole time and all of a sudden she just totally changes. That's not a plot twist, that's just cheating the reader who is trying to follow along. Introducing a huge part of the story and another suspect in the last 85% of the book is just lazy. Like she couldn't think of a proper ending so she just threw something together.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down! It was very suspensful and the author did a great job with a surprise ending. I wasn't thrilled with the "mother" psychosis, but it worked. This book was an extremely fast read and I would recommend it. It's a good 'weekend' book.