Whisper Down the Lane

by Clay McLeod Chapman

From the author of The Remaking, a true crime-inspired horror novel about a young boy whose little white lies about his elementary school teachers contributed to the Satanic Panic of the 80s, forcing him to hide his identity into adulthood until someone recreates his past lies at his own child's school.

Richard doesn't have a past. For him, there is only the a new marriage to Tamara, a first chance at fatherhood to her son Elijah, a quiet but pleasant life as an art teacher at Elijah's elementary school, and the dream of becoming a real artist some day. Then the body of a rabbit, ritualistically murdered, appears on the school playground with a birthday card for Richard tucked beneath it. Richard is shocked; he doesn't have a birthday...but Sean does.
Sean is a six-year-old boy in 1980s Virginia. His father has just walked out and his mother is juggling multiple jobs on food stamps. Meanwhile, all the grown-ups in his life seem worried. Cult leaders, serial killers, and stranger danger is on the rise, with moral crusaders and televangelists stoking the fires of panic. In this pressure cooker environment, Sean's school sends a note to parents alerting them that a teacher is under investigation. Sean likes Mr. Woodhouse, but when his mother asks if the bruises caused by the school bully were really caused by Mr. Woodhouse, a few small lies spiral into a terrible tragedy.
Now, thirty years later, those lies are coming back to haunt Richard, because someone knows who he really is--and they're out for revenge. Inspired by the McMartin preschool trial and the Satanic Panic of the '80s, the critically praised author of The Remaking delivers a nuanced portrait of parenthood and mass hysteria.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Historical Fiction, Mystery Thriller

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 6, 2021

About the author

Books. Children's books. Comic books. Film.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

NOW AVAILABLE!!!

fulfilling my 2021 goal to read one book each month by an author i have never read despite owning more than one of their books.

dammit.

i was SO excited to get an ARC of this, and i really wanted to love it, but although it opens with a fantastic gotcha-pop of misdirection, the rest was kind of a slow fizzle for me.

it's about the satanic panic that swept thru 1980's america, and is based on the mcmartin preschool trials, where a bunch of little kids were coaxed/coerced into a salem witch trial-y situation, accusing their teachers of various crimes; everything from sexual abuse to flushing kids down the toilet. if you're not familiar with the details, you should click on that link up there because it's bonkers.



Whisper Down the Lane approaches its parallel scenario from two different timelines—the accusations and their repercussions—in alternating chapters intriguingly named:

damned if you do/sean: 1983

and

damned if you don't/richard: 2013

although i came up in the 80s, i was too little and my parents too sensible for that whole satanic panic phenomenon to have had any impact on my life, and reading this book was the first time i realized how broad satan's net had been cast back then. obviously, ozzy osbourne and dungeons and dragons were team devil, but lucky charms? the smurfs? i had no idea that so many things i enjoyed as a kid were after my soul, and i honestly would have thought the satanic alliances attributed to cabbage patch kids and ronald mcdonald were invented for this book if i hadn't stumbled upon these two gems in my post-reading research:



which i now NEED to own, along with their author's other title:



i can't find any information about what that one is about, but i want to know very badly, so if anyone can hook me up with info, please you MUST.

back to the book i am meant to be reviewing.

i enjoy horror in any medium, even though the part of me that is responsible for activating my jumpy-goosebumpy fear response is busted*. still, i keep trying, and i can recognize effective horror even when, even though it doesn't give me the juicy shivers i want so bad. i didn't find this one scary at all, but it builds tension well, there are some strong disturbing descriptive scenes, and it hovers in that satisfying 'is this real or is this madness?' limbo just long enough before committing to a side. it's not a bad story, there's just nothing particularly surprising here if you've been around the horror block a time or two.

the best parts are the 80s-era interactions between five-year-old sean and the child psychologist with her creepy therapy puppet and her way of manipulating a desired response with leading questions and straight-up bullying.

i will say, though, that there is some distractingly clunky prose here; unnecessarily repetitive and awkward, which kept taking me out of the story to wince. i read the arc, so maybe it'll be fixed by then, but just to give a couple of examples:

There was power in unifying their voices, these mothers learned. A combined strength.

Unity.

They could harness their concerns and make it one voice. One loud, determined voice.

and

...Condrey considers us all to be one big, happy academic family. As in, "arguing-with-your-right-wing-uncle-about-whether-or-not-Obama-was-born-in-the-USA-during-Thanksgiving-dinner" type of family. That's what kind of family our faculty is.

overall it's...just okay. it was neither scary enough nor satirical-funny enough for my personal tastes, but remember i'm just one human whose tastes and opinions are different from every other human's tastes, and so are you!

coincidentally, this story ran in the ny times the day i wrote this review, and may be of interest:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/us...

* it is only busted when it comes to horror-as-entertainment—real life terrifies me all the time.

come to my blog!!

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book brings us back to the Satanic Panic days of the 1980's.

Sean, a five year old boy, tells a lie about his kindergarten teacher that spirals out of control and helps fuel the Satanic Panic at the time. The trial took over a year and while it was proven to be a hoax the six teachers and staff accused will never be the same again. His English teacher even ends up committing suicide.

Sean, now known as Richard, is an art teacher and he just recently got married. He and his wife are in discussions to have Richard adopt her son Elijah.

Suddenly strange things begin happening to Richard. Even in his own classroom he doesn't feel safe. It's as if his memories of his past are coming back to haunt him. Then one of his students makes an accusation about him shattering any stability he once felt. Now jobless and homeless he needs to figure out who is doing this to him and why.

I had a few issues with this one. I was a kid in the 80's but I don't really remember any adults that I know of terrified of The Smurfs, Cabbage Patch Dolls, and Lucky Charms to name a few. Not to say it didn't happen, obviously it did, but my brain just can not accept how gullible and downright foolish these people were. You think a marshmallow is the devil? Really? My parents and I watched horror movies together so they weren't exactly of delicate sensibilities.

I struggled through 5 year old Sean's narrative with all the baby talk. Think wee wee, poo poo etc.

My biggest issue though is with the psychiatrist that treats Sean as a child. What an awful person she is. Basically forcing this child to admit to things that never ever occurred and calling him stupid if he didn't. She is the guiltiest person in this book as far as I am concerned.

At about the half way point I had an idea of who was behind everything and it proved to be right.

Many triggers to be had here including death of a bunny rabbit and while the death does happen off page the aftermath is described vividly on page. 2 stars!

Thank you to Edelweiss and Quirk Books for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very firmly in the camp of give me anything and everything related to the Satanic Panic. I’m just absolutely fascinated by it and I eat that shit up. That being said this is one of my favourite Satanic Panic stories I’ve EVER read. I have no words that can accurately describe how freaking AMAZING and out of this world this book was but I’m going to give it a try. I knew it would be good but I had no idea just how good it would be and it absolutely blew my mind! To see how one small lie can snowball into something so huge that spanned decades was so fascinating and I couldn’t get enough of it. It was deliciously twisted and I loved seeing it all play out. I sat down to read it before bed and told myself I’d only read 50 pages and then lights off and then the next thing I knew it was 3am and I was finished. This isn’t just one the best horror books I’ve read this year but one of the best horror books I’ve EVER read. It was dark and gritty and by the end of it I felt like I’d sell my soul to get more of this story!

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone that remembers the Satanic Panic of the early 80’s will recognize portions of this tale. The McMartin Preschool trial and tales of molestation from the children put a black splotch on our country’s history. Whatever happened to those children and how did they live with their lies? How many families did they ruin? This book provides some fictional answers and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Maybe you will too?

[chantalsbookstuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The power of influence

One lie spirals into horrific consequences. The power people have over controlling others is shocking to me. Quite a few trigger warnings in this one. Shocking, terrible and cringe worthy... I must be a creeper for liking it.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars
This was not quite the occult horror novel I was expecting to read, but nevertheless I ended up really enjoying the story that I read. The early marketing compared this book to Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, but I would rather compare it to something like Night Swim by Meagan Golden, which discusses a controversial topic through the narrative structure of a thriller.

To be clear, this book is more about the satanic panic rather than Satan himself. The story has harm to animals in it's opening sequence, but there is very little beyond that. The story addresses how easily children can be manipulated to provide false testimony through leading questions and the terrible ramifications that result from those false allegations. I would describe this book as more topical than terrifying.

Told of multiple perspectives, I found both the present day and past timelines nearly equally engaging. Shaun was a cute protagonist, highlighting life in the 1980s while Richard's perspective gave an accurate description of the hurdles of both being a teacher and a stepfather. I thought it was rather obvious how the two perspectives were interconnected so there was not a lot of mystery there. Still I found the story to be very engaging. While fiction, this familiar narrative is very much inspired by true events. The ending was perhaps a bit underwhelming only because I knew exactly where the story was going, but I still enjoyed the journey.

I would recommend this one to both horror and thriller readers who are interested in a story that explores the moral complexities surrounding the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

[Ellen Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should NOT have read this months before its release date, because how the heck am I supposed to keep my mouth shut about it until APRIL!?

Just be prepared for me at some point to word vomit about this twisty fucker.

Update! It is now March, which means it's review writing time.

Whisper Down the Lane was absolutely a case of right book / right reader. I will always be fascinated by Satanic Panic, witch hunts, and various moral panics in general (semi related, but there's a great podcast episode that talks about moral panic and the horror genre that I absolutely recommend: Horror and Moral Panic (Dead Meat Podcast #41))



Anyway, books like Dark Places and Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three, classics like The Crucible, right down to TV episodes like Buffy's "Gingerbread" are right in my wheelhouse.



So this book was made to be enjoyed by me. Is it perfect? Nah, but it's solidly entertaining. I will say there's A LOT of graphic animal violence, that I did not enjoy, so be prepared for that.

I did like the two POVs, the first being a five year old boy named Sean in the 1980s, living in a new town with his mom, who is just trying to make ends meet and protect her son. I was a little worried since kid perspectives can be kind of cloying or artificial, but I thought Sean's voice felt fairly natural. And in present day we have Richard, an elementary school art teacher and first time step-dad. It was fairly obvious early on that Sean and Richard are the same person, but I didn't mind. No matter when you figure this out, the dual perspective works.

Combined with solid writing and a good pace, it's an easy enough read, aside from subject matter. Like I said the stuff about animal deaths, manipulation of susceptible children, and gaslighting is emotionally difficult to process sometimes. Also, it's more of a creepy thriller than it is outright scary. A lot of the horror elements come from the clash between perception and reality and the psychological trauma that can inflict, especially in children.



I was kind of lukewarm on the ending, but I enjoyed the rest of the book enough that I don't mind much. I think the final pages just didn't match the expectations I had for it in my head. Which, how dare it. Everything that happens in my head is automatically right and perfect. We know this.



All kidding aside, if Satanic Panic, cycles of trauma, and dual narratives are your thing, Whisper Down the Lane is a great choice. I certainly enjoyed it.

[Barbara Behring · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very thought provoking book. It made me remember the fear of Satanism in America in the 80s and how one lie can ruin many lives.

[Yvonne (the putrid Shelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whisper Down the Lane is a dark and oftentimes rage inducing tale of identity, guilt and pain. Richard, an art teacher in Virginia comes across a gutted school rabbit that appears to have ritualistic connotations. It shouts out at him and can’t help but ponder if it was carried out in his name. This is a story often its not healthy for the readers continuation of life – but isn’t that the best kind of novel? It’s edgy and frank and it doesn’t care for your feelings…it doesn’t care one bit.

Whisper Down the Lane is hard hitting – think of a mallet pounding into your temple. With that visual in mind, it will give you a more realistic viewpoint of how this book made me feel. Chapman’s intricate motivation into his research pays off, I felt more than once throwing the book across the room. I ached for characters and I wanted to thoroughly shake more than one of them.

We are given two alternating POV’s from 5-year-old Sean in 1983 and thirty something Richard in 2013. Sean is a timid little boy who has never quite found his place amongst friends or at school. He’s essentially a pleaser and wants everyone to be happy. If that’s telling the adults what they want to hear, so be it. He moves to Greenfield, Virginia with his mum. His mum doesn’t have much, and it comes across as if she is constantly running from something. She’s a vacant and emotionally distant parental figure and it from here I think that Sean perpetually wants to please everyone. He’s never fully got the love from his mother and he craves it…he needs it. All is going well in his new school, until of course, it isn’t.

Whispers Down the Lane is impeccable at examining the intricacies of the pressures and strains and the deck of cards type impact of serious allegations. One white lie is all it takes to set off a disastrous chain of events to all involved. Careers and families destroyed for many years to come. We meet Richard an art teacher who lives with his wife Tamara and her five year old son. He wants to have a great relationship with him and talks to him about his adoptive past. Today’s events start spiraling and he quickly loses control. Guilt is a powerful emotion, and this was probably the best example of it that I have ever read.

The story is so fucking complex, and my eyes ended up stinging from how intensely I was staring at the words. Nothing was as black and white as it was being out to be. A story so superbly imaginative but realistic in the same breath. I loved the portrayal of satanism thrown into the mix because nothing winds people up more is the thought of children mixed up in satanic ritual. It’s a horror story of how humanity can be turned and that’s the real horror – humans can be the real horror.

Whisper Down the Lane is no trope rehash – its original and a genuine page turner. Authentically chilling.

[Scott Neumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember the Satanic Panic of the 80's very vividly, growing up in Southern California and being a D&D, horror movie addict I thankfully didn't have to personally experience the B.S. that the protagonist had to, though I do remember the scho0l assemblies and sermons at church. Having been around 15 yrs. old when the McMartin pre-school scandal happened and it became ingrained in the zeitgeist of Southern California. We had to watch the trial live in some of my classes. It had become a teachable moment, but not for the right reasons and that brings me back to novel, which is a showcase for all the wrong reasons.

The story takes place over two time lines and revolves around a mother and her son who move to small town in 83' and her struggle as a single mother, when allegations of child molestation turn into stories of devil worship and animal sacrifice the town devolves into a moral panic and witch hunt. The second part takes place 30 years later and concerns an school art teacher as he copes with the trials of a new marriage and becoming a step-father as parallel events seem to be starting up again. to tell anymore would be to spoil the plot.

The plot is very fast moving and the characters compelling, but was fairly predictable. Despite that it kept me going. I will say though I found myself at times getting pissed off at the narrative or else I would have completed this in one sitting. The whole outcome of the McMartin trial which concluded while I was in college really pissed me off at the time and still does today. Reading this book brought some of that back, no regrets though, it's a good book.

4 stars not 5 for my anger, but that's my personal bias. Don't let that be a discouragement.

[Horror Bookworm Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://horrorbookwormreviews.com/
Richard Bellamy has moved his livelihood to the small town of Danvers. There he begins his kindergarten art teacher job as well as his new role of husband and step-father to wife Tamara and step-son Elijah. However, when Richard’s childhood torments begin gradually emerging, accusations of the most heinous crimes begin to surface from the past, linking itself to present day occurrences and beyond. Could history have begun to repeat itself, or is it a disturbing masquerade of sinister intentions?

Set in the 1980s, author Clay McLeod Chapman delves into the horror behind the term “satanic panic” that was so well known within this time period. His fusion of past and present ping pong back and forth with tense, abhorrent subject matter. Having a vessel to guide satanic ritualistic undertones throughout the storyline, Chapman proclaims an evil and combines it with unimaginable coercive accusations. While treading on explosive and edgy topics, the central characters suffer because of hidden implications that are slowly revealed. What happens if you believe in a lie so much it comes true, even if the voice happens to be coming from an innocent kindergartener?

To be the intended target of such a terrible accusation is scary enough, but when it involves children, that fear doubles. This is where the reader will experience how a narrative can become a fountain of false testimony and how evil can be perceived and misconstrued into something that it’s not.

Chapman is a maestro at building grim suspense to the point of unimaginable consequences, proving genuine horror dwells in the world we live in today. Potential psychological damage may not come from a source one expects. It could very well come from authoritative figures such as teachers, preachers, and political leaders.

The reading audience will attend activities such as midnight masses, grave robbing, and satanic orgies involving cannibalism. Introductions will be made to personalities in all their distorted glory; in particular Mr. Stitch, Mr. Yucky, and The Bad Snatcher. These hidden truths and unconventional personas are explored in Whisper Down The Lane, with a plot that subverts expectations.

Readers, be prepared to play a deranged version of the children’s game, Whisper Down The Lane. Hearing classroom whispers of welcoming Devil’s disciples and Satan worshippers to come out and play along with their demented games, will eventually lead to a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” life lesson. A very strong recommendation to read this one. Enjoy the façade.
(originally posted at mysteryandsuspense.com)

[Auđur · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

[Julie (JuJu) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't remember where I saw the cover, but it caught my eye, so I rented this one from the library. The chilling part of this true-crime-based horror novel is knowing that it is based on actual events in the 1980s. I was young and lived in a small rural area at the time, so I don’t remember the satanic panic of the McMartin preschool trials. But I was furious and sad, as I read about how this ordeal was handled. I plan on reading up on the actual events at some point.

One little white lie, made with good intentions, sends a community into panic and destroys families. The children are fed information by the police and a therapist until their recollections are shaped into outrageous statements. The accusations are so twisted, I’m dumbstruck that they were taken seriously, without hard evidence.

Warning....satanic rituals with animals.

[JasonA · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ended up liking this a lot better than I expected to. The story is told from the point of view of Sean, a
5 year old in 1983, and Richard, an art teacher in 2013. There were definitely parts of the story that were predictable, but the story was good enough that it didn't really matter if you knew what was coming. Some of the hints and foreshadowing in the book that you have to start thinking they're red herrings.

Every time the book started to get a little too crazy, I had to remind myself that the true story it was based on is even crazier. This is one of those cases where truth is stranger than fiction. If you're not familiar with the McMartin preschool trials, it's worth looking it up on Wikipedia. It's a must when you're reading this book and get to some of the more unbelievable parts.

Most of the negative reviews seems to be from younger people who don't remember the Satanic Panic of the 80's. It was very real, but in typical fashion, greatly exaggerated by the media. I don't think the majority of people were overly concerned about satanic cults infiltrating America, but as long as the media gives it plenty of coverage and the vocal minority is around to be interviewed, there's always going to be some sort of witch hunt in America. Whether it is literal witches, satanic cult members, communists, the Illuminati, or lizard people, we'll always have our boogeymen trying to ruin out way of life. For anyone who doesn't think that anything in this book could happen, especially today, here's a reminder: flat earthers, anti-vaxers, Pizza-gate believers, and Happy Holidays boycotters are a thing. You can probably find something nuttier than this book in your Facebook feed.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a young child, Sean told a lie about his teacher, saying what he believed his mother wanted to hear, and that lie spiraled into something much bigger; something detrimental for the targeted teacher.

Thirty years later, Sean is a boy who no longer exists.

But Richard exists and Richard is a man who doesn’t want to remember his past. He doesn’t want to think about the consequences of his choice. But it doesn’t matter what Richard wants. Somebody else wants to make sure he never forgets.

Let’s talk about cute animals first - get that out of the way - because I don’t want you to hate me if I haven’t sufficiently warned you prior to getting you invested in a book that I thought was spectacular. Horror authors - they definitely know how to probe at their readers’ emotions - and I guess I understand why they do what they do sometimes. But I don’t like it. And I know a lot of you won’t like it. So, fair warning: This is a captivating story, but there are two brutally descriptive animal deaths in the book. It’s upsetting. Very, very upsetting.

Okay, so are you still with me? Are you ready to read about how much I loved this book? Good!

I, as a kid growing up in the eighties, with parents who considered Halloween and Friday the 13th to be excellent family movie options, was wholly unaware of the fact that there were other parents burning Cabbage Patch Kids and viewing marshmallows in kids’ cereals as anything other than sweet deliciousness. In short, I was oblivious to this thing called the Satanic Panic. I’d heard some rumors about The Smurfs, but that wasn’t until adulthood. I just… didn’t know.

Whisper Down the Lane weaves that concept into something more. The author creates a situation that involves both mass hysteria and the far-reaching consequences of a lie. In terms of horror, this is relatively tame, aside from the aforementioned animal deaths, but it does give the reader a lot of unsettling notions to consider.

I found this story to be fast-paced and meaningful, with undying relevance in its message. It’s very sad, too, when the impact of one fib is fully understood. The book ultimately challenges the reader with a question: Who is the actual monster of this story?

As long as you can stomach the animal scenes, you may find yourself enjoying this as much as I did. It embraced some of the psychological themes I love exploring and I fully believe that the positives outweigh everything else. This was a clever way to communicate a vital message about human vulnerability. We are often inclined to believe that we are not easily influenced and that may be one of the most dangerous beliefs that we possess.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital review copy. I also was fortunate to receive a physical ARC from a friend. All opinions are my own.

Whisper Down the Lane is available for preorder now and will be published on April 6, 2021.

[Stephanie (Books in the Freezer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

After going through a small reading slump, I found a book I could not put down. This is a great read for those of us who are fascinated by the Satanic Panic, and felt aftershocks of that (my husband's parents thought Pokemon were Satanic). This sent me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole when I was done. I think it really does a great job of portraying how things like this can easily get out of hand, and how impressionable kids are. Great if you are interested in the Satanic Panic and love a good dual narrative thriller

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satanic panic of the ‘80s was a real deal. A bizarre specifically 80s version of McCarthyism with the witch hunting taking a distinctly supernatural turn. Apparently, there’s something in people’s collective psyche that craves this sort of insane insidious conspiracy. There are certainly plenty of them now, albeit of a more distinctly political lean.
Back in the 80s, there was a famous trial that set off a chain of events that led a lot of people to believe that the teachers were abusing the kids and forcing them to perform in satanic rituals. An insane theory made popular by the likes of the mustachioed punditry of Geraldo Rivera.
This book is a fictionalized account of the events told from the perspective of the young boy whose lies began the entire thing and an adult who can’t or won’t remember his past even as that past seems determined to hunt him down and make him pay for this forgetting.
Took me a moment to get into, but once I did, the book proved difficult to put down. Very dynamic narrative, very engaging, it draws you right in the way a good spiraling into madness tends to.
I’ve not read the author before, but this was a terrific introduction…the way the real story is made into fiction, the way the fiction veers into supernatural all the while maintaining its stranglehold on reality and its helpless protagonist. The way the past and the present are interwoven so cleverly. The character writing. The meditation on the impermanence and complexity of the memory mechanism and its role in the making of a person. All very good.
I’d say the only two detractors for me…
First, if you’re going to take it back in time, do it right. Don’t have your characters sing along to songs or watch tv that wouldn’t be around until years into the future. The 80s weren’t that long ago and also, there’s internet, it’s all too easy to look up. And yes, one might make an argument that these mistakes were deliberate to highlight the memory glitches, but they didn’t read that way in the context of the novel, they just read like mistakes.
Second, the mystery aspect of it (and this is in many ways a mystery novel), I figured out way, way ahead of the reveal. Not sure if this was my inner detective genius showing off and if it was just made that obvious by the novel, but there it is. Not ideal. Would have liked the reveal to have been more of a surprise.
Other than that, though, a really good read. I’d definitely read more by the author. Recommended.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[Latasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

For the most part, this one was pretty good. It was a little predictable near the end. I would read more by this author.

[Shainlock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished audio, but at 70% on the paper copy.

[Lisa Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re of a certain age, you remember hearing about the McMartin preschool scandal of the 1980s, in which the staff of a family-run preschool was accused of hundreds of counts of abuse and of participating in Satanic rituals with the children in their care. It was horrifying, gross… and untrue. All of the accused were acquitted… but do we remember the acquittals? Or do we remember the accusations? I think the answer is self-evident.

In Whisper Down the Lane, Richard is an elementary school art teacher, newly married to another teacher, and hoping to adopt the stepson who’s also one of his students. Richard comes across as kind but a little odd when we first meet him, with his mind often wandering away, not really fond of small talk or collegial chitchat with coworkers.

Richard is also Sean, but his memories of being Sean have been repressed down to nothingness. As Sean, at age five, he first confirmed his worried mother’s suspicions about his kindly kindergarten teacher, and eventually became the star witness in the hugely publicized case against several teachers accused of horrifying abuse and Satanic practices. And as in real-life, the case eventually fell apart, but the damage done to those accused was indelible.

Richard’s memories of Sean start creeping back after some weird, unexplainable incidents begin to occur around him, starting with an eviscerated bunny on the school field and escalating from there. Finally, as Richard himself faces accusations of abuse, we readers have to wonder whether the tightly sealed borders between Richard and Sean have finally eroded enough to push Richard over the edge into madness and unspeakable acts.

There is a lot going on here, and plenty to challenge and disgust the book’s readers. As the Sean pieces of the narrative make clear, the children who provided witness testimony during the Satanic panic were pushed and manipulated by the adults in their lives — parents, police, and psychologists — to deliver the answers the adults were looking for. The author skillfully places us inside Sean’s mind, so we can see how his desire to please his mother led to statements later used to condemn his teacher in the court of public opinion.

It’s horrible, pure and simple, to see the lives destroyed, and equally horrible to see how these young children were introduced to topics well beyond their ability to digest, being spoon-fed details that led them to confirm drug-fueled orgies, sacrifices, graveyard rituals, and more.

As Richard’s memories intrude into his daily life, he does act in ways that would appear crazy and even dangerous to those around him. As I read the book, I couldn’t see how there could possibly be another answer but that Richard had had a breakdown and was actually responsible for the events happening around him… and I won’t say whether I was right or wrong!

I did go into Whisper Down the Lane expecting a horror story, and while there are elements that shade in that direction, this book is more a story of psychological terror than out-and-out horror. I thought the ending was clever and surprising, and I did not see it coming.

That said, because I expected horror, I felt a little let down by parts of the story and the solutions to the central mysteries, but that may be due more to the marketing and positioning of the book than any fault of the book itself.

Certainly, Whisper Down the Lane is a fast, compelling read. Once I got started, I just could not stop. The jumps back and forth between Sean and Richard are so disturbing, and the recounting of the Satanic abuse case and Sean’s role in it is truly awful to read about — even more so knowing it’s based on real cases from the 1980s.

Whisper Down the Lane is a creepy tale that’s impossible to put down or stop thinking about. Be prepared for a dark, sleep-interrupting read. Highly recommended, but not if you’re looking for light entertainment!

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. Full review at my link text.

[Kirsty Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard doesn't have a past. For him, there is only the present: a new marriage, a first chance at fatherhood, and a quiet life as an art teacher in Virginia. Then the body of a ritualistically murdered rabbit appears on his school's playground, along with a birthday card for him. But Richard hasn't celebrated his birthday since he was known as Sean...
In the 1980s, Sean was five years old when his mother asked him if his favorite teacher had ever been inappropriate with him. In the course of one conversation, Sean was led to tell a lie. When school administrators, cops, and therapists questioned him, he told another. And another. And another. Each fueled the fire of a moral panic that engulfed the nation―and destroyed the lives of everyone around him. Now, thirty years later, someone is here to tell Richard that they know what Sean did. But who would even know that these two are one and the same?

What a read. I thought the two storylines side by side was going to get old very quick and confuse me but they were so well written and flowed so effortlessly together I don’t see how the book could have been structured any other way. Filled with horror, suspense and tension this was a whirlwind of a story from start to finish. With an amazing final twist you don’t want to miss this one.

[Ta || bookishbluehead · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uff, this was difficult to finish. I read it for the Literary Dead Book Club and hoped for an entertaining horror book, but sadly I didn’t like it at all.

The beginning was great and I thought we were off for a promising story, but after a few chapters it got more and more boring. I just didn’t care about the characters, I couldn’t build a connection with any of them and that made it very hard to root for them.
The writing didn’t work for me as well. The POV of the 5 year old was especially irritating. I know he’s a little kid and he thinks like one, but damn, that was hard to read. I struggled through Richards chapters as well, but the kid was worse.

Overall not a book I enjoyed and I’m not sure if I will pick up another book by the author, not in the near future, that’s for sure.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this is based on the true story of the McMartin Pre School Trial, where a parent accused one of the teachers of abusing her child. It started the so called Satanic Panic era in the 1980s. It's an incredibly unsettling read, purely for the fact it could easily happen to anyone at anytime. It just takes someone to start a rumour and you can see online just how quickly something can take hold.

[Coos Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó muchísimo, aunque tomó un rumbo que no esperaba para nada. Todo lo que trate sobre el boom del pánico satánico siempre va a tener mi atención, así que me enganché desde el primer momento.

[Chelsea | thrillerbookbabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to Quirk Publishing and Clay Chapman for my copy of Whisper Down the Lane. This book was about the satanic panic and how one tiny lie can spiral into a federal investigation. Richard is trying to mind his own business, but someone has found him. When a murdered rabbit appears on the school grounds where he works, he knows that the message is for him. You see, when Richard was younger his name was Sean, and he told a white lie that snowballed into a full blown panic. Thirty years later someone is trying to let Sean know that they know about the lie and they want revenge.

Thoughts: I loved this premise and the way this book was written. The plot was totally unique and a fun twist on classic true crime history. This book almost read like a true crime memoir of someone who went through the satanic panic in the 80s. The pacing of the story was good and I did enjoy the writing style. There were lots of trigger warnings, especially dead and mutilated animals, so keep that in mind.

I think the book did a good job of giving an insight into the mind of someone like Sean. However, this book was pretty basic YA, with no twists or surprises. The story was very straightforward, which is why it felt more like true crime. Some psychological aspects were left unexplained and I thought the author could have delved into them more, especially the hallucinations and delusions. Once I accepted this book would be completely predictable, it was a fun and engaging read. 3.5 stars!

[Janelle Janson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clay McLeod Chapman’s WHISPER DOWN THE LANE is a horror-esque psychological suspenseful book based on true events which took place in the 1980s during the Satanic Panic. I was a child of the 80s, but mostly I remember the Satanic Panic mob mentality and paranoia because of my older, way-too-cool, punk rock sister. The McMartin preschool trials were not something I knew too much about, which made this story all the more compelling.

The story alternates between two timelines, 1983 and 2013. In 1983, we meet five-year-old Sean and in 2013 we meet art teacher Richard, who appears to be leading a seemingly normal life. Unfortunately for Richard, his past has caught up to his present to haunt him.

Chapman is a genius in the way he sets up the story, and with alternating chapters, it reads incredibly fast. I think he does a fantastic job writing the details of what happened without being gratuitous. There are scenes with animal cruelty, but nothing that didn’t make sense. One narrative was slightly more slowly paced than the other, but it didn’t bother me much.

Quirk Books really outdid themselves with the cover design. It’s basically perfect. If you are looking for a fun book to read with a rad cover, definitely check out WHISPER DOWN THE LANE.

Thank you to Quirk Books for my review copy.

[Cassidy Chivers · Rating 3 out of 5]

After loving ghost eaters I was really hoping for this one to be a win.

I love clay McLeod chaplains writing style and I do think it's just as good in this as it was in ghost eaters. But sadly for me this was missing the "creepy" factor that I look for in horror books. I want to be nervous for the protagonist in horror books. And I just never felt this way.
It was a dry story for me that I just didn't care about.
I feel like this is a very personal review but I just don't know how else to phrase it.

But if you want more thoughts I have some in this vlog
https://youtu.be/GtGkcxSvp0I

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m so sad that I’ve been sitting on this book and didn’t read it sooner. It messed me up. Even for a week after. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I didn’t even want to read anything else after it. It’s vile and disgusting.

Read all trigger warnings before reading.

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Imagine a fib you told as a child. A little white lie. Now imagine that lie taking on a life of its own. Imagine having no control over it. If you ever did. Imagine it spreading. Growing. Imagine the consequences of that lie affecting everyone in your life. Imagine it consuming everything around you— your teachers, friends, family—until there’s nobody left. No one to love you. Imagine that lie haunting you for the rest of your life, following you no matter how far you run away from it.” *

Whisper Down the Lane introduces readers to Richard in the present day and five-year-old Sean in 1980s.

Richard is a newlywed enjoying marriage and hopeful of adopting his wife’s young son, Elijah. Life is good in Danvers, Virginia where he teaches art at the elementary school. But then comes the memories of the past pouring back after a class rabbit is found at the school, the victim of a ritualistic killing.

Sean is a quiet child who just wants to make his mom happy. She worries so much about bills, raising her son without a father, providing for the two of them. When mom asks Sean about his favorite teacher, a white lie is the match strike that sets the nation ablaze with “Satantic Panic”.

The stories of Richard and Sean eventually collide in a heartbreaking turn that leaves readers to consider who the true victims of Satanic Panic were. I was stunned by the adults who had no issue with emotionally coercing children into creating a jaw dropping tale of satanism and pointing the finger at innocent people. These children loved the attention but more than that, they were seeking approval from the adults giving them all of the attention. They would admit/agree to anything to keep their approval!

There are two graphic scenes with major trigger warnings of descriptive animal killings. The rest of this horrific story is the truth behind the complexities of communication and putting words into people’s mouths to bring our worst fears to life.

It didn’t take long to connect the stories of Richard and Sean and then what was happening to Richard in the present day. I appreciated the author’s take on the 1980s Satanic Panic and how quickly a white lie can unleash devastating consequences. I also appreciated the care given to Richard’s state of mind in the present day. Overall, a strong horror story based on actual events but I saw the twists coming from a mile away.
Thanks to Quirk Books and Edelweiss for providing me with a DRC in exchange for my honest review. Whisper Down the Lane is scheduled for release on April 6, 2021.

*Quote is from a digital advanced reader’s copy and is subject to change upon final publication.

For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com

[Jan Agaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

had a good creepy time during this fast-paced book, but i have soo many unanswered questions??