Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Champan

I would like to thank Stephen from Black Crow PR and Quirk Books for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for affair and honest review

Publisher – Quirk Books

Published – Out Now

Price – £9.99 paperback £7.78 Kindle eBook

Richard doesn’t have a past. For him, there is only the present: a new marriage to Tamara, a first chance at fatherhood to her son Elijah, and a quiet but pleasant life as an art teacher at Elijah’s elementary school in Danvers, Virginia. Then the body of a rabbit, ritualistically murdered, appears on the school grounds with a birthday card for Richard tucked beneath it. Richard doesn’t have a birthday—but Sean does . . .

Sean is a five-year-old boy who has just moved to Greenfield, Virginia, with his mother. Like most mothers of the 1980s, she’s worried about bills, childcare, putting food on the table . . . and an encroaching threat to American life that can take the face of anyone: a politician, a friendly neighbor, or even a teacher. When Sean’s school sends a letter to the parents revealing that Sean’s favorite teacher is under investigation, a white lie from Sean lights a fire that engulfs the entire nation—and Sean and his mother are left holding the match.

Now, thirty years later, someone is here to remind Richard that they remember what Sean did. And though Sean doesn’t exist anymore, someone needs to pay the price for his lies.

When did you start telling lies as a child? Was it for fun? Did you do it to exaggerate or did you want something? Children with the cheery smiles and demeanours we tend to trust; we are designed to support children and adults can project our own fears on them. Children like adults to like them so sometimes those lies have consequences. IN Clay McLeod Chapman’s disturbing psychological thriller we go for a horrific trip into one man’s past and revisiting one of the darker parts of the 1980s the Satanic Panic.

In 2013 Richard Bellamy is the new arts teacher at a very prestigious US primary school. The school is rocked by the death of the school’s little pet Professor Howdy. Richard finds the rabbit’s body and entrails gruesomely laid out on the playing field. Its strange and then for Richard it gets more worrying. A 1980s Cabbage Patch Kid birthday card with a message the awakens some long-hidden memories. Then we skip to 1983 – the Cold War reigns, tv cartoons are accused of hidden messages (Papa Smurf looks like Karl Marx) and parents worry about vans and strangers. Sean is a five-year-old boy recently moved to a much smaller house living just with his stressed mum. He likes his school but is trying to work out how best to make his mummy happy again. Some bruises from a school bully are spotted and he decides to spare his mum pain to agree with her that their schoolteacher the affable Mr Woodhouse is responsible. A small lie that ends up having huge repercussions on the school, Sean’s family, and future life.

I found this a gripping psychological thriller with an unsettling atmosphere as Richard sees his new life (yes, he was Sean) pulled apart. This is a story about how lies and suspicions snowball and payback is always awaiting. Richard is married, about to be a dad to his wife’s stepson and the kids seem to like him but we see he is always on guard. As various events calling back to his childhood find themselves repeated and the school and low townspeople get more suspicious, we see someone become paranoid and hyperalert as to whom is behind this be they human or not. For Richard’s side of the tale Chapman makes us see Richard as the centre the storm is around, and we see a slightly arrogant secretive teacher being undone by his own little lies but all these sections feel oppressive and painful as the story gets darker as more nastier accusations arrive on his doorstep.

Sean’s sections are the more horrific the narration tells us Sean’s bewildered yet good natured thoughts, but Chapman makes us fill in the blanks. We see how a young boy gets used by a stressed parent, psychologists, police and even TV hosts to suit various agendas. The scary thing is this happened we even had some instances of this in the UK with parents taken from kids for fears that Satanists were abusing their children. The fascinating question levelled at the reader – is Sean responsible? Is Richard responsible for never coming clean about his past? We see what Sean’s actions led to and that is horrific so when history repeats itself – what do we think he deserves? Your responses may be unsettled the more we find out what happened and all the repercussions that came from one stone thrown in a pond. Chapman’s writing is indeed whispering in your ear making you change your opinion of everyone demonstrating indeed how easy we are swayed by what we are told.

This is an unsettling tale that talks about abuse, mental illness and contains harm to animals and readers who are worried about those issues may wish to stay clear. I though found it a very intelligent thriller that examined people’s ability to believe rumour and prove their own fears are valid with a fascinating central mystery that tests the reader’s own thoughts on guilt and responsibility. This novel is haunting because you’ll be pondering these issues long after the final haunting page. An excellent read i strongly recommend.