Night. A thunderstorm rages. An injured woman awakens to the sound of gunshots and footsteps racing toward her. She doesn't know where she is or how she got there, but gets up and starts to run. She blindly flees into a cemetery where voices begin to speak to her in the gripping supernatural mystery thriller The Whispering Dead.
Strange voices guide the woman to the door of Pastor Adage. She tells him her first name is Kiera and she's being chased, but can't remember anything else. The kindly pastor gets rid of her pursuers and hides Kiera in a cottage on church property until she can figure out her identity. Later that night Kiera is visited by the ghost of Emma Carthage. Instead of being fearful, Kiera discovers she can communicate with Emma's spirit. Mason, a medical student, and a quirky local named Zoe befriend Kiera. They explain the circumstances behind Emma's death at the hands of the wealthiest man in town. Helping Emma's ghost get revenge exposes Kiera to her pursuers, but the spirit will not rest. Kiera soon discovers Emma is just one of many ghosts seeking justice--and they all want help from Kiera.
Darcy Coates (The Haunting of Ashburn House; Craven Manor) adeptly sets up a quick-paced plot by sending an amnesia-suffering heroine crashing through the forest dodging bullets and branches. The immediately dangerous scenario creates a relentless, gnawing anxiety about what will befall Kiera next in the creepy, Dickensian-looking town of Blighty. There's nothing like a good ghost story to curl up with on a dark and stormy night. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer