Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Whistling in the Dark

Whistling in the Dark
23dollars avatar reviewed on + 432 more book reviews


This was the May 2012 pick in my online book club, The Reading Cove.

From the way it began, I thought I'd like it more than I did. The characters and the setting of the midwestern America 1959 was charming and very well established; enjoyed all the pop culture references! And Sally O'Malley was very precocious and endearing, and I enjoyed the many LOL moments; but by the middle, the nostalgia felt over-indulgent, and got in the way of the plot's progression. The pacing was too slow and I was losing interesting. Not to mention it's highly unlikely the children would be allowed to continue roaming the streets when the neighborhood's little girls are being murdered and molested!

Sally's POV wore thin, with a rambling day-to-day trot of observations and interactions with neighbors and friends. Her younger sister Troo was just plain annoying most of the book.

A boat load of secrets are revealed toward the end, but the biggest of these - the murderer/molester reveal - turned out to be a bit underwhelming.

In the end, it was just OK. I add the plus for nostalgia's sake...C+