The Whisperings
Burn Our Bodies Down meets Delicious Monsters in this terrifying new young adult horror by acclaimed master of the macabre Joel A. Sutherland.

Joana and her younger brother Peter aren't used to setting down roots. Ever since the violent murder of their mother, their father can't stay in one place for long, haunted by the literal ghosts of the past. He has what he calls "the Whisperings," and will do anything to protect his children from the horrors that torment him.

When the family moves to Burlington, Vermont, Joana thinks they've finally found a place to call home. They rent the lower half of a creepy yet comfortable mansion downtown, and Joana actually begins to fit in at school, thanks in part to Willem, a handsome (and single) classmate.

But a near-death experience awakens the Whisperings in Joana, and she soon realizes her family isn't the only family living in the house. She meets the Keils - ghosts forced to relive their own gruesome murders every night. As they say, misery loves company . . . and suddenly, Joana is forced to protect the ones closest to her from a supernatural threat, in this horrifying haunted house story for teen readers.
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The Whisperings
Burn Our Bodies Down meets Delicious Monsters in this terrifying new young adult horror by acclaimed master of the macabre Joel A. Sutherland.

Joana and her younger brother Peter aren't used to setting down roots. Ever since the violent murder of their mother, their father can't stay in one place for long, haunted by the literal ghosts of the past. He has what he calls "the Whisperings," and will do anything to protect his children from the horrors that torment him.

When the family moves to Burlington, Vermont, Joana thinks they've finally found a place to call home. They rent the lower half of a creepy yet comfortable mansion downtown, and Joana actually begins to fit in at school, thanks in part to Willem, a handsome (and single) classmate.

But a near-death experience awakens the Whisperings in Joana, and she soon realizes her family isn't the only family living in the house. She meets the Keils - ghosts forced to relive their own gruesome murders every night. As they say, misery loves company . . . and suddenly, Joana is forced to protect the ones closest to her from a supernatural threat, in this horrifying haunted house story for teen readers.
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The Whisperings

The Whisperings

by Joel A. Sutherland

Narrated by Julia Schwartz

Unabridged — 9 hours, 50 minutes

The Whisperings

The Whisperings

by Joel A. Sutherland

Narrated by Julia Schwartz

Unabridged — 9 hours, 50 minutes

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Overview

Burn Our Bodies Down meets Delicious Monsters in this terrifying new young adult horror by acclaimed master of the macabre Joel A. Sutherland.

Joana and her younger brother Peter aren't used to setting down roots. Ever since the violent murder of their mother, their father can't stay in one place for long, haunted by the literal ghosts of the past. He has what he calls "the Whisperings," and will do anything to protect his children from the horrors that torment him.

When the family moves to Burlington, Vermont, Joana thinks they've finally found a place to call home. They rent the lower half of a creepy yet comfortable mansion downtown, and Joana actually begins to fit in at school, thanks in part to Willem, a handsome (and single) classmate.

But a near-death experience awakens the Whisperings in Joana, and she soon realizes her family isn't the only family living in the house. She meets the Keils - ghosts forced to relive their own gruesome murders every night. As they say, misery loves company . . . and suddenly, Joana is forced to protect the ones closest to her from a supernatural threat, in this horrifying haunted house story for teen readers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"The story is marked by an eerie sense of unreality, as hallucinations and dreams interweave with very real danger . . . A spooky tale of family trauma." Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

2025-05-30
Haunted families find peace.

Seventeen-year-old Joana Guest is used to feeling like an outsider. Her itinerant father, Jack, moves her and her 13-year-old brother, Peter, around the cities and towns of Vermont, staying in each place for just a short time before they pick up and go again. Jack is plagued by what he calls the Whisperings—voices that only he can hear and that seem to threaten his family. Lured by the prospect of steady handyman work for Jack, the small family moves into the basement of a decrepit Victorian mansion in Burlington that’s owned by the slightly batty Mrs. Cracknell. But they soon learn that the house is as infested with ghosts as their own lives are. Joana begins seeing things, including the spirit of her late mother, who was murdered, and after she suffers a head injury, her father’s ability to see and hear the Whisperings transfers to her. The “ta-tump” of Joana’s heartbeat, mimicked by the tapping of the deathwatch beetles living in the walls of the Guests’ new home, is a recurring motif. The family has to unravel the mystery of the house’s violent past, as well as resolve the unfinished business from their own tragedy. The story is marked by an eerie sense of unreality, as hallucinations and dreams interweave with very real danger, and the on-page gore outweighs more emotionally wrought scares. Most characters are cued white.

A spooky tale of family trauma. (author’s note)(Horror. 14-18)

Product Details

BN ID: 2940193406075
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publication date: 08/05/2025
Edition description: Unabridged
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