Reviews: The Whisperer's Game (3)

Donato Carrisi is an author, screenwriter and director who first came to international prominence with his best seller and multiple prize winning title The Whisperer which was published in English in 2010. This introduced criminologist Mila Vasquez working with a profiler to discover the perpetrator of some ritualistic murders. Between penning other novels which he also screenwrote and directed, The Girl In The Fog and Into The Labyrinth, Carrisi has periodically returned to the series. The Whisperer’s Game marks the fourth instalment. I must admit that I have not yet read the earlier books in the series, although I have bought two of them, as I am keen to read the series as a whole. Fortunately Carrisi does reveal enough for The Whisperer’s Game to be enjoyed as a standalone. Having not read his earlier novels, I had expected a fairly conventional novel firmly rooted in the crime genre, yet to my surprise The Whisperer’s Game contains aspects of speculative and supernatural fiction as the story progresses.

Although penned by an Italian author, it is interesting to note that there is no specific Italian flavour to the novel. It’s as far removed from Andrea Camilleri as it can be! Most of the action takes place either in a major city or in remote countryside while the names of the characters suggest a wide range of origins without a specific location mentioned. Mila Vasquez is living in a very secluded area close to a lake and forested land where she lives alone with her young daughter. She has purposely almost disconnected herself from the entire world. While she has a medical condition known as alexithymia which give her a pathological lack of empathy she has managed to feel content with her life. Her daughter does seem happy with her slightly strange upbringing. Yet this is to change when she receives a visit from a senior member of the police hierarchy and is asked to help them with a case.

It is explained to Mila that the police received an emergency call from a distressed woman who has informed them that a stranger had appeared at their own distant location. Her husband has gone outside to try to persuade the intruder to leave. As she mentions concern for their two young children, the authorities decide make the way there. They are held up by a storm and arrive hours later to find a blood soaked house with visible signs of a struggle but no bodies anywhere in the vicinity. With no leads of their own to work on, the police then receive an tipoff about a man driving a vehicle which is believed to have been seen close to the apparent massacre. This man known as Enigma has been tracked down and arrested. Completely covered in tattoos of numbers, he has so far refused to talk to the authorities.

Although Mila had promised herself that she will never get involved in any more police investigations for the sake of her daughter, she does find herself intrigued enough to agree to return to the police headquarters for one day. Accompanied by a close colleague she finds that one day becomes two and so on… While it appears clear that she has the confidence of the superior officer, in contrast the other investigators are very sceptical and dubious of her input; particularly when she suggestions that Enigma is one of a very few people who can be described as a whisperer (as I understand it one have the ability to communicate unconsciously). When it is revealed to Mila that among the tattoos of numbers on Enigma’s body is her name, she reluctantly agrees to meet him under high security. When Mila does meet him, Enigma gives her a bizarre signal which she later realises is a clue to develop a lead.

Up to this stage, was engrossed by The Whisperer’s Game. It was edgy, unpredictable and I was enjoying the characterisations, particularly that of Mila Vasquez. The translation by Katherine Gregor is really very effective and there were never any times that I felt it was ambiguous. I really felt some of the scenes were exceptionally well done, particularly the encounter between Mila and Enigma which was very creepy. As the investigation into the family murder progresses, Mila discovers that her daughter is at risk. She then encounters a strange man who states he is in a similar position with a missing son. The book then bends genre to present a virtual reality to Mila – the clue to this is in the name of the book! Mila is told by the stranger that she required to enter an obsolete video game to discover the answers and save her daughter.

From that point on there are still periods of high tension, some cryptic clues and imagery and even some paranormal moments. This leads to some reflections back into her own life for Mila with. Sadly I did not feel quite as engaged with some of these sections of the story as I had done previously as the story was bit harder to follow. Having said that I did feel that the conclusion was very satisfying as all the threads were pulled together and dealt with in a very effective way. Overall I feel if giving the book a rating it would be five stars for the first half and three four the second, but I actually do feel I might have slightly done the author an injustice by doing so. This is part of the reason that I am very keen to read more by Carrisi and gain a sense from the start as to Mila Vasquez’s backstory. Overall this is definitely a story to read if you like less conventional crime fiction stories and are open to encounter a modicum of science fiction with it.

Having previously read thrillers and police procedural by Donato Carrisi I was looking forward to this new book. It started well and the scene was set for a fast paced thriller but then it entered the world of online games and virtual reality and the plot did not fully work for me as I wasn’t totally sure what was in real plot time or part of an online game.There was also a lot of characters with names that were pseudonyms and this added to my confusion . I finished the book but have to say it wasn’t one of the best but maybe I’m just too old for crime set in the world of online gaming ….

A woman calls the police because her husband is confronted by a stranger. When the police arrive the house is drenched in blood but there are no bodies. Following a tip-off the police rapidly arrest a man covered with tattoos of numbers and forensic evidence clearly links him to the crime. However, he refuses to say where the bodies are hidden; in fact he refuses to say anything. Mila, a former criminologist and profiler, is called back by the police in the hope that she can unlock the riddle. Reluctant to get dragged back into a world she hates, she nevertheless elicits some new evidence in the form of a grid reference. She also recognises that the man is a Whisperer, someone who can persuade others to carry out serious crimes including murder. The trail leads her to a dark web interactive game in which gamers can live out their wildest fantasies safely – or perhaps not so safely. When her ten year old daughter is kidnapped, Mila has no choice but to enter the game as an avatar of herself. Can she solve the enigma of the tattooed man’s identity, can she solve the murder which started the story, can she save her daughter? The plot, as they say, thickens.
I use that cliché partly because it reflects the somewhat patchy English used, and partly because the plot really does thicken, i.e. becomes denser (this isn’t meant to be a compliment). The book is translated from Italian and the English, although grammatically accurate, is somewhat stilted. It is also quite repetitive, particularly in “reintroducing” characters with whom we are already familiar and “the-story-so-far” summations. There are a number of occasions when Mila is in jeopardy, but they don’t create much tension. The Game is integral to the plot, but I have issues with both the technology aspects and the activity of the whisperer. Perhaps it is a problem of genre – is it trying too hard to be a police procedural, a psychological thriller and a Sci-Fi story? This is the fourth book featuring Mila, but that doesn’t cause any difficulty since there is minimal connection between them. The ending feels unsatisfactory, although this is partly because the author is clearly setting up for a sequel. Overall I was disappointed and felt that a good idea had got lost in the telling. I’m around 2.5 on this, which rounds to 3.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.