Whisper to Me by Nick Lake (review)

Cassie has a lot of explaining to do to the guy whose heart she broke during her traumatic summer. In a long email to him, she tells the story, starting with her finding a severed foot that belonged to one of the prostitutes killed by a serial murderer. That event triggers the emergence of a voice only she can hear that tells her to hurt herself. Convinced that it is the voice of the murdered woman, she thinks that if she can find the killer, all will be well. Instead, she ends up in the hospital, where she meets a kind, effervescent fellow patient named Paris who helps her find a therapist who might diminish her voice’s hold. When Paris disappears, Cassie has to finally come to terms with the real source, power, and meaning of the voice. All of this transpires while she is falling in love with a boy who is renting the apartment over her garage, the boy to whom she’s trying to explain everything. Cassie’s story is completely absorbing, and her stylish, lyrical voice, sparked throughout with moments of self-abnegating wit and moving allusions to classical myth, creates an intimacy that puts readers utterly on her side. The romance is almost extraneous to what’s really going on here, which is a fascinating exploration of the possible residues of trauma and the painstaking work of recovery required when a mind turns against itself.