Whisper (review)

Sisters Joy and Jessica have both inherited the family ability to Hear other people's secret desires, but the two girls have had decidedly different reactions to their supposed gift. Joy has spent much of her life trying to preemptively please nearly every one she encounters, while Jessica, aka Icka, uses her talent to poke viciously at other people's insecurities—that is, when she is not trying to ruin her sister's social life. As Joy approaches her fifteenth birthday, however, she is plagued by severe headaches, and with Jessica's warning, "You're about to turn into me," ringing in her ears, she wakes up one day to discover that she can only Hear people's negative thoughts. To make matters worse, Jessica has gone missing, and Joy is convinced that her older sister is about to take her own life to rid herself of the constant din of others' yearning. From the beginning, the premise is strained: Joy hears people's wants spelled out in full sentences, a ploy that even an unsophisticated reader would find a bit suspicious, and the longings tend to be easily fulfilled by Joy herself. A wobbly foundation gives way to choppy pacing that has most of the action packed into the final third of the novel while the first parts are primarily dedicated to Joy's simpering attempts to coddle everyone, from her sycophantic friends to her falsely cheerful mother. Fortunately, her ensuing identify crisis and the exploration of complicated family dynamics, especially after a few choice family secrets are revealed, make for a rather fascinating final act and a reunion scene that is nothing short of a tearjerker. Readers who can wade through the story's early flaws will find their hopes for a happy ending pleasantly fulfilled.