Whispers in the Mist
by Lisa AlberRating: 3.5 Stars
Whispers in the Mist is a crime thriller based in the small village of 'Lisfenora' in County Clare, Ireland.
The story takes place during the village's world famous matchmaking festival, (which Lisa Alber seems to have based on the actual festival held in Lisdoonnarva).
Alber does a great job in setting the suspense up early in this novel by introducing the Grey Man legend. The legend of Grey Man states that each time the fog rolls in and blankets the village, evil will run afoot.
Unfortunately the legend soon proves true with the discovery of a young man's body in the village pasture.
Soon after the first murder we meet one of the main characters Detective Sergeant Danny Ahern.
Like many other detectives in fiction, Danny is troubled, determined, and is struggling to deal with a breakdown in his marriage. However, when the first victim passes away in Danny's arms, we instantly know that he will pursue this real life Grey Man whatever it takes.
After the initial murder, the plot rapidly accelerates into a great part-thriller/part-psychological novel. The village characters are all really well rounded with my particular favourites being Gemma, Alan, and the dog Bijou. As many other reviewers have commented, Ireland is really the star of the book with excellent scenery descriptions throughout.
Additionally, throughout the story Alber keeps referring back to the Grey Man mystery and several of the book's characters are convinced that Danny is trying to arrest a supernatural being.
This is the second book in the County Clare series. The first in the series is called Kilmoon. Whilst the main plot of this story is totally separate from the first book in the series, I would really recommend reading Kilmoon first as most of the character relationships seemed to have been formed in that story.
Throughout the plot there are countless references to things that happened in the previous story, particularly between Danny and the Matchmaker's daughter Merritt.
Whispers in the Mist was a really good read, highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this story via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.
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