If you are looking for the ultimate book to read on Halloween night, look no further!

Welcome to the blog tour for Laurel Hightower’s Whispers in the Dark. This tale will give your goosebumps goosebumps! Follow along for exclusive content and a chance to win a signed copy (US only) or a digital copy in your preferred format (International)!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Rose McFarland is a trained killer–a Memphis S.W.A.T. sniper with a secret. Her team knows about the burn scars that lurk under her clothes, a legacy of the house fire that killed her father and brother sixteen years before. Her supervisors know that she spent two years in a rehabilitative facility, healing and learning to cope with the emotional trauma of the fire. But no one knows about the visions that drove her there, angry spirits that consumed her childhood, alienated her from her family and made her doubt her own sanity–the Whispers.

When Charlie Akers, a half-brother she never knew, ends up on the wrong side of Rose’s rifle, she unwittingly sets off a chain of events that puts her family in the middle of increasingly dangerous paranormal visitations. Charlie won’t stay dead, and soon ghosts from Rose’s past are creeping back into her life. People she’s killed in the line of duty, family she thought long buried, every one of them under the influence of Rose’s greatest fear, the Whispers themselves.

As the walls between our world and the world of the dead grow thin, Rose will have to face her old nightmares to stop the Whispers from breaking free. If she can’t, it won’t just be Memphis that falls to the dead–there will be no safe place left on earth for the living.

MY REVIEW

Wow!! What a remarkable debut novel from Laurel Hightower. I’m pleasantly and thoroughly exhausted by this ghostly paranormal horror story.

When a skilled and scarred tactical officer finds a paranormal familial connection between a perp she gunned down, she is thrown into the chaos of her ravaged childhood that will consume her family if she doesn’t let the Whispers in.

My childhood memories were a collage of creeping ghosts, my father screaming at me, a Bible in his hand. Being thrown down the cellar stairs, getting locked in with the things that haunted me. Freezing baths, hours spent outside in the cold, days spent without food and sleep, doors locked to trap me with my own nightmares. Funny how none of it seemed to scour my soul enough to get rid of the ghosts.

I loved the badass female protagonist and the strong, decent men in her life. The characters are realistic with flaws, fears, and strengths that are revealed so well throughout the story. 

The suspense is chilling and accelerates to an explosive conclusion which had me gritting my teeth fully enthralled in the eery world of ghosts and evil.

This fast-paced horror story grabbed me from the beginning and wouldn’t let go until the very last word. Ms. Hightower is sure to gain a huge following with her exceptional writing style and strong characters. One of the best books I have read this year!

Thank you to Ms. Hightower for giving me the opportunity to review this book without expectation of a positive review.

EXCERPT

Sam was trying to get to him, but as soon as Tommy was touched, the humming increased in pitch and his head began to whip back and forth.

I met Sam’s wide-eyed gaze. “What’s wrong with him? Is he having a seizure?”

“I don’t know. I got Lily moved over, and by the time I came back for Tommy, he was like this—he won’t let me touch him.”

“Tommy? Tommy, can you hear me?”

There was no response, but he began drumming his heels against the seat. I reached through and grabbed his shoulders, prepared to pull him out by force, when his small hand clamped on my wrist in an impossibly strong grip.

“Rooooose…” he crooned, in a voice that did not belong to my little boy.

I froze and looked at him. His little body had stilled, and he was watching me from eyes that had darkened to black. His rictus grin matched the look I’d seen on Charlie Akers, but it was so much worse twisting my son’s sweet face.

“The door’s open. He’s ours now, little Rosebud, and so are you.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laurel Hightower grew up in Kentucky, attending college in California and Tennessee before returning home to horse country, where she lives with her husband, son and two rescue animals, Yattering the cat (named for the Clive Barker short story) and Ladybug the adorable mutt. She definitely wants to see a picture of your dog, and often bonds with complete strangers over animal stories. A lifetime reader, she would raid her parents’ bookshelves from an early age, resulting in a number of awkward conversations about things like, “what does getting laid mean?” She loves discovering new favorite authors, and supporting the writing and reading community.

Laurel works as a paralegal in a mid-size firm, wrangling litigators by day and writing at night. A bourbon and beer girl, she’s a fan of horror movies and true life ghost stories. Whispers in the Dark is her first novel, though there are always more in the pipeline, and she loves researching anything horror related. She can usually be found working on the next project into the wee hours, sometimes as late as ten at night, as long as her toddler allows. Follow her on social media, even though she’s really bad at it, and she’ll follow you back. Plus you’ll be rewarded by pictures of cute dogs and kids.

Follow Laurel on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.