The Whispering by L.A. Detwiler: A psychological thriller that loses sight of its inspiration

L.A. Detwiler’s The Whispering begins with the ingredients of an effective psychological thriller: an isolated manor overlooking the New England coast, a heroine whose perception of reality is open to question, and a fiancé whose promises of protection may conceal something more sinister. As Cadie McIntyre settles into Wright Manor with Oliver Wright, the doctor who once saved her life, the novel builds an atmosphere of suspicion that leaves readers questioning who poses the greatest threat. Unfortunately, although the premise has potential, the execution struggles to deliver a convincing psychological horror story.

The opening chapters establish an appealing tension. We know little about Cadie and Oliver’s relationship, including how long they have been together, but there are enough warning signs to make their arrangement feel uncomfortable from the start. Oliver has apparently faced accusations of some kind, though he dismisses them as rumors. Furthermore, the fact that he is engaged to a former patient is a huge red flag on its own. Cadie, meanwhile, has a history of mental health struggles that raises questions about the reliability of her first-person narration. Her fiancé’s insistence that she remain indoors because the outside world is dangerous only adds to the unease. Is Oliver protecting a vulnerable woman, or using her circumstances to justify controlling her?

Wright Manor provides an ideal setting for this conflict. Its remote location and oppressive atmosphere make it easy to understand why Cadie might initially welcome the promise of refuge, even as the house becomes increasingly threatening. When she spots a mysterious woman dressed in black near a shed on the property, accompanied by a menacing dog, the encounter introduces a supernatural possibility without immediately confirming it. Oliver insists she is seeing things, reinforcing his authority over her interpretation of events. His reassurances become another means of keeping her isolated, leaving Cadie with few people she can turn to for help.

The supernatural elements grow more pronounced when a ghostly woman in white appears inside the manor and the whispering begins. Cadie now has reason to fear the house itself, not just the restrictions imposed by Oliver. The story also introduces brief vignettes from the perspectives of other, unnamed figures, including someone referred to as “The Dame.” These passages suggest a connection to the Salem witch trials and the supposed curse attached to the land on which Wright Manor was built. The historical thread offers an intriguing possibility: perhaps the house has a long history of silencing women, and Cadie is simply the latest to suffer its consequences. As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that other women have occupied similarly precarious positions at Wright Manor. Whether Cadie will escape their fate becomes the central question.

Unfortunately, the novel never fully capitalizes on these elements. The mysterious figures, the house’s alleged curse, and the history of women trapped within its walls introduce several avenues for psychological and supernatural horror, but their relationship to one another never develops into a satisfying whole. The additional points of view raise questions about the manor’s past without establishing how those histories inform Cadie’s present. Rather than deepening the central mystery, these elements often make the story feel as though it is moving in several directions at once.

My biggest disappointment, however, is the novel’s connection to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, which the marketing identifies as an inspiration. The comparison sets up expectations for a story that examines women’s confinement and the ways their experiences can be dismissed by those who claim authority over them. Cadie’s circumstances seem suited to this premise. Oliver insists that she remain inside Wright Manor for her own protection, while her mental health history gives him a convenient reason to discredit her perceptions. His insistence that she is imagining things echoes the kind of gaslighting that plays a central role in Gilman’s classic story.

---

---

Yet the similarities remain largely superficial. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman explores how patriarchal authority and misguided medical treatment strip a woman of her autonomy. The narrator’s confinement is not simply a source of fear; it is central to the story’s critique of the social and medical attitudes that deny women control over their own lives. The Whispering borrows the broad premise of a woman whose mental health is used to justify her confinement, but it doesn’t develop those ideas with comparable purpose or insight. Instead, the narrative veers into supernatural territory without establishing a compelling connection between the haunting, the historical references, and its apparent interest in women’s vulnerability to controlling men. I came away feeling that the novel had borrowed the recognizable elements of Gilman’s story without fully understanding what made the original so powerful.

The writing compounds these problems. The prose leans heavily on melodrama, and Cadie’s behavior frequently feels dictated by the demands of the plot rather than by a consistent understanding of her character. A psychological thriller depends on readers believing that a protagonist’s reactions, even when irrational or unreliable, emerge from a recognizable emotional reality. Cadie’s decisions too often left me struggling to understand her reasoning, making it harder to invest in her predicament. An unreliable narrator can create compelling suspense, but the reader still needs a reason to care about her fate. Here, the characterization never gives the story the foundation it needs.

I wanted The Whispering to deliver on its promising setup. Wright Manor, with its dark history and increasingly sinister atmosphere, could have supported a gripping exploration of coercive control, medical authority, and the dangers of dismissing women’s accounts of their own experiences. The early chapters establish an effective sense of foreboding, and the possibility that Cadie is caught between a controlling fiancé and something supernatural offers plenty of material for a psychological thriller. However, the scattered narrative threads, melodramatic prose, and underdeveloped literary connection kept the novel from realizing that potential. Readers drawn in by the comparison to The Yellow Wallpaper may find the premise more compelling than the story built around it.

The Whispering by L.A. Detwiler releases November 3, 2026. Although the novel has an atmospheric setting and an intriguing starting point, its execution ultimately disappointed me. Have you read a modern retelling or reinterpretation of a classic story that failed to capture what made the original so effective? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Join the conversation

If you love books that stay with you—and enjoy thinking about them long after you’ve turned the final page—subscribe to get new literary analyses and writing tips from Write on the World!

Related Content

• 12 feminist horror novels to read this #Spooktober 2026 (Write on the World)
• 10 revenge thriller novels that will satisfy your need for women serving up justice to bad men (Write on the World)
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman on why she wrote The Yellow Wallpaper (Literary Hub)
• That pattern is so eww. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Kit Teguh on Medium)

Now available in print and on Kindle!

Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.

For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.