The Whisper Man Quotes
"Children are actually most at risk of harm and abuse from a family member behind closed doors."
"Most strangers are decent people, whereas the home can be the most dangerous place of all."
"The temperature had dropped and the air had a golden hue to it."
"Even the waste ground was beautiful, bathed in the amber light."
"Children have a habit of ignoring warning signs."
"Neil was walking slowly, unaware of the danger he was in."
"The most likely routes the boy would have taken had been identified."
"A child going missing always made him feel like this."
"If you leave a door half open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken."
"It’s just good advice. There are a lot of bad people in the world, after all."
"Despite the disparity in their ages, Pete would have bet he could outlift the younger man on every machine."
"Excitement was not only rare in police work, it was a bad thing."
"A child was missing, which meant that a child needed to be found."
"The worst thing was that I was sure that, although he would never talk to me about it, Jake remembered everything."
"Why couldn’t Jake be more like the other children? More normal?"
"At the time, I stood looking at a newly assembled bookcase, marveling at my industry."
"Houses creaked. It took a while to get used to them, that was all."
"After three-quarters of an hour, he was often surprised to discover his mind had been mercifully empty for most of it."
"He had been searching for these children for three months, and while he had always anticipated an outcome like this, he had never entirely given up hope."
"It felt like another failing on my part."
"If you play outside alone, soon you won’t be going home."
"If your window’s left unlatched, you’ll hear him tapping at the glass."
"If you’re lonely, sad, and blue, the Whisper Man will come for you."
I see." I folded my arms. "What can I do for you?
What a terrible shame," he said. "May I ask why?
"I don’t know for sure. But we might need to prepare ourselves for there being a reason for that."
"You’ve made Tabby cry," Owen said matter-of-factly.
"You always say that, and it isn’t fair!"
"That sounds fucking abominable," she said.
"Thanks. I’m not sure how well I’m coping either, to be honest. I’m never sure whether I’m being a good father or not. Whether I’m doing the best I can for him."
"Maybe it’s whether my best is good enough that’s the real question."
"Maybe you should stop being so hard on yourself."
"I was just fumbling through life the same as everyone else, wasn’t I? Trying to do my best."
"Walking through the empty rooms, I felt a sense of desperation—an urgent need to do something, even though I had no idea what."
"I miss you. I feel like I’m failing our son and I don’t know what to do."
"If my best wasn’t sufficient, then I’d have to get better."
"People can seem perfectly pleasant when you meet them."
"I had better offers, but money doesn’t matter to me these days."
"They paid their rent on time. They looked after the property well enough."
"He was trying to take my Packet of Special Things. I didn’t mean to hit him."
"Everyone should get to go home, don’t you think?"
"You can drink later. As much as you want."
"Thank you for this delightful apartment."
"Always easy to do that. Instead, he stood up, walked through to the kitchen, and poured it slowly away into the sink."
"He watched the liquid trailing away down the drain, and alongside the urge in his chest he thought about Jake again and felt something he hadn’t experienced in years. There was no reason to it. No sense. And yet there it was. Hope."
"The next morning, when I dropped Jake off at school, I was still quietly amazed by how well he’d adapted to our new circumstances."
"But the thing is, I’m not sure I’m ready to let you go yet."
"I’m not making excuses. I just wanted you to know that things were complicated. That I was. I’m sorry."
"You don’t want your mummy replaced, do you?"
"People have always been interested in this house."
"Even when we argue we still love each other very much."
"Because sometimes really bad things happen to us, and we don’t like to think about them, so they get buried really deep in our heads."
"A nightmare can never, ever hurt you. There’s nothing to be scared of."
"Sometimes it’s better just to go with them. What about Jake?"
"I love you, Jake. And I am going to find you."
"The first forty-eight hours after a child disappears are the most crucial."
"The day was dead and the night was cool."
"I hadn’t thought this through well enough."
"I’m not losing another child on my watch."
"If Peter can still hear, Carter had written, tell him thank you."
"Your daddy read that book to you when you were young," he said.
"There was nobody to help him here. No more than there had been anyone all those years ago."