Carr, John Dickson - He Who Whispers (1946)

Review by Nick Fuller

5/5

'This case he was going to talk about was rather special and sensational…”

"It is about the influence of a certain woman on certain lives… Crime and the occult! These were the only hobbies for a man of taste!”

A triumph of plotting, misdirection, atmosphere, tension, and story-telling — certainly one of Carr's masterpieces. It begins with a flashback to France — grim, tense, atmospheric, and effectively terrifying, the reader sees the effect of the enigmatic Fay Seton upon the Brooke family, the tension before the storm, and the memorable impossible crime committed on top of a natural tower. As the narrative states, "To any person of imagination … this narrative of the stout little professor — its sounds and scents and rounded visual detail — had the reality of the living present". The atmosphere builds up, with ominous warnings against Fay Seton, whom the historian hero of the story, Miles Hammond, has employed as a librarian, until it is revealed that she is believed to be "undead … the drainer of bodies and killer of souls": a vampire. Following this revelation, the hero's sister nearly dies of fright in an empty room. Nobody could have walked outside the windows, and (horrible idea, this) someone was whispering to her in the dark (hence the splendid title). The solution is one of Carr's most dazzlingly ingenious (and frightening). The characterisation is superb, particularly Fay Seton, who has genuine tragedy and pathos. In short, despite the depressing ending, one of Carr's best.

Sometimes you go back and reread an old classic that really impressed you first time out and find the magic is gone. Fortunately, that didn't happen with He Who Whispers. Carr's eerie tale about the mysterious murder on top the ruined tower in prewar France that haunts a group of people in present-day, postwar England is considered by many fans today to be his single best work. I wouldn't put it quite at the very top, but it's certainly in the top ten.

As Doug Greene has pointed out, it effectively combines supernatural elements of his earlier work with the male-female emotional and sexual tension of his forties works. The tale is both thrilling and moving, with some greater character interest than usual. Indeed, the character interest is arguably the strongest element of the book. I would think many readers could deduce the identity of the culprit of the book's crimes (hey, I did), though the mechanism of the tower murder and its motive may well prove elusive. They are quite cleverly clued. Character interest is so strong here, I felt like the presence of Dr. Fell was not really needed, though he is pretty restrained here. Still, he takes me a bit out of the story. Other than that, there's hard to find much to criticize. A grand work.

The opening of the book, where the visiting Professor Rigaud tells the tale of the murder on the tower, and the closing section, which tales place in an evocatively portrayed blitzed London, in particular are spectacular set pieces. (For the record, no one says hoy or oi here, though someone -- not Dr. Fell -- does shout "for the love of Mike!")

Curt Evans.

See also: http://thepassingtramp.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/carr-talk-four-capsule-carr-reviews.html