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About The Book 📚

Title: The Whistler

Author: Nick Medina

Publication Date: Sep 16, 2025

Publisher: Berkley

Genre: Mystery, Fantasy, Horror, Historical Fiction, Literary, Multicultural

Pages: 368

Three Words That Describe This Book: ghosts, resilience, truth

The author provided a content warning at the beginning of the book. “The Whistler includes examples of ableism, body horror, blood and gore depictions, loss of autonomy, paralysis, and grief and loss depictions. Please read with your best interest in mind.”

Preorder The Whistler HERE

About The Author

“Born in Chicago, Illinois, Nick Medina has gone in search of Resurrection Mary, the “Italian Bride,” the “Devil Baby,” and other Windy City ghosts. An enthusiast of local and Native lore, his novels, Sisters of the Lost Nation, which earned a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection Award, and Indian Burial Ground, feature supernatural myths and legends. He enjoys ghost stories, playing guitar, physical fitness, and spending time with family.” https://www.nickmedina.net/about

Events: https://www.nickmedina.net/events

My Review

› Nick Medina’s newest novel is a mysterious horror called The Whistler. After enjoying Sisters of a Lost Nation I was happy to receive an advance copy of Medina’s newest book, and now I need to go back and read his second.

› There are connections to Medina’s second novel, Indian Burial Ground. He has said all of his books are related, but they are also standalone novels. In the afterward, Medina thanks the many people who helped him write a book with a disabled main character named Henry. I’m not in a wheelchair, and I appreciate all the details that Medina included in the story, especially all the things I never thought about before. I’m grateful to the people who shared their lives with Medina so he could create an authentic character that felt so well-developed. One of my favourite characters is Rhett, who is also in a wheelchair and acted as a mentor to Henry as he was struggling with the adjustment. I’d love to have another story that features Rhett.

“Acknowledging fear is the first step,” Rhett says.
“What’s the second?”
“Acknowledging everything you’re afraid of.”

› The prologue had me hooked! Jackie smudged the glass while looking out the window, worried about having to go take the laundry off the line. It was getting dark, and she was creeped out. She ventures out, but things quickly turn bad after she hears a whistle.

“Never whistle at night, he whispered. Don’t you know that it attracts bad things? Bad spirits. Evil that attaches itself to you.”

› The Whistler is told with two timelines. The first is Henry in the present, struggling to accept his new reality as a paraplegic, his dreams of becoming a famous ghost hunter on hold, and his relationship with his girlfriend rocky. He’s lashing out at his grandparents, Pawpaw Mac and Mawmaw Tilly, and is feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated.

› Then we get the past timeline of the events that led up to the accident that caused Henry’s paralysis. He leads a ghost-hunting trio with his girlfriend and best friend, Toad. They did a TV news interview and are getting tons of attention on their channel. Henry is loving all of the attention. Henry’s been hearing a creepy whistle at the strangest times, and his girlfriend Jade keeps telling him she feels like she’s being watched ever since they did that ghost hunting trip at Jackie Cadow’s house.

› We also have a story-within-a-story of “The Boy With Two Faces”, a traditional Takoda Tribe tale recorded by Miss Shelby Mire in 1986 (I believe this character was in Sister of the Lost Nation.

“His father nodded but still he said, ‘One hundred lies are no worse than one. You see, my son, lies leave holes that cannot be filled. The more you lie, the more everyone will see straight through you.'”

› I enjoyed all the great songs quoted throughout the book. There’s not a ton of horror, but some parts were so creepy that I didn’t want to read it before bed. I think this could make a great adaptation, or even a series that includes the characters from Medina’s other novels, Sisters of a Lost Nation and Indian Burial Ground.

› Some of the characters are well-developed, but I wanted more backstory and description for Jade and Toad. I searched through the book and did not find a scene where a female character speaks to another woman about something other than a man, so this book fails the Bechdel Test. This may differ in the final copy. If you know of a scene, please let me know in the comments, and I will edit this post.

› The setting and world-building are well done, and I loved the creepy atmosphere. Medina’s writing is engaging with high readability. The chapter length keeps the pages turning, and switching between timelines effectively builds suspense. Although it has a slow pace, The Whistler has an engaging plot; however, I did find the ending a little confusing.

APPEAL FACTORS
Storyline: character-driven
Pace: slow
Tone: angsty, heartwrenching, moody, mystical, reflective, suspenseful, thought-provoking, dark, informative, mysterious, creepy, haunting
Humour: offbeat, sarcastic
Writing Style: conversational
Character: authentic, awkward, brooding, complex, flawed, likeable, relatable, sarcastic, strong female, unlikeable, well-developed, diverse
Disability representation: physically disabled
Racial Representation: Indigenous

Read Alikes:
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A Perfect Likeness by Richard Wagamese
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Out There Screaming by Jordan Peele
Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

› In the past, I have given a rating out of ten and converted that to a star rating, but I’m no longer giving a star rating here on my blog. I will continue to do that on Goodreads and The Story Graph.

› Final Thoughts
• The Whistler is a powerful story about hardship, grief, loss, resilience, friendship, and truth. The horrors of the cultural lore and ghosts are nothing compared to the discrimination that indigenous and disabled people face. This is an unforgettable story, and I can’t wait to read what Medina publishes next.

 Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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