I was drawn to this creepy, occult horror novel because it is based on the satanic panic of the 1980s. Twisty and unsettling from the beginning, the story grows darker as it progresses. And, like with most good horror stories, the scariest parts ultimately do not draw on the occult or supernatural elements, but instead on what people do to themselves and one another.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and Quirk Books for a review copy of this book!

Richard doesn’t have a past. He doesn’t celebrate birthdays. He is focused on his future, his new wife, and becoming a father to her son. Richard is a teacher, and when the school’s pet rabbit is found dead in what appears to be an animal sacrifice, he begins to wonder who knows about his past. Richard will be forced to confront the sins.



This story is told in two timelines, Richard in the present and Sean in the past. Sean is a five year old boy embroiled in a scandal very similar to the real life McMartin preschool trial. The teachers have been accused of worshipping Satan and using the students in rituals. Sean’s chapters are very disturbing. The way the child is integrated had me cringing constantly. I found both timelines engaging and disturbing.



Whisper Down the Lane is a slow burn horror that builds to an explosive conclusion. The beginning of the book sets the scene for the true horror to come. I definitely read the last half of this book with the lights on. No matter how disturbed I was, I couldn’t put it down.



This books has triggers. Animal death/torture are high on the list. I found the animal deaths in this book hard to read. They are important to the story, and not thrown in for shock value though.



If you are looking for a slow burn horror story that brings back the Satanic Panic of the 80’s check this one out April 2021. Wear your fitness tracker and let me know your heart rate for the last half of the book. Thank you to Netgalley and Quirk Books for my review copy.

This book takes tension to a new level. Sean Crenshaw is five years old when he makes up a story to please an adult. Unfortunately, that story is one of ritualistic satanic abuse at the hands of a teacher who in reality was completely innocent. Thirty years later Sean, now Richard, finally has to come to terms with the true extent of the damage he caused both to himself and to others.

This is a story of the satanic panic in the 1980's which was a very real event in America where shady psychologists, leading questions, and a totally unwarranted faith in memories recovered via hypnosis led to the trials and imprisonment of daycare workers, teachers, and school administrators. This panic turned into a witch hunt of monstrous proportions and spread quickly throughout the nation. The story relayed through the book is both tension-filled and terrifying as panic spreads throughout a community twice -- once in 1983 and once in the present. However, by keeping the anxiety at a high level throughout the entire book the reader is left so breathless by the end that the books ceases to be enjoyable to read.

This was not quite the occult horror novel I was expecting to read, but nevertheless I ended up really enjoying the story that I read. The early marketing compared this book to Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, but I would rather compare it to something like Night Swim by Meagan Golden, which discusses a controversial topic through the narrative structure of a thriller.

To be clear, this book is more about the satanic panic rather than Satan himself. The story has harm to animals in it's opening sequence, but there is very little beyond that. The story addresses how easily children can be manipulated to provide false testimony through leading questions and the terrible ramifications that result from those false allegations. I would describe this book as more topical than terrifying.

Told of multiple perspectives, I found both the present day and past timelines nearly equally engaging. Shaun was a cute protagonist, highlighting life in the 1980s while Richard's perspective gave an accurate description of the hurdles of both being a teacher and a stepfather. I thought it was rather obvious how the two perspectives were interconnected so there was not a lot of mystery there. Still I found the story to be very engaging. While fiction, this familiar narrative is very much inspired by true events. The ending was perhaps a bit underwhelming only because I knew exactly where the story was going, but I still enjoyed the journey.

I would recommend this one to both horror and thriller readers who are interested in a story that explores the moral complexities surrounding the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I won an ARC from Quirk Books through a Goodreads Giveaway. Alternating between 5 year old Sean in 1983 and school teacher Richard in 2013, this psychological thriller will have you intensely flipping the pages. The author self-proclaimed this book as satanic panic fan-fiction and it doesn’t disappoint. The safety and concern of parents in the 80’s and present, the innocence of children wanting to please adults, how a story changes during a game of “telephone,” the repercussions of childhood trauma are all explored in this story.

Overall, I could guess the ending for the most part – but that didn’t stop me from flipping pages and staying up late to finish this. Fans of Grady Hendrix will like the way this is written. It is horror while also being social commentary. I’m glad I won a copy.

I can recall living through some of the strange moments of the '80s like the sweeping Satanic Panic that gripped the country for awhile, and this novel encapsulates many of those moments quite well. From the media push, the outrageous claims, and the fear that anybody could be a Satan worshiper.

That's just one part of this story though, as the novel follows Sean, a five-year-old boy caught up in a Satanic cult story in the '80s and Richard, an elementary school art teacher finding himself in a frighteningly similar story.

As well as author Clay McLeod Chapman brings a reality to Sean's fictional Satanic cult story, he does an even more impressive job of documenting Richard's slowly shattering sanity as he deals with a Satanic themed attack on his character.

It's incredibly gripping, forcing you to turn each page as you search for the truth of the story. It all culminates in perfect horror film territory, bringing together fact and fiction to craft a terrifying story that could easily have been a warning to parents on any number of daytime talk shows during the '80s. You know this isn't real, but you'll find yourself realizing it could be far closer to truth than you're willing to admit.

As a self-proclaimed true crime buff, I knew I needed to read Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman. The book gives the satanic panic hysteria of the 80s and 90s a 21st century rewrite. In the story, we follow two plotlines: one set in 1983 and one in 2013. The former involves 5-year old Sean and the latter follows adult art teacher, Richard. Chapters move back-and-forth between the two timelines, but the story isn't difficult to follow.

In the acknowledgements of the book, the author makes a comment about it being satanic panic fan-fiction and that's exactly what it reads like. For those of us who lived through the 80s and 90s, the earlier of the two plotlines is eerily familiar, if somewhat exaggerated. Most Gen Xers and elder Millennials will remember stranger danger and the belief that anyone in a van could snatch us at any moment. The lax parenting of the 70s was widely overcompensated for in subsequent decades. This book explores that and the impact the fear of child-snatching satanic cultists had on communities.

There's an uncomfortable sense of foreboding woven throughout this novel. I could see where the dual plotlines were headed but I simply couldn't look away. The tense narrative kept me turning pages and staying up past my bedtime to read chapter after chapter. I found the behavior of certain characters to be confusing and infuriating, but I still wanted to see how things would turn out.

I would say that this is a successful piece of work and that I enjoyed reading it. I absolutely see myself recommending it to other horror/true crime fan folx like myself. The conclusion of the story required me to suspend my disbelief a little too much, but that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment.

I was so graciously sent this book by the publisher, who has published many books I've loved as well as one of my favorite authors. I'm a sucker for anything horror and anything that takes place in the 80s, so naturally, I was hooked from the start and am so grateful to have gotten the chance to read this gem early.