Lesley Kagen, Whistling in the Dark

Whistling in the Dark

Lesley Kagen

NAL, May 2007, $13.95

ISBN: 0451221230

In 1959 in Milwaukee, ten-year-old Sally O'Malley believes that a child killer is coming for her and her younger sister Troo. She believes she has no one to keep her or Troo safe as their dad is dead, their mom is in the hospital, their stepfather is an alcoholic, and their older sister Nell is too involved with her boyfriend. Sally also feels that their neighbor, police officer David Rasmussen, killed Junie Piaskowski and Sara Heinemann because he has a picture of the former on his wall.

As she had vowed to her daddy on his deathbed, she will protect Troo at all costs. If that means dying, the frightened courageous Sally knows a promise is a promise. She and Troo begin their own brand of preadolescent investigation with the objective to prevent David from killing them. Sally will learn the truth, but it is a bigger shocker than if the cop was a homicidal pedophile.

This investigative, historical thriller is more a cautionary coming of age tale than an amateur sleuth pedophile serial killer chiller as the mystery is at best loose and used more to enable readers to better understand what Sally and Troo are thinking. Sally makes the storyline work as an every child in any time period vulnerable to predators. She needs to keep her deathbed vow to her daddy even if it means her death. Readers will obtain a feel for Milwaukee when the baseball Braves still played there, but it is the cleverly developed warning that children think differently that makes Lesley Kagen's tale a fine read.

Harriet Klausner