Whispering Wall (Soho Crime) [Paperback]

Patricia Carlon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003 | Series: Soho Crime

"This striking suspense story of an elderly woman living a dual nightmare delivers a subtle wallop".--SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. "This Australian psychodrama is not only an excruciatingly exact study in terror but a subtle lesson in the horrendous difficulties of communication".--THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This Australian psychological drama was first published in Britain in 1969. It describes the terror of a paralyzed stroke victim, Sarah Oatland, who cannot move or speak, but who overhears voices through the wall plotting a murder. Sarah manages at last to communicate her knowledge via eye-blinks to a young girl who visits. When the villains discover that she knows their plan, Sarah's life is in imminent danger, and the suspense and terror build. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Australian Carlon (The Souvenir) ratchets up the psychological suspense in this story of a victim who is unable to react to a gradually realized threat until pushed to the limit. Sarah Oatland, a well-to-do widow bedridden by a stroke, can't move or speak, but she can see, hear and think. She is tended by her greedy niece-in-law Gwenyth Oatland and a patronizing nurse, Cornelia Bragg. Gwenyth divides Sarah's house into three apartments, renting one to a single mother and her inquisitive 10-year-old daughter, Rose. Valma and Murray Phipps move into the rooms beneath Sarah's bedroom, where a vent in the wall allows her to overhear their conversations. With Sarah, we learn the Phippses plan to murder Valma's stepfather, former singing idol Roderick Palmer, and we experience Sarah's frustration at her helplessness. Rose discovers that Sarah can blink in response to questions; as their communication ends Sarah's isolation, the book subtly loses its claustrophobic tone. But the Phippses realize Sarah knows their plot and determine to kill her, too. With enormous effort, using letter games and Scrabble, Sarah attempts to warn Roderick. From her sure-handed establishing of Sarah's awareness and limitations to the dramatic climax, Carlon proves herself as masterful a wielder of suspense as Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine, and Margaret Millar.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 205 pages
• Publisher: Soho Crime (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569471118
• ISBN-13: 978-1569471111
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #137,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine character study, June 2, 2004

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Whispering Wall (Hardcover)

Australian writer Carlon's "The Whispering Wall," first published in Australia in 1969, is a claustrophobic tale of tension. Stroke victim Sarah Oatland is entirely paralyzed, able to move only her right eye, with difficulty. Although she can see and hear everything, no one has yet had the patience to notice she can respond.

Her impatient and greedy niece has parceled out Sarah's beloved house to tenants. But, as Sarah is angrily absorbing this outrage, she hears a murder plot through a trick of acoustics in the wall. And then a child, one of the new tenants, discovers Sarah can communicate in blinks.

The plot devices are a bit dated - relying on numerous hidden eavesdroppers and architectural devices - but Carlon's spare writing skillfully communicates the frustration and terror of Sarah's condition and the dilemmas she faces about communication, given her and her hearer's limitations. And along the way, she also learns something more about life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A stunning thriller, February 17, 2002

By 

"blissengine" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Whispering Wall (Soho Crime) (Paperback)

Sarah Oatland has had a severe stroke, which left her totally paralyzed and unable to speak. Her horrid niece rents out parts of Sarah's house to offset the costs of her care, and Sarah overhears two of the tenants plotting murder. She cannot speak or write or move, so how can she communicate? Through perseverance she starts communicating with a little girl who had the patience to wait for her to blink (once for yes, twice for no), but how can Sarah convey her message if the question is never asked? And after her secret slowly comes to light, her life is in danger as well because no one has the full information. This is a highly compelling thriller that is so unique. The reader is as frustrated as Sarah throughout the book as she struggles to communicate through simple eyeblinks. Such a miniscule amount of information can be conveyed this way! I could hardly put the book down with wondering how it would end!

5.0 out of 5 stars Good clean suspense, July 7, 2011

By 

Patto (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Whispering Wall (Soho Crime) (Paperback)

I've just discovered Patricia Carlon, and I'm thrilled. Carlon has a genius for torturing the reader with unrelenting, ever deepening sensations of suspense. Yet there's nothing gory or gross to disgust us in the plot. Just pure fright, liberally spiced with wit.

In The Whispering Wall, first published in 1969, the heroine is Sarah, a sixty-one year old woman paralyzed by a stroke. She can't move or speak and can just barely raise and lower her eyelids. A second heroine is eleven-year-old Rose, who eventually finds a way to communicate with Sarah.

During the day Sarah's nurse pushes her bed up to the window and against the chimney wall. What no one realizes is that voices from the room below are faintly projected up that wall. Sarah, though "laid out like a fish on a slab," in the words of her nurse, knows better than anyone what's going on in her house.

And in fact, horrible things are going on. A murder plot is afoot, and only the speechless, motionless Sarah can foil it.

Old Sarah with her blinking eye is one of the most engaging characters I've ever encountered in crime fiction. The author does a brilliant job of contrasting the liveliness of Sarah's mind with the helplessness of her body. Carlon herself was deaf from age eleven and lived a secluded life. This may explain her fascination with themes of isolation.

There's a good Afterword in this Soho Crime edition summarizing Carlon's life and her significant contribution to crime fiction.

Patricia Carlon was a British discovery. Her own country, Australia, ignored her for forty years before publishing her. Happily I found her among my Amazon's recommendations. Since Carlon has gone in and out of print over the decades, I intend to grab up all her mysteries without delay.