Whispers
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| Whispers | |
 2001 Berkley paperback edition cover |
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| Author | Dean Koontz |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Thriller, Horror novel |
| Publisher | Putnam Publishing Group |
| Publication date | April, 1980 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 444 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-399-12351-2 |
Whispers is a novel by the best-selling author Dean Koontz, released in 1980.
[edit] Plot summary
Hilary Thomas is attacked by Bruno Frye. Hilary went to visit him on some business trip. When she gets home one day Bruno comes out of the closet and tries to rape her. They struggle and she puts a gun to him and lets him leave. When the police arrive there are two detectives with them. Tony Clemenza and Frank Howard are the detectives and Frank immediately doesn't believe the story of the rape Hilary told them, because they called Bruno Frye's household in Napa Valley and Bruno himself answered. Tony who took a liking to Hilary believes and tries to help her case, but Frank remains firm and they leave.
Later the next day Bruno comes back and is ready to kill her again. Now that her gun was confiscated for not being registered Hilary turns to a knife and takes it with her to a guest room in her house and sleeps there. In the morning when Hilary opens the bedroom door Bruno is there and he attacks her again. At this point Hilary takes the knife out of her bathrobe and stabs Bruno twice. Bruno runs away bleeding and dying. Bruno finds a payphone, which he used to call his home and then he died.
The detectives come again to Hilary's home and Frank apologizes for not agreeing with her and being a tad too harsh. When they leave Tony asks Hilary out and she agrees. A few days later Hilary goes out with Tony and again and again they go out.
Soon Tony and Frank are back on their previous case. After a little more investigating they enter the criminal's house to arrest him. The search the whole house, but when they do not find him and are ready to leave the criminal comes out from a cupboard high on PCP and shoots Frank. Tony goes after him and when the criminal attacks him Tony shoots and kills him. Frank dies minutes later from the wound in his gut. Tony goes home and Hilary comes to see him.
They make love and Hilary goes home to find her house trashed. While she is looking at her destroyed furniture Bruno comes out of the darkness and comes to attack her. How could he be alive? Hilary had seen his body at the morgue. The Tony came into the house rushing in because he had a premonition that something was going to happen to Hilary. Bruno fled from the house before Tony could see him. Hilary told Tony about what had happened and for a minute Tony didn't believe her just like the other cops at the scene. After Tony agrees with her that Bruno WAS there they leave together to go and investigate.
After a bit of investigating, they go to Bruno’s residing city and go to see his lawyer. All three of them then set out to Bruno’s psychologist who lets them listen to a tape that he recorded on Bruno’s previous appointments. Bruno talked about identical twins that were born with cauls on their faces. Bruno said that he read somewhere that this was the sign of the devil. The threesome left and went to see an elderly woman who was getting paid on a monthly basis from Bruno. When they got to her house they talked.
The woman said that when she was younger she owned a brothel where a man named Leo Frye would come regularly and paid good money to torture the women while he was having sex with them. She continued that Leo brought his daughter Katherine to the brothel to be cared for while she was pregnant so that no one would find out why she was pregnant. The story that Leo and Katherine would tell people was that she went to see an old friend and adopted her baby when he died because of some disease. In reality Leo molested Katherine regularly from when she was very young and now she was pregnant. Leo died before the child was born. When the child was born it turned out to be identical twins that looked exactly, in every aspect alike and sounded exactly alike too. The twins were also born with cauls on their faces.
Katherine was very quiet for a few days and when she started talking again she told the woman (the person who the threesome were currently listening to) that she was raped by a demon and described it with explicit detail. The money that Bruno was currently paying her was actually from her mother. When Katherine was raising the boys she raised them like they were one person. They were both called Bruno and were both rewarded and punished for all things. They were not allowed to say “he” to each other but “I.” They were one person. If a person can have multiple personalities, why can’t two people share one personality?
They left the old woman’s house and went to Bruno’s house where he awaited and attacked them. Tony killed him with a knife in Bruno’s back. The story ends soon after there.
