The Whistler, Nick Medina (Review by Stacey Lorenson)

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Native American, Henry Hotard, has lived on the Takoda Tribe reservation with his grandparents for most of his 23 years. Henry is learning to adapt to his new life as a quadriplegic. His girlfriend Jade and his best friend Toad do their best to accommodate him while he navigates his grief for his old life and the insecurities that plague this new life. Before his accident, Henry was a popular ghost hunter with a growing social media following. He had attracted the attention of Roddy, a local news reporter that broadcast a feature on Henry’s ghost hunting hobby. The Whistler began appearing to Henry shortly after.

The Whistler is based on a superstition about whistling at night which is prevalent in Native American cultures and proliferates other cultures worldwide. When Henry begins to have supernatural encounters that stalk his waking and nocturnal hours, he struggles to keep the secrets that led up to his accident and Roddy’s death, while trying to hang onto to what is left of his relationships with Jade and Toad. All while be haunted by the lore of the two-faced phantom that teach people a lesson about the face you see and the hidden face the wearer is hiding. Henry must choose between his pride and the truth to at arrive at a new beginning.

The Whistler is an ambitious spooky, sweat drenching horror-mystery. Medina has crafted heart-stopping prose that will have you imagining weird whistles and terror induced nightmares sure to disrupt a good night’s sleep. Fans of Medina will enjoy characters from Medina’s past novels as they make appearances in The Whistler throughout the story. As he does in all his novels, Medina explores social issues unique to Native Americans in addition to the challenges people with disabilities face. The Whistler will be available September 2025, making it an excellent Halloween read.