Whisper of Death

DISCLAIMER: THIS BLOG REVIEW DEALS WITH THE TOPICS OF ABORTION, RAPE AND SUICIDE. IF THESE ARE AN ISSUE FOR YOU, THEN FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS ONE. 

It's tome to once again visit Christopher Pike. And on the road again by the look of things. Our last book was Road to Nowhere, but I'm guessing this book will at least be a road to somewhere. But given what this book entails, it's not a very comfortable road to go on. Let's talk about Whisper of Death. 

This is a great cover. Once again feeling very much like a horror movie cover. Particularly the hooded figure wanting to hitchhike I guess. What really sells it is the face with no eyes and very skeletal despite also having flesh. A super freaky image to get us interested and it's hard not to love it.

Roxanne "Rox" Wells tells begins to recap the events that led to her now essentially being in a dead world, devoid of humanity. It all started when she was with her boyfriend Paul "Pepper" Pointzel. He's a bit of a charmer, and woos Rox pretty quickly. They do the normal stuff on a date. See a movie, get something to eat, break into the high school lab and steal a telescope, the normal things. Rox lived with her father in a toxic/non-toxic depending on the situation relationship, while Pepper lived with his aunt and uncle on a farm. The two have sex in Pepper's barn and not long after, Rox is pregnant. Despite the excitement, she's scared of telling Pepper and her father. 

She eventually tells Pepper, but he doesn't quite react how she'd hoped, thinking she should get an abortion. This also kills much of those feelings she had for Pepper. We get Rox's take on the subject, which I think might be a bit of Pike's own feelings. She feels there's no right side to the argument. That the right to choose is wrong, yet killing an unborn infant is also wrong. But, regardless of her feelings on the subject, Rox decides to go through with it. As she undergoes the abortion, she thinks of a girl named Betty Sue McCormack who set herself on fire at a gas station and died. She only gets some shots to numb the pain, but the doctor leaves, with the procedure never being done.

Rox calls for the doctors or nurses, but nobody responds. Despite being dizzy from the shots, she returns to the reception room and to Pepper. She tells him that she's going to keep her baby regardless. But despite his feelings, he says that he'll still support her. They drive for their hometown of Salem, Arizona and pass by some female hitchhiker in a robe and hair that looked almost flaming. When Rox stops to check on the woman, she disappears. They stop at a gas station and things are weird. Nobody's there, and the cash register is open. Rox returns home and her father isn't there. Not only that, but the radio isn't giving off any signal. Nor the TV. She heads out and, much like everything else, there's no sign of anyone. As if they all just disappeared. Pepper shows up and relays the same at his place. It's almost like the whole world just suddenly died on them.

So, it's like the end of the world, though Pepper is skeptical about all of this. Rox and Pepper try to contact other people, but get no answer. But it's not just the two of them alone as another fellow student and Rox's former tutor, Stan Reese, shows up, just as confused as the other two about what's going on. He first noticed when he tried to use his shortwave radio to call his friends, but got no answer. And just like Rox's TV, there's nothing but static. Stan thinks that there might have been an electromagnetic pulse that killed all lines of communication, though it wouldn't explain the missing people. Or that the missing people may be why there's been no means of communication. Pepper thinks to leave town, but Stan says that it's smarter to check Salem first for any other survivors before trying to find out just how far this sudden vanishing went.

They head to the bank where Rox ends up shot in the leg. There's another survivor found, another fellow student named Helter Skater, or simply Helter Skelter because these teens lack creativity. He's also a bit notorious for causing trouble, usually involving violence. And here he is, with both a rifle and a pistol, robbing a bank while he has the ability to. They then run into another one of their former schoolmates, Leslie Belle, who was considered the hottest and most successful girl in school. The five talk some more and Stan begins to assume that maybe it's not everyone else that's disappeared, but the five of them and whoever's left has. Possibly they're in another dimension, something akin to the Bermuda Triangle. Leslie thinks it's all a dream, but nope, that's not it either.

Rox then recalls the hitchhiker she saw earlier who wore black and had bright red hair. Stan then recalls that Betty Sue McCormack also had red hair. The others seem to not be happy about talking about Betty Sue, seemingly for guilty reasons. Rox barely knew her, Helter thought she was a bitch, Leslie lived practically next door to her but they didn't get along too well due to her being into creepy stuff, Pepper knew her, and Stan considered her one of his best friends. Stan then suggests maybe Betty Sue faked her death, or some other explanation that would suggest why Rox saw her in the desert. Leslie suggests they drive around blaring their horns to see if there's any reaction, but nobody shows up. They then continue to see if they can find Betty Sue by going to her house. 

They find Betty Sue's diary which mentions a few names, former boyfriends and interests Sam Douglas and Steve Kindler and someone named Fat Freddy that used to be around when she was young, and then she ate him, which is confusing for now. She was also in a relationship once with Helter and with Pepper. So it confirms they were all connected to Betty Sue (less so Roxanne, but still). Then we get a short story from Betty Sue about a girl named Lati Ball who held a costume party. She served cake and wished to be better looking than the rest. So she blew the cake of twelve candles that caught fire because the cake was made of wood and in turn, Lati Ball caught fire as well. Oddly coincidental to Betty Sue's death.

Leslie panics and grabs the diary. She tears apart pages, then throws it in the oven to burn, but Pepper saves it in time. He grabs Leslie, but she manages to escape and run off. Rox catches her, confused as to why the story made Leslie panic, but she says that she won't divulge why, only that she knows that Betty Sue will come back. Then Leslie and Helter plan to leave, heading for Los Angeles. Stan mentions that he had an odd dream the night Betty Sue died. A similar situation of being in a world devoid of everyone but a strange shadow that follows him. So, now Rox, Pepper and Stan believe that whatever's happening must be connected to Betty Sue. Stan mentions that she wrote a lot, but her Lati Ball story seemed different than anything she wrote before.

Helter says his goodbyes to the other three before leaving and things seem to be on better terms with the four of them. Stan warns him not to leave given the foreboding presence currently happening. Suddenly, Leslie overfills the gas tank in the car, causing it to splash all over her. Her cigarette mixed with the fumes cause a giant explosion that destroys the car and engulfs Leslie in flames, killing her instantly. The other four manage to escape just in time. Stan says that this may have been what the story meant by Lati blowing out her candles.

So, now everyone but Pepper begin to suspect that maybe there was something strange about Betty Ann, that maybe she had powers. They talk about how Leslie was considered ugly until she began to hit puberty, which seems similar to Lati -wishing to look better. Stan mentions that he too seemed under Betty Sue's spell, often going to her place when even he didn't want to. She'd often put butterflies in jars for a while, then let them out before death. He returns to the similarities with Lati Ball and Leslie Belle, how their names sound alike, how the wish to be the best is similar to how she blossomed, the wooden cake representing the car catching fire, the candle being her cigarette, especially given Leslie just recently started smoking before, well, she literally started smoking. And now they wonder if Betty Sue wrote about the rest of them, and what their fates could be. If this is a world created by Betty Sue herself. So, now they have to find those missing pieces of diary that Leslie destroyed.

As they search for pieces, Rox sees someone in Betty Sue's house. The same figure with red hair. She goes inside, but finds nothing. As Pepper and Helter search for the figure, Stan gets enough pieces for the next story involving Helter and believes this meant that Helter had raped Betty Sue. Though they assume that she had controlled his mind to taunt him, but this led to an incident involving raping her. We get the story of Holt Skater who climbed a large wall with thorns on both sides. He ventured to far and started to go back, but the wall got narrower, ultimately causing him to fall, splitting into two from the wall. They have no idea what this means, but something bad is clearly in the works for Helter. Before they go to find Helter, Rox wonders what Pepper might have done to Betty Sue. 

They head into the school to find Betty Sue. Rox ends up in the showers where she recalls one of her few interactions with Betty Sue. She had given Rox a bar of soap with a baby's crying face carved into it. This is especially weird given that Rox recently found out she was pregnant and had kept it to herself. She also sees Betty Sue making a jar-like outline with red soap, then rubbing it on her belly. Rox snaps out of it after hearing a gunshot. Helter had accidentally shot himself and is now dying. The other three want to help him, but he would rather die given how bad the shot was. As the two boys leave, she asks Helter if he did rape Betty Sue. Helter says that she seemed to control his mind, and came that night to try to get them out, which led to the rape. Rox then takes the revolver and kills Helter.

Rox regroups with Stan and Pepper outside of the school. It's dark, but no stars, no moon. Just darkness. If they are in a world created by Betty Sue, it's one where she didn't make a night sky. They get more papers and Stan reads out the next story. A jester named Soda Radar is tasked by Queen Beetle to tell her a new story. So he just tells her a story from the past, and mentions a salt and pepper dinner. Queen Beetle sees his deceit and forces Soda Radar to stab himself in the heart, which he does. Stan heads to the drugstore to get something for a headache while Rox gets answers from Pepper about his relationship with Betty Sue. He says he never had sex with her, nor was he with her before being with Rox. Suddenly, Stan returns with the next day's paper, mentioning tragedy striking for five teenagers. Almost looking like a suicide pact of sorts. Leslie on fire, Helter shooting himself, Stan with his wrists slit, but no answers to what befell Paul or Roxanne. Perhaps Betty Sue hasn't written their fates.

So, to add to everything else, now they don't know if they're alive, dead, or in some sort of limbo. As Pepper heads off, Stan finally reveals his last interaction with Betty Sue. She revealed she was pregnant, though Stan has no idea who the father was. But when he arrived, he saw that she was already mid-abortion, covered in blood. Stan wanted to take her to the doctor, but she said she'd be fine, she plans to return, but needs to conduct some unfinished business. She has Stan get her pictures of Helter, Rox, Pepper, Leslie, and of himself, as if they were voodoo dolls. She also mentions something about making a giant butterfly jar, which he assumes means she's trapped them inside this town and like the butterflies are flying around until their inevitable deaths. He also knew of Rox's attempted abortion as it's the likely reason Betty Sue added her into the curse. 

Stan had given Betty Sue the pictures. He tried to talk to her, but she never answered him. He says that he was a smart kid, but he wasn't smart enough to not take the suggestions of Betty Sue. That's when Rox notices the pouring blood from Stan's wrists. He did exactly what Betty Sue had planned of him. Even though he was her friend, Betty Sue knew that he would probably tell the others what he knew, and that's why he had to go  as well. He asks Rox to put him in his bed like Betty Sue wanted, then dies in her arms. Pepper doesn't take this news well and wants to leave now more than ever, thinking if they can get out of Salem it will be out of her power. And also he's read the next story and he's going to die next.

The story reads of Salt and Pepper, a happy couple. They met Fat Freddy to meet Queen Beetle. She invites them for dinner, or more precisely as part of her dinner. In the haste, Pepper ends up stabbed by the queen. After the story, Rox begins to suspect things about Pepper, but doesn't mention just what yet. They take Stan and put him in his bed like he asked. They then begin to drive out of town, but a powerful wind storm makes it impossible. Sure enough, the jar is true and they're not going to be able to get out of town so easily. 

They head back to Pepper's barn and Rox asks again if Pepper had sex with Betty Sue. At first he denies it, then he reveals that it's true, and that he got her pregnant. He had sex with her before Rox and after. She shoves Pepper, sending him falling off the hayloft and into a pitchfork, just like the story. As he dies, he says that Rox really was his only love. She buries him in the hay, then heads to Betty Sue's house. She starts to write, believing that perhaps Betty Sue will kill her while she sleeps. Betty Sue then finally arrives, telling her to keep writing. Betty Sue says that she is  Rox's unborn child, the one she aborted. This all started when she had seen Rox and Pepper having sex, which destroyed her.

She also believes herself to be a storyteller, to be like God or the Devil. the creator of this world. She grabs a needle and says that in the real world, Rox is still on the operating table, but she is hemorrhaging and will die there. At that same time, Rox begins to feel a growing pain in her abdomen. Then Betty Sue stabs her with the needle.

We cut back to reality as Pepper has a lot on his mind. Rox being pregnant not long after he had gotten Betty Sue pregnant. The same Betty Sue who killed herself and their child who she dubbed salt. He then learns that something's wrong with Rox. So, in the actual timeframe, the doctors hadn't left that long. Still lucid, she hears Betty Sue's voice telling her to leave, that she and Pepper will once again return to an empty world. That Betty Sue will still haunt them, and change their fates however she sees fit. So she stays on the table and awaits her death. Pepper rushes into the room and sees Rox just as she dies. He blames himself, saying that his insistence on the abortion was her cause of death. 

Pepper drives home and sees a woman on the side of the road with red hair. He picks her up. She says her name is Beetle and she carries with her a cigarette, two bullets, a razor and a fork. He notices that she looks familiar.

Whisper of Death is definitely our darkest book so far and that's saying a lot given the previous two Christopher Pike books. And it comes with the fact that this book is a story about abortion. And in many ways trying to be a very messy book in how it presents abortion. Akin to Pike's own sense in a more centered take on the subject, not necessarily an "abortion bad" stance as much as it's a more "it's complicated" take. I've also read other reviews that do feel this book is very anti-sex, anti-women and I can see a bit of where they're coming from. In the end, the one who survives this story isn't Roxanne nor Betty Sue nor their unborn children, but Pepper, the one who is perhaps most at fault. He gets to drive away, though perhaps he too will meet his own fate by Beetle. 

I like the structure of this book. The almost "Left Behind" concept of the abandoned world, the concept of being trapped in a jar, and the only freedom is death, that itself trying to be an allegory for pregnancy and abortion. It makes for a creepy scenario. The idea of the stories are well done, giving us some gory imagery. And the deaths we do get from the story world are memorable. It's just that handling a lot of this idea with a story about abortion, especially with a very muddied ending, doesn't work as well as I think Pike hoped. Betty Sue makes for a great villain, but I don't think Pike ever really gives her or her allegory much time to work, at times the story's messy build making her feel like a forced villain instead of someone who is in need of that empathy she never truly got before her death, nor seemingly after. And while I don't think either were intended to feel trivial, it does feel like suicide and abortion are used as scare tactics instead of being used in a smart manner, muddied all the more by having Roxanne die. It's not that suicide or abortion can't be used as a narrative, but I don't feel that Pike's mindset helped to craft a strong story that centers around it.

I think this book's ultimate mileage will vary on your feelings on abortion. While there are things that bother me, I am pro-choice. So, that might be a reason a lot of this book didn't hit me in the ways that Pike intended. I think that the topic wasn't handled as well as it could, regardless of stance. And by the end, Pike's writing feels like it falls apart when he doesn't even seem to know how to fully present Betty Sue. All powerful creator of the narrative, or a mere vision of a dying woman. But, what we get in terms of scares do work, adding in the real life elements along with some truly nightmarish imagery. And its characters all work fine, each playing their role in the story in just the right way. Though it does make Helter and Leslie feel a little superfluous, especially once we add the whole concept of Helter being a rapist. That in itself feeling more like an attempt at shock value than a substantial part of the storytelling.

So, in the end, Whisper of Death works in a lot of ways and falters in others. As a horror story, it works well to create a gripping tale. As a message story, I think it doesn't hit on whatever point that Pike truly intended, and at times feels exploitive. So it ultimately feels like a book stuck in the middle. If Pike had fixed a lot of things I think its flaws would be less noticeable, but for what it is, I think this book is definitely a just fine book. Again, your stance on the topic will affect your mileage. Whisper of Death gets a B-.