Product Description
It was the summer on Vliet Street when we all started locking our doors...

Sally O'Malley made a promise to her daddy before he died. She swore she'd look after her sister, Troo. Keep her safe. But like her Granny always said-actions speak louder than words. Now, during the summer of 1959, the girls' mother is hospitalized, their stepfather has abandoned them for a six pack, and their big sister, Nell, is too busy making out with her boyfriend to notice that Sally and Troo are on the Loose. And so is a murderer and molester.

Highly imaginative Sally is pretty sure of two things. Who the killer is. And that she's next on his list. Now she has no choice but to protect herself and Troo as best she can, relying on her own courage and the kindness of her neighbors.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 66 reviews)

Used to being on their own...

Ten-year-old Sally O'Malley and her nine-year-old sister Troo are living a summer they'll never forget -- their mother's in the hospital, leaving them with their abusive stepfather, and an older sister more concerned with her boyfriend than taking care of the family.

Then, of course, there's the pedophile running around, already having murdered and raped two little girls.

Sally, long accused of having an overactive imagination, is convinced she'll be the next victim. She's also positive she knows who the killer is -- Officer Rasmussen, a longtime family friend and neighbor, whom everyone else thinks is the ideal person.

Knowing no one will believe her "evidence," Sally decides, with a child's determination, to take matters into her own hands -- a choice that could prove deadly.

Kagan combines a child's innocence and the very different life of 1959 with a darkness that exists just beyond every doorstep, and has existed since the beginning of time. Despite the potential for a very dark story, she also manages to include a great deal of humor, as well as details of life during the era, providing for a colorful story that is bound to grip readers til the very end.

November 17, 2008

Classic

This book is right up there with To Kill A Mockingbird. It is destined, I'm sure, to be a classic. What a delight to be transported to that time and place with such colorful characters. It would make a fabulous movie.
October 16, 2008

One of the finest books I have ever read . .

Happily surprised to find such a treasure. Mystery, comedy, coming of age, tender, frightening. Beyond well-written. A new classic. A definite classroom choice. Bravo to the author. Very glad I found this gem.
October 09, 2008

A view of the great resilience of children

I picked this book up yesterday around 4 o'clock and by 10pm I had finished it- take that as a testament to how immersive this book is.
Whistling in the Dark is the first work by Lesley Kagen; a general fiction book that looks at the resilience and courage of children. Elven year old Sally is the voice of the novel; her sister Troo (ten months younger) is her constant companion. The girls have lost their Daddy recently and now their Mom is going to the hospital to take her gallbladder out but they fear she may not return. Troo and Sally are left under their Step father Hall & oldest Sister Nelly's care but Hall would rather drink and Nelly is in love and preoccupied. The girls are left mostly to their own devices- horrifying to us now but the novel is set in 1959- a time when neighhborhoods were communities and everyone had an eye out for one another. The problem is that in the neighborhood there is a predator who murders & molests little girls.... Sally thinks that she knows who he is ... and that she is next.
This is the premise of the novel and frankly it's not a new idea and could have gone horribly wrong but it doesn't. The author does a beautiful job of making her characters come to life from the most minor (story-wise) folks in the neighborhood all the way done to the girls. The voice of Sally is very realistic and impressive. While there are dark themes and horrible things occurring they do not overpower the story at all. The girls transcend this in that beautiful resiliant way children do and this is so well portrayed that is more a book of hope & light than anything else.
I loved, loved, loved this book so very much...the characters in the book were so real and dear to me that I wish I could go live with them and I also wish I had read slower so I could have spent more time with them. I reccomend this novel to absolutely everyone!
October 02, 2008

Don't waste your time...

If I could give this book zero stars, I would. What some people have apparently found endearing, I found ridiculous-- the narrator is totally unbelievable and fluctuates between sounding 24 and sounding 6. The plotline is slow and difficult to follow given the "juvenile" writing styles. I am incredibly disappointed that I spent ANY money on this book. I plan on selling it back to a used bookstore as soon as possible. I am unable to finish it.... I don't want to waste any more of my time.
September 29, 2008

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