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Fresh from contesting Canada Reads 2025, MOTIVE festival favourite Linwood Barclay invites you to journey off familiar tracks and into uncharted territory with his chilling supernatural thriller, Whistle. This haunting tale centres on a mother and son whose fresh start in a small town derails into terror when they discover a mysterious train set with a mind of its own. In his trademark style, Barclay asks what you would do if your child’s innocent toy began to blur the boundaries between reality and nightmare?

Moderated by Janet Somerville.

Generously supported by The L’Heureux Family Foundation.

Whistle

“Terrific.”— Stephen King on Whistle New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay enters new territory with a supernatural chiller in which a woman and her young son move to a small town looking for a fresh start, only to be haunted by disturbing events and strange visions when they find a mysterious train set in a storage shed. Evil has a one track mind.... Annie Blunt has had an unimaginably terrible year. First, her husband was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, then one of the children’s books she’s built her writing and illustrating career on ignited a major scandal.

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Published by HarperCollins Canada

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Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty novels, and two thrillers for children. His books have been translated into more than two dozen languages.

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