The Whisper Man

by Alex North

‘It was the boy in the floor.’

Around the time I first started planning The Whisper Man, my family moved into a new house. Not long afterwards, I was in the kitchen while my son was playing with his toys in the front room. As children do, he was talking to himself - or rather, talking through his toys, making stories with them. This was not unusual. But for some reason, I was curious. I walked to the doorway and leaned against the frame. "What are you doing?" I said. "Oh," he replied, without looking up. "I'm just playing with the boy in the floor." Which gave me a shiver. I've always been interested in the creepy things children can sometimes come out with, often without understanding the impact they can have on adults. Fortunately, that was the only ever mention of the boy in the floor, but my son's words gave me a thrill of a different kind too. Back then, all I really knew was that my book was going to be about a bereaved father and son. But right there, leaning against that door frame, I decided the boy in my story would have imaginary friends - and that some of them might be quite sinister...