Customer Reviews

Never Look Away: A Thriller

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have read all of Linwood Barclay's back-list and I must say that this one is better than the last two and I'm relieved that he's pulled back a little with the unbelievable endings and returned to writing a taut mystery thriller that is both fast paced and suspenseful. I found both Fear the Worst: A Thriller and Too Close to Home: A Thriller to be just way too over the top and am glad that Barclay has returned to a style similar to the one used with what I consider to be my favorite of his novels, No Time for Goodbye. Yeah, all his books require a bit of suspension of disbelief at the scenarios, but the main character -- almost consistently a family man with a wife and child -- is usually a sympathetic protagonist and one whom you want to see get to the bottom of the mystery.

In this novel, newspaper reporter David Harwood is investigating what might be corruption with regard to a new privatized prison that is being hawked as the next best thing for the small town of Promise Falls, New York. He's married to Jan and they have a 4 year old son named Ethan. One day, while they're at an amusement park, one of them disappears!! David races from place to place to figure out what is going on and, although several subplots are brewing simultaneously, the energy and the narrative keep the reader glued to the pages. Even though the reader knows what is happening and why, it's a fun romp to the end.

If you like a good mystery thriller, you'll enjoy this one. Recommend.

Linwood Barclay excells are writing books in which the average middle class guy (a car salesman in Fear the Worst: A Thriller , a newspaper reporter in this book) has his whole life turned upside down and is thrust into a world of crime, violence and intrigue. His books remind me of the old-fashioned film noire style except these are quicker and have even more turns.

In "Never Look Away", David Harwood is a reporter with a wife, a son, two loving parents who babysit their son and a hot lead on signs of corruption in local government that will make an explosive story. Suddenly, his wife disappears at a local theme park and he is accused of causing her disappearance.

More problems pile on and the pressure makes David and his world crumble.

There is a point in which the reader says, "What? Even more happens to this guy?"

Does it get ridiculous?

Absolutely.

More importantly, does the story work?

Absolutely.

This is a real page turner. I found myself losing real chunks of time if I picked this book up during my morning routine. I was nearly late to work two days in a row because I had to keep reading a little bit more.

I look forward to the next one, Mr. Barclay.

David Harwood has been working on a story of Star Spangled Corrections, a privately run correctional corporation, wanting to build a prison in his town. David has records of payoffs of politicians but his editors delay in publishing it.

One day, David, his wife Jan, and their four year old son, Ethan, go to an amusement park. As they approach the front gate, Jan remembers something in the car and tells David she'll meet him inside. She never shows.

After alerting park officials and doing an extensive search, police are called in and after a bit begin to suspect that David did something to his wife.

Things are baffeling and the reader wonders how they could be. But the author is providing a cover for his clever plot.

David is a smypathetic character. His plight is tragic but we also witness what his wife is up to and wonder how a reporter like David can't see things more clearly. Jan is a true Machiavellian figure, out only for herself. She's totally unlikable but this is part of the author's intent so we feel worse for her husband.

The plot is magnificent. Barklay is like a master fisherman, casting lines in different spots and then reeling them back with a story that catches the reader's breath.

David Harwood is a newspaper reporter. He's been working on a story about a for profit prison being built in his small town. The editor keeps killing his story, even after he uncovers some shady dealings with local politicians. But he's really worried about his wife Jan. She's been acting oddly lately, saying disturbing things and just isn't her usual self. When she suggests a trip to an amusement park with their four year old son, he readily agrees, happy that she is acting more like herself.

What happens at the amusement park is the stuff of nightmares. And that's just the beginning...

And on that note, I absolutely refuse to give you any more of the plot! Suffice it to say, that Never Look Back had me on the edge of my seat. Barclay has crafted a non stop roller coaster of a plot, full of twists and turns that I never saw coming. The book starts off action packed and just never lets up. Barclay's foreshadowing had me reading just one more chapter long after the lights should have been out...

Have you read Linwood Barclay yet? If you're a suspense/thriller fan, than you will love this Canadian author!

If you're in the mood for a very fast-paced, edge-of-the-seat thriller, then Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay is for you. Once Barclay sets his hook in the reader, he/she won't stop twisting and turning in their seat until he reels you in with his (for the most part) surprising ending. Without going into detail and risk giving away anything important, Never Look Away is about how one man's world instantly turns upside down after what should be a pleasant trip with his family to a local amusement park in a small town in New York turns into a nightmare when first his young child disappears and then his wife. The characters in this book are interesting and pretty well-developed but the main thrust of this book is its plot, which has an above average share of twists and turns. In many ways Linwood Barclay reminds me of Harlan Coben, which for me is a good thing. Barclay, like Coben, has a strong ability to explore the hidden dangers lurking beneath the normalcy of everyday life. Never Look Away is a book I think you will enjoy a lot when you are looking for pure escape reading. Enjoy!

Although this book had an intriguing set-up, it wasn't very long before the plot lost its appeal. The first issue for me was authenticity: the characters just didn't seem real. It was strange they'd put their healthy four year old into a stroller and even more odd that he'd fall asleep after entering the amusement park. Why, I wondered, is no one concerned about this essentially passed-out kid? That for me was a real reality-buster. Other incongruities marred the read when no character in the book found them odd. I was interested to find out what was going on for the first fifty pages, but as more facts emerged I saw what the author was doing and figured out the most essential elements of the plot. From there on, the book plodded though its 'twists' and turns. It wasn't thrilling or surprising but rather contrived and almost preposterous seeming. I love a good thriller, but this was anything but that for me. The writing was competent but not at all compelling. The best parts were tidbits about the newspaper, the narrator's parents, and the beginning of the book before the flaws became apparent.

In Promise Falls, New York David Harwood is a reporter for the Standard. He has been married to Jan for five years and they have a four-year-old son, Ethan. They seem like the perfect American family. Recently David has become concerned about Jan. She tells him dark things that frighten him. Depressed all the time, Jan believes the two men in her life would be better off if she was not in their lives. Jan talks of suicide so a desperate David suggests she visit their doctor or perhaps a psychologist. She angrily yells at him no as she refuses medical treatment.

David investigates the opening of a private company run prison owned and operated by Star Spangled Corrections. Inmates will work to pay for their keep and bring the firm profits. David believes something is off kilter with the deal that CEO Elmont Sebastian has made with town leaders; enhanced by a warning not to write anything derogatory or scandalous while his editor at the Standard refuses to print his prison articles. The Harwood trio visits Five Mountains amusement park where first Ethan and then Jan vanish while a frantic David searches for them. Ethan is found, but Jan is not and the police suspect her husband of foul play.

This is an exhilarating psychological investigative thriller starring a near hysterical lead protagonist who becomes the target of an investigation as no one seems willing to help him. The story line is fast-paced while nicely set up so that the reader comprehends David's need to learn and expose wrong doing while also feeling how deep Jan's depression goes. From there the tale takes off once the family becomes separated at the amusement park. Fans of taut suspense will relish aptly titled Never Look Away.

Harriet Klausner

So if Stephen King liked it so much I figured it can't be that bad. He was right! From start to finish the story unfolds like a modern day Hitchcock movie. Regular guy gets into an unusual situation, kid goes missing at the amusement park, then it gets really interesting. Without giving away any twists and turns, the story is revealed mainly as the main character, David Harwood, discovers more and more about his wife's mysterious past. It's all believable really, no one is a superhero, no one is super smart, people make decisions and are guided by ambition and greed. In David's case he's driven by the fact he's being set up and wants his family back together again. So with his family in danger, the cops think he's the main suspect, and a shady prison developer all against him, how will David manage to get out of this one? Good question, and it's not answered until the final pages and even then there are not many winners at the end of this. Great read, fast paced, solid action. I hope they make it into a movie one day. I look forward to reading more of Linwood Barclay's other books. Enjoy!

This book was in many ways predictable and unbelievable, but I enjoyed going along for the ride. I got a little tired of twists (many of which I saw coming) and would have appreciated a bit more depth to the characters, but for a light, quick read, it was good. Not really a thriller and certainly not a deep book, but it kept my attention.

David Harwood is a small town journalist, looking forward to a day at an amusement park with his wife Jan and their four year old son Ethan. But this is not going to be the enjoyable visit David was planning for. First Ethan goes missing briefly, and then Jan disappears. David reports Jan's disappearance but there is no verifiable evidence that she was ever at the park. Is David attempting to cover up a murder? The more David searches, the less he realises he knows about Jan.

Just before Jan disappears, David gets a lead on a story about a controversial development on the outskirts of his town. The only problem is that his paper isn't interested in publishing the story, even though it would revive flagging sales. Can this somehow be related to Jan's disappearance? What is the truth, and where is Jan?

I found some elements of the story easy to predict and piece together. But by then I was caught up in David's search for the truth. Perhaps the most striking aspect of this story is the reminder that even innocuous everyday actions can be interpreted in different ways that can make good guys look bad. And the bad guys? They're mostly unbelievable.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith