Skip to main content

No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

Cynthia glanced about for a note. Her mom was big about leaving notes when she had to go out. Even when she was angry. A long enough note to say, "On your own today," or "Make yourself some eggs, have to drive Todd," or just "Back later." If she was really angry, instead of signing off with "Love, Mom," she'd write "L, Mom." There was no note.
from page 5, No Time For Goodbye

Whoa. That's what I thought when I finished reading No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay. The story is one wild ride starting from the first chapter as it careens around some dark twists in its complicated plot.

Twenty-five years ago Cynthia woke up one morning to an empty house--her parents and her older brother were gone. Her family has vanished without a trace, and the police have no leads and no explanations; there isn't a shred of evidence that points toward one theory or another. Cynthia is left the only survivor. The mystery of her family's disappearance remains unsolved until a 48 Hours Mystery type TV show features Cynthia's story in hopes of dredging up some new leads. Instead it dredges up the lies and betrayals of the past that some people will continue to kill for in order to keep them hidden. In time an even more disturbing explanation is revealed, and the only thing for certain is that not all involved in the plot will survive the aftermath of its reveal.

Barclay is a master at spinning fast action and development at breakneck speed. You'll pick up this book and won't put it down until all the secrets and mysteries have been revealed. And by the end of the book they are all neatly explained--and the answers are disturbing. Barclay lacks in his character dialogue; at times it's stilted and slightly awkward. Sometimes the narrator does some unbelievable and dangerous things that I can only hope don't come back to bite him in the butt later in the book. These are naive civilian characters who insist on tracking down what turn out to be very dangerous criminals rather than let the police do what they're paid to do. But then if it had been left to police, we wouldn't have this book.

I recommend you check this book out for a great summer read. It is available upon request from Annville Free Library, Lebanon Community Library and Palmyra Public Library.


--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In The Woods by Tana French

"What I warn you to remember is that I am a detective. Our relationship with the truth is fundamental, but cracked, refracting confusingly like fragmented glass. It is the core of our careers, the endgame of every move we make, and we pursue it with strategies painstakingly constructed of lies ... and every variation on deception. The truth is the most desirable woman in the world and we are the most jealous lovers, reflexively denying anyone else the slightest glimpse of her. We betray her routinely ... This is my job ... What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this--two things: I crave truth. And I lie." opening lines of In The Woods chapter 1, pages 3-4 In The Woods by Tana French, an Irish writer, is an extremely well-written and well-crafted mystery novel. The downside is that this is French's debut novel, and her website (located at http://www.tanafrench.com/ ) does not off...
24 comments
Read more

Broken by Karin Slaughter

Before I begin the formal review there are a few things I need to get off my chest in the wake of finishing this book; I'll do so without giving away too many (or any) spoilers. The OUTRAGE!: the identity of Detective Lena Adams' new beau; the low depths to which Grant County's interim chief has sunk and brought the police force down with him; agent Will Trent's wife, Angie's, sixth sense/nasty habit of reappearing in his life just when he's slipping away from her. Thank God for small miracles though because while Angie was certainly referred to during the book, the broad didn't make an appearance. One sign that I've become way too invested in these characters is that I'd like to employ John Connolly's odd pair of assassins, Louis and Angel, to contract out a hit on Angie; do you think Karin Slaughter and John Connolly could work out a special cross over? Hallelujah: Dr. Sara Linton and agent Will Trent are both back. There is no hallelujah fo...
3 comments
Read more

Generation Kill by Evan Wright and One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick

Non-fiction books aren't really my thing; generally, this is how my relationship goes with non-fiction books: I see a really interesting one, I borrow it, I start to read it, and then I ditch it a chapter or two later when the dry, boring writing and non-existent plot fail to hook me. However, this a review of two non-fiction books that I read back to back after a five year old three article series that I dug up on the internet; it was written by Evan Wright and preceded his book Generation Kill , which is basically a book version of the article series that he wrote and published in Rolling Stone Magazine . Recently HBO adapted Generation Kill into a mini-series that ran sometime last year; I got the series on DVD and in the midst of watching it, I decided I wanted to get my hands on the book to read. In the meantime, I stumbled across One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick, the lieutenant of the platoon that Wright embedded with, and I read that book while I waited for Generation K...
1 comment
Read more