Never look away : a thriller (urspr publ 2010; utgåvan 2010)

Great book for the beach, the commute, etc. A wild ride, but the ending is a wee bit on the preposterous side, to put it kindly. Would have given it 5 stars if there had been better character insight/development of Jan, the wife. You get a hint, and her actions are fascinating, but Barclay doesn't delve deeply enough into what's going on in her battered psyche, or anyone else's psyche, for that matter. Too bad, the story's characters have a lot going on, and the story offers up quite a few mindsets that could use a good probing. ( )

A warm summer Saturday. An amusement park. David Harwood is glad to be spending some quality time with his wife and their four-year-old son. But what begins as a pleasant family outing turns into a nightmare after an inexplicable disappearance. A frantic search only leads to an even more shocking and harrowing turn of events. Until this terrifying moment, David Harwood is just a small-town reporter in need of a break. Now the only thing he cares about is restoring his family. Desperate for any clue, David dives into his own investigation—and into a web of lies and deceit. For with every new piece of evidence he uncovers, David finds more questions—and moves ever closer to a shattering truth.

I had previously read Broken Promise, which is the first in the Promise Falls series, but I always wondered what had happened to David Harwood's wife. So when my Aunty Veronica offered to lend me Never Look Away, I read the back of the book and jumped at the chance to read an earlier Linwood Barclay book about David and his wife, Jan.

As with all Linwood Barclay books, there are many twists and turns as we try to untangle the web that Linwood has woven. When Jan disappears, and the police start to look more closely at David I had no clue what on earth had happened. Thankfully, David is an investigative reporter so he won't stop until he finds out what has happened to Jan and he can clear his name.

David has a very close relationship with his son, Ethan, and it is clear that both his parents love him very much. Jan is able to demonstrate just how much she loves Ethan despite her mysterious disappearance.

The link with the past is a very good story and, although I guessed some of it, it was great to see it unravelling as all of Jan's secrets are finally revealed. There are some eye scrunching moments and gory scenes that ensure each page is turned as fast as possible.

It's fitting that the story starts at Five Mountains, the local amusement park, as this is a rollercoaster of a read by Linwood Barclay. It answers some of my questions after reading Broken Promise, but I'm slightly confused that Broken Promise is labelled as Promise Falls #1 as clearly it would be beneficial to read Never Look Away first. ( )

David and his wife, Jan, take their 4-year old son to an amusement park, when Jan disappears. There are a lot of things that just don't add up; the clues point to one thing, but David knows that's not what happened, and he needs to find out what did happen.

It was very good. Fast-paced and interesting; I also found the "background" story interesting (didn't mention it in my summary, but David is a journalist with a break on a story). There were a couple of things I figured out ahead of time, but I still really enjoyed the book overall. ( )

Pretty good thriller. There were a few spots I thought "really" but I enjoyed the pace and the story. ( )