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jenniebridges's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
blood_rose_books's review
2.0
Linwood Barclay is an author known for his thrillers, and here Barclay delivers the mystery of a missing girl who no one seems to be able to explain why she is gone.
Tim is just an average guy, he sells Hondas during the day and takes care of his teenage daughter Sydney at night and he kind of gets along with his ex-wife’s boyfriend and his son Evan (even though he does not like the idea of Sydney and Evan living under the same roof). Things are peaceful and getting back to normal after the divorce. Then one day Sydney vanishes into thin air, there is nothing to say that she was abducted or just decided to run away, the trail is cold. Tim refuses to believe that Sydney would just disappear and spends most of his days and nights searching for his daughter, unaware that there is something more going on in his town, events and practices that people will kill to make sure they never comes to light.
I had really high expectations for this author, and maybe it is part of the hype that has surrounded him or even on the cover where it stated that Barclay was Canada’s best thriller author but I personally think that Barclay did not deliver as well as I wanted him to. The book is well written and has a good flow, despite the fact that I found there were points within the book that were slow. Approximately the first half of this book is very slow and it took about 250 pages for things to get interesting and have the plot begin to move along and the last 100 pages get really really interesting as everything comes to light. However, due to the fact that it took 250 pages to get me invested in this book I could see some readers putting the book down.
I will say that Barclay knows how to do mystery, I am not too sure about the thriller part (I never felt like I was on the edge of my seat while reading this book), but mystery is where Barclay excelled in this book. I was really intrigued about why Sydney was missing and whether it was on her own accord or if she was abducted. I think that Barclay does a good job of keeping the reader guessing as to what clue will be uncovered next in Tim's search for Sydney. However, a few of the clues or leads that were a bit predictable or went in the direction I thought they would and you have to wait for Tim to catch up. Nonetheless, Barclay did a good job of having Tim discover false or misleading information that kept Tim and reader guessing. Additionally, as you continue to read you realize that there is more than one mystery that is unfolding with the information that Tim is able to obtain and you have no idea how everything is going to intersect till the end.
Tim overall was an interesting character. You can feel his struggle to keep going on his search for Sydney even when there are no clues for him to follow. The constant midnight drives just searching for her, but knowing that he has to get up to work the next day to keep paying the bills so that Sydney will have a home to come back to. I think the best way to describe Tim is a dog with a bone; you just cannot take that type of drive away from a person who is willing to keep searching no matter what. Tim also develops new characteristics throughout the book and does things that he would question in any other circumstance, but this is about finding his daughter and he will do anything to achieve that. I think how Tim develops and changes throughout the book were realistic and part of his own personal survival instinct.
I thought this book was going to be a thriller, but I found for the most part it lacked the thrills I wanted. However, Barclay knows how to write a mystery novel, so I am not quite ready to write this book off yet. I think I will check out another Barclay book to see if it has more of the thriller feel to it. Let me know if there are any that you would recommend.
Enjoy!!!
Tim is just an average guy, he sells Hondas during the day and takes care of his teenage daughter Sydney at night and he kind of gets along with his ex-wife’s boyfriend and his son Evan (even though he does not like the idea of Sydney and Evan living under the same roof). Things are peaceful and getting back to normal after the divorce. Then one day Sydney vanishes into thin air, there is nothing to say that she was abducted or just decided to run away, the trail is cold. Tim refuses to believe that Sydney would just disappear and spends most of his days and nights searching for his daughter, unaware that there is something more going on in his town, events and practices that people will kill to make sure they never comes to light.
I had really high expectations for this author, and maybe it is part of the hype that has surrounded him or even on the cover where it stated that Barclay was Canada’s best thriller author but I personally think that Barclay did not deliver as well as I wanted him to. The book is well written and has a good flow, despite the fact that I found there were points within the book that were slow. Approximately the first half of this book is very slow and it took about 250 pages for things to get interesting and have the plot begin to move along and the last 100 pages get really really interesting as everything comes to light. However, due to the fact that it took 250 pages to get me invested in this book I could see some readers putting the book down.
I will say that Barclay knows how to do mystery, I am not too sure about the thriller part (I never felt like I was on the edge of my seat while reading this book), but mystery is where Barclay excelled in this book. I was really intrigued about why Sydney was missing and whether it was on her own accord or if she was abducted. I think that Barclay does a good job of keeping the reader guessing as to what clue will be uncovered next in Tim's search for Sydney. However, a few of the clues or leads that were a bit predictable or went in the direction I thought they would and you have to wait for Tim to catch up. Nonetheless, Barclay did a good job of having Tim discover false or misleading information that kept Tim and reader guessing. Additionally, as you continue to read you realize that there is more than one mystery that is unfolding with the information that Tim is able to obtain and you have no idea how everything is going to intersect till the end.
Tim overall was an interesting character. You can feel his struggle to keep going on his search for Sydney even when there are no clues for him to follow. The constant midnight drives just searching for her, but knowing that he has to get up to work the next day to keep paying the bills so that Sydney will have a home to come back to. I think the best way to describe Tim is a dog with a bone; you just cannot take that type of drive away from a person who is willing to keep searching no matter what. Tim also develops new characteristics throughout the book and does things that he would question in any other circumstance, but this is about finding his daughter and he will do anything to achieve that. I think how Tim develops and changes throughout the book were realistic and part of his own personal survival instinct.
I thought this book was going to be a thriller, but I found for the most part it lacked the thrills I wanted. However, Barclay knows how to write a mystery novel, so I am not quite ready to write this book off yet. I think I will check out another Barclay book to see if it has more of the thriller feel to it. Let me know if there are any that you would recommend.
Enjoy!!!
oxfordjrr's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
crowyhead's review
2.0
The premise of this book is an interesting one: what would you do if, as a loving parent, your teenage daughter disappeared one day? And, added to that, what if you went to her workplace and they told you she'd never worked there, and they had no idea who she was?
The beginning of the novel, when a father is in just this situation, is really quite good. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes overburdened with a growing cast of characters and dozens of convoluted occurences, and the end result was a thriller with which I just could not get engaged. I actually found myself caring more about the intricacies of selling cars (the father is a car salesman) that I was about the ultimate fate of the characters.
Even if the reader makes it through this novel and enjoys it most of the way, I doubt many will be particularly satisifed with the ending, which is very abrupt and leaves most aspects of the characters' fates completely up in the air. It's barely the false closure that an action movie like "Die Hard" gives us -- it's more like the author just couldn't face the idea of trying to things up in a realistic but satisfying way, choosing instead to just stop writing and give up.
The beginning of the novel, when a father is in just this situation, is really quite good. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes overburdened with a growing cast of characters and dozens of convoluted occurences, and the end result was a thriller with which I just could not get engaged. I actually found myself caring more about the intricacies of selling cars (the father is a car salesman) that I was about the ultimate fate of the characters.
Even if the reader makes it through this novel and enjoys it most of the way, I doubt many will be particularly satisifed with the ending, which is very abrupt and leaves most aspects of the characters' fates completely up in the air. It's barely the false closure that an action movie like "Die Hard" gives us -- it's more like the author just couldn't face the idea of trying to things up in a realistic but satisfying way, choosing instead to just stop writing and give up.
karensbookcorner's review against another edition
4.0
This is the second book by Linwood Barclay that I've read and just like the other book it's easy to read. But the ending was a letdown, it was quite abrupt and you are left wondering how the characters cope with the aftermath of the events in the book. But overall I would recommend this book!
hollyisveryepic's review against another edition
4.0
i thought this book would go all matrix when i first picked it up but it didn’t and tbh idk why i thought it would. good book but the main character is gonna have to do a ton of jail time after what happened
arkhamrazor's review against another edition
3.0
Not the best written book I've read but the story was pretty addictive due to all the twists and cliffhangers.
charliepritchard1996's review against another edition
4.0
Barclay’s third stand-alone novel was highly anticipated at the time, after he received sweeping five-star reviews for ‘No Time For Goodbye’ and ‘Too Close To Home’.
I was therefore very excited to get stuck into ‘Fear The Worst’ and was certainly not disappointed. The disappearance of Tim’s daughter Syd is naturally shrouded is mystery but the prevailing bitterness between him and Bob, his ex-wife’s partner, also adds to the mounting tension as we flick through the first chapters.
Barclay is brilliant at luring the reader in and absorbing you in the plot right from the beginning. Cleverly, he weaves the story together so that Tim arrives at the centre of the case when Syd’s best friend also goes missing. This leaves us dumbfounded and no closer to finding out what on earth has led us up to this point.
What we do know is that something intricately sinister is at play and as Tim begins confronting those who know Syd well, we sense that he is edging closer to finding out the truth. However, it seems that someone is ahead of the game and anticipating Tim’s movements in a plot to trap him within a conspiracy which leaves him, the least likely person of all, vulnerable and appearing guilty.
However, despite having to go alone and solve the mystery by himself, Tim is part of a surreal journey. Typically, Barclay delivers some fabulous twists and turns along the way in an absorbing and thrilling plot that keeps us on edge until the last page. If you enjoyed ‘No Time for Goodbye’ and ‘Too Close To Home’, you will certainly like this book.
Although the plot is not quite as stellar as in Barclay’s first two standalone novels, ‘Fear The Worst’ gets your hooked from the prologue and keeps you in that state until the very last page. Therefore, I was immensely satisfied with the denouement and salute Barclay for producing yet another brilliant thriller.
I was therefore very excited to get stuck into ‘Fear The Worst’ and was certainly not disappointed. The disappearance of Tim’s daughter Syd is naturally shrouded is mystery but the prevailing bitterness between him and Bob, his ex-wife’s partner, also adds to the mounting tension as we flick through the first chapters.
Barclay is brilliant at luring the reader in and absorbing you in the plot right from the beginning. Cleverly, he weaves the story together so that Tim arrives at the centre of the case when Syd’s best friend also goes missing. This leaves us dumbfounded and no closer to finding out what on earth has led us up to this point.
What we do know is that something intricately sinister is at play and as Tim begins confronting those who know Syd well, we sense that he is edging closer to finding out the truth. However, it seems that someone is ahead of the game and anticipating Tim’s movements in a plot to trap him within a conspiracy which leaves him, the least likely person of all, vulnerable and appearing guilty.
However, despite having to go alone and solve the mystery by himself, Tim is part of a surreal journey. Typically, Barclay delivers some fabulous twists and turns along the way in an absorbing and thrilling plot that keeps us on edge until the last page. If you enjoyed ‘No Time for Goodbye’ and ‘Too Close To Home’, you will certainly like this book.
Although the plot is not quite as stellar as in Barclay’s first two standalone novels, ‘Fear The Worst’ gets your hooked from the prologue and keeps you in that state until the very last page. Therefore, I was immensely satisfied with the denouement and salute Barclay for producing yet another brilliant thriller.
lmt01's review against another edition
4.0
Hmm…In general, this book is pretty decent, although it ends so suddenly that I felt like I’d hit a brick wall. Compared to his other works, though, it’s noticeably weak.
breecreative's review
2.0
Wow, what a sad book. And I don't mean sad as in makes you cry, I mean it was a sad attempt. It starts off slow, not a lot going on. The daughter goes missing, the dad doesn't seem "real". Nothing happens for a really long time, then things do start happening and they're seemingly unrelated - a string of really bad luck or something. It all comes together eventually, but it's unrealistic and somewhat silly. Just sad...