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A review by billymac1962
Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay
3.0
Wow. What happened?
Linwood Barkley is brilliant at coming up with convoluted plots and slowly peeling the layers back, slowly bringing the reader out from a state of unknowing one little reveal at a time.
And his characters are quite well drawn. I got quite a kick out of the protagonist's dad, who, I'm embarrassed to say, reminds me a little of myself. No, I haven't made those traffic signs, but it has occurred to me once in a while.
But what happened? Did he hand off the writing duties to some kid for the last 50 pages or so?
Suddenly the dialogue became inane, and there was one plot development that defied reason so badly that I almost couldn't finish it.
Gretchen. Really? Kidnap a kid to get back at the wife (30 years later, mind you) of a guy who's going through the worst hell of his life? Who you had offered a night's stay and nice breakfast because you felt sorry for him? Nice that you were so kind to the lad, though. That's sweet. All is forgiven.
Sorry. I can't buy any of that. Even fiction needs to adhere to some understandable human behavior.
I will read him again because other than that gap of believability, he is a pretty skilled plot master. But jeez.
Linwood Barkley is brilliant at coming up with convoluted plots and slowly peeling the layers back, slowly bringing the reader out from a state of unknowing one little reveal at a time.
And his characters are quite well drawn. I got quite a kick out of the protagonist's dad, who, I'm embarrassed to say, reminds me a little of myself. No, I haven't made those traffic signs, but it has occurred to me once in a while.
But what happened? Did he hand off the writing duties to some kid for the last 50 pages or so?
Suddenly the dialogue became inane, and there was one plot development that defied reason so badly that I almost couldn't finish it.
Spoiler
Gretchen. Really? Kidnap a kid to get back at the wife (30 years later, mind you) of a guy who's going through the worst hell of his life? Who you had offered a night's stay and nice breakfast because you felt sorry for him? Nice that you were so kind to the lad, though. That's sweet. All is forgiven.
Sorry. I can't buy any of that. Even fiction needs to adhere to some understandable human behavior.
I will read him again because other than that gap of believability, he is a pretty skilled plot master. But jeez.