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A review by julielb
Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay
2.0
I just finished Barclay’s latest and was a bit disappointed and trying to figure out why. He has been a favorite author of mine, writing gripping, suspenseful, unique mysteries. In this one, a man’s wife disappeared 6 years ago and while he was a suspect initially for her disappearance and presumed death, there was never any evidence. He moved on, though not far away, changed his last name and now is living with a woman he met 2 years earlier as well as her 16-year-old brother. Then he hears from his ex-neighbor that a woman who looks like his wife had just showed up at his old house, screaming that it had changed though it was her house, dropped the groceries she was going to bring into the house and fled. She next appeared outside a hospital where her sister and brother saw her while they were visiting their terminally ill mother. And finally, the mother is convinced the woman appeared to her late at night,which gave the mother comfort, knowing her daughter was alive and well.
The story is told from multiple points of view, all the chapters in third person except from the husband, Andrew’s, chapters in which it’s first person. It’s been unsettling, the supposed reappearance of the woman and the impact it has on the main characters. When I got to the end I thought meh, it was fine. Interesting mystery, not too difficult to figure out, easy to read. I guess the disappointment comes from not caring or really liking any of the main characters. I really didn’t care about any of them and had to work hard to not actively dislike them so that I could get through the book.
This author has written some gripping mysteries with complex characters and perhaps that’s the difference here, as in all the characters felt like surface, cardboard cutouts.
The story is told from multiple points of view, all the chapters in third person except from the husband, Andrew’s, chapters in which it’s first person. It’s been unsettling, the supposed reappearance of the woman and the impact it has on the main characters. When I got to the end I thought meh, it was fine. Interesting mystery, not too difficult to figure out, easy to read. I guess the disappointment comes from not caring or really liking any of the main characters. I really didn’t care about any of them and had to work hard to not actively dislike them so that I could get through the book.
This author has written some gripping mysteries with complex characters and perhaps that’s the difference here, as in all the characters felt like surface, cardboard cutouts.