Never Look Away: A Thriller

This story doesn't stop for breath. Made me wonder if we ever really know someone else. The lead female is a violent monster. How does her husband not see any signs? Yet the whole clever scenario seemed so plausible. The back story also took me by surprise: prisons as private enterprise. I looked it up. This is an actual thing! Weird. Good job, LB. Well written, twisted and enthralling. Loved every word.

Suspenseful and unpredictable story that keeps you interested to the last page. I will have to read more of his work!

I just finished reading this book, "Never Look Away". I had never read a book before by this author and I am so glad that I found him. This was one terrific book. I had a hard time putting it down.

Never Look Away ranks amongst the best thrillers released this year. While not so deep as to be ever considered literary, the characters of this novel have a realness that is both heart-breaking and frightening. The story is told by David, a small-time reporter who gets himself mixed up in controversy surrounding the construction of a privately run prison in his home-town of Paradise Falls. After making a few barbed comments to a local politician, the CEO of Star-Spangled Corrections and his hired thug pay David a private visit that leaves him wondering if he's bitten off more than he can chew. As if that wasn't enough David's wife Jan begins to show signs of depression, and while there is a twist on this later I found this sequence of events particularly heart-renching. The real action begins when Jan and her work-mate disappear and an official police investigation is launched with David as the prime-suspect. Caught between corrupt politicians, a suspicious and stubborn detective, David struggles to deal with the disappearance of his wife and destruction of his life as he knew it. So while the characters are well thought out and the plotline is intelligent Never Look Away has some imperfections - some of the characters are a hairsbreadth away from stereotypeland and there are aspects of the wife's disappearance which (aside from being hard to explain without spoilers) are a little theme-less, uninteresting and hard to fully reconcile with the overall storyline. Perhaps it's hard to grasp what the heck I mean here so I'd be interested in hearing what other readers have to say about it...

Linwood Barclay touched a nerve of mine in his wonderful new thriller, NEVER LOOK AWAY. Actually, he took that nerve, pinched it, stomped on it, and rolled it on the ground all within the first few pages. About a quarter-century ago, I took my ungrateful and unappreciative sons to a theme restaurant named after a giant rodent who is not Mickey Mouse. I fished into my pocket to give quarters to my older son; when I looked down, my younger son (three years old at the time) was gone. It only took me a minute to find him --- he had wandered down the hall and, wise beyond his years, was heading out of the place --- but I have never known panic like I knew on that Sunday afternoon. That is, until Barclay begins describing the arrival of the Harwood family --- Dave, Jan and four-year old Ethan, of Promise Falls, New York --- at the Five Mountains Amusement Park and the subsequent disappearance of Ethan. Boom. Barclay puts you right there, up close and personal. If you've ever had a small child in your care wander off, all of the emotions that you went through will come rising back to the forefront when you read the first few pages of this novel. NEVER LOOK AWAY would be remarkable enough solely on the basis of those opening pages, but Barclay is just getting warmed up. Ethan is found, but then Jan goes missing as well. And she doesn't turn up so easily. Dave is concerned because Jan has confessed to him that she has been having suicidal thoughts. Barry Duckworth, the Promise Falls, New York, police detective in charge of investigating Jan's disappearance, is concerned as well, but not about suicide. Duckworth is a tenacious investigator who leaves no stone unturned, and he is unable to confirm anything that Dave has told him. Gradually, Duckworth comes to believe that Dave knows a lot more than he is letting on. The reader is aware that what Dave is telling Duckworth is true; it's just that the evidence doesn't bear it out, pointing to something far more sinister. When Leanne Kowalski, Jan's co-worker, also goes missing, things look even worse. Dave is concerned that his wife's disappearance may have something to do with the plans a developer has for a private prison. Dave, a reporter for a fading Promise Falls newspaper, has been asking tough questions and has been warned off of the story. He accordingly begins his own investigation into Jan's disappearance, and it takes him places he never wished to go. Dave's relatively peaceful life is in a tailspin, and it just keeps getting worse. And then, near the end, the unthinkable happens. Again. You must read NEVER LOOK AWAY. Barclay's prose has been getting darker and darker with each new novel that releases, and this latest one comes close to being black as pitch, though there's a bit of light in spots. Barclay also creates some of his most interesting and memorable characters to date, not all of whom will make it to the last page. Oh, and one more thing concerning the prose. About halfway through the

David Harwood is a newspaper reporter. He's been working on a story about a for profit prison being built in his small town. The editor keeps killing his story, even after he uncovers some shady dealings with local politicians. But he's really worried about his wife Jan. She's been acting oddly lately, saying disturbing things and just isn't her usual self. When she suggests a trip to an amusement park with their four year old son, he readily agrees, happy that she is acting more like herself. What happens at the amusement park is the stuff of nightmares. And that's just the beginning... And on that note, I absolutely refuse to give you any more of the plot! Suffice it to say, that Never Look Back had me on the edge of my seat. Barclay has crafted a non stop roller coaster of a plot, full of twists and turns that I never saw coming. The book starts off action packed and just never lets up. Barclay's foreshadowing had me reading just one more chapter long after the lights should have been out... Have you read Linwood Barclay yet? If you're a suspense/thriller fan, than you will love this Canadian author!

Linwood Barclay excells are writing books in which the average middle class guy (a car salesman in Fear the Worst: A Thriller , a newspaper reporter in this book) has his whole life turned upside down and is thrust into a world of crime, violence and intrigue. His books remind me of the old-fashioned film noire style except these are quicker and have even more turns. In "Never Look Away", David Harwood is a reporter with a wife, a son, two loving parents who babysit their son and a hot lead on signs of corruption in local government that will make an explosive story. Suddenly, his wife disappears at a local theme park and he is accused of causing her disappearance. More problems pile on and the pressure makes David and his world crumble. There is a point in which the reader says, "What? Even more happens to this guy?" Does it get ridiculous? Absolutely. More importantly, does the story work? Absolutely. This is a real page turner. I found myself losing real chunks of time if I picked this book up during my morning routine. I was nearly late to work two days in a row because I had to keep reading a little bit more. I look forward to the next one, Mr. Barclay.

It is a good thing I picked this book up and started reading when I had a good block of free time, because I would have had to cancel any other plans until I finished it. David Harwood, a reporter for a small-town newspaper, is working on a controversial story that has made him some powerful enemies. His home life keeps him grounded, with a wife he loves and a son he adores. His wife, however, has been a bit depressed and he is concerned about her...and thus he is happy when she suggests a family outing to a nearby amusement park. Then she vanishes without a trace. This is the story of an ordinary man whose life falls apart and who find himself suspected of having done something awful to his missing wife, at the same time as his enemies do all they can to destroy his reputation. It's so easy to understand how all of this happens, every step of the way, and it is completely believable as the situation degenerates with a series of occurrences that can be read as indications of David's guilt, or of something else entirely. Start reading this when you have time to finish it because you will NOT want to stop reading until you see how it all works out.