Helpful Score: 4
Wow! I loved this book and couldn't put it down. It was great from the very first page. A fantastic rollercoaster ride of mystery and thriller. This story was excellent!!! I love reading stories like this and can't wait until I can find another as compelling and exciting as this one!!! Two thumbs up!!!
Helpful Score: 2
This story is a gripper. Fast paced and each page it seemed like had more suspense and something new to add to the idea of "who done it". I loved the way it was written and the way things came together at the end. At first i didn't think this case would be solved but the father was so persisstent, I really like that about him. At the end i learned to love this family, each one for how they felt. I very much liked this book.
Helpful Score: 2
This is the best book I've read in a while. Surprises all the way through - the ending was a shock. Great, believable characters. Complex plot. Just all-round fun, exciting to read.
Helpful Score: 2
I have been looking for a new suspense author to read & am so glad i picked this book off the shelf!...was a page turner, i read it in 2 days. I'll definately be reading the rest of Linwood barclay books.
Helpful Score: 2
I am a huge Linwood Barclay fan, but this book was a disappointment. I regard it essentially as a violent soap opera. My biggest complaint is that there were no characters to root for. The characters were basically self-centered and amoral - as befits a soap opera. Linwood Barclay is usually better than this.
Helpful Score: 2
I read that if you liked Harlan Coben, then you will definitely like Linwood Barclay. I could not agree more. Too Close to Home is an enjoyable read with an interesting plot. Lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing right up to the end, a true pager turner!! Just when you think you have everything figured out, you're wrong. I was very impressed with this book & look forward to reading another book by this author. Great complex and flawed characters that are really engaging.
Helpful Score: 1
3.5 stars
I've read several of Barclay's books and loved them! This one, not so much. The story line is good, but, for me, it dragged a lot at the end. I felt like with some good editing, it could have wrapped up more quickly.
That being said, I will be reading more of his books in the future and actually would recommend this one. It has all the twists and turns that you expect from Barclay.
I've read several of Barclay's books and loved them! This one, not so much. The story line is good, but, for me, it dragged a lot at the end. I felt like with some good editing, it could have wrapped up more quickly.
That being said, I will be reading more of his books in the future and actually would recommend this one. It has all the twists and turns that you expect from Barclay.
Helpful Score: 1
I have recently discovered Linwood Barclay, and I love his books! NCIS fans, this is your guy! Serious subjects, murder and mayhem, and a good dose of humor thrown in. Very enjoyable. I just finished "Stone Rain", starring his reluctant hero, Zach Walker. Enough twists and turns to satisfy! And the ending.... well, it's perfect.
Helpful Score: 1
When Derek Cutter's friends family leaves for vacation he looks up to a coming week of having a secret love nest for himself and his girlfriend Penny. He hides in their basement, strolling through the house as soon as they leave. Surprisingly the family returns shortly after and Derek has to hide back in the basement. He hears someone else arrive, listens to a short argument and the first shot, soon followed by two other shots. When the killer leaves the house Derek fleas. But police isn't so stupid: They soon discover the boy was in the house and is arrested for circumstantial evidence.
His parents Jim & Ellen are in shock, trying to understand what is going on. More so father Jim who doesn't believe a single second his boy is a murderer. He begins his own investigations starting with only a clue Derek was able to provide:
A missing PC tower from his friends desk which had a strange but "cool" novel on it.
The boys got it from one of Jim's customers whose son killed himself a decade ago.
For Jim the killing begins to tape shape when he notices that this novel was published two years after the authors death by no other than the college leader and boss of his wife: Conrad Chase. Where ever Jim turns he always comes back to the missing PC tower and the novel.
Very slowly he peels away layer after layer, discovering the women, his wife, whom he slowly began to trust again after a betrayal years ago, has deep dark secrets hidden from him but following his guts, he ultimately figures out the Langleys' were never the intended victim. Instead his past, the towns criminal corrupt mayors and his wife's past come together ultimately facing the murderer of not only the Langleys' but three other victims. But the killer isn't finished yet. He has an agenda of revenge and won't stop until he is stopped.
-
Too close To Home is the first novel I read by Linwood Barclay and I enjoyed every single page of it. Very suspenseful the author keeps things coming at the reader that aren't what they seem to be. Jim's character is one of uniqueness but also one of much frustration with life and his social standpoint. He his an artist at heart but no one likes his paintings except his family. So he has his personal punching back Lance who's constantly picking at him about his downfall from working for the mayor to landscaping. He even once, with right, punched the mayor's nose.
However, Jim is good at heart. Fair to his child and people surrounding him. For me a like able, human, character all around.
Impressively Barclay brought in a lot of different stories into this book that made sense at the end and also surprised because in the beginning I thought those are only stories to get the background and kind of personalities who are taking part in the plot. Never did I imagine it becomes vital for the whole story.
Overall a very good book that kept me reading non-stop.
His parents Jim & Ellen are in shock, trying to understand what is going on. More so father Jim who doesn't believe a single second his boy is a murderer. He begins his own investigations starting with only a clue Derek was able to provide:
A missing PC tower from his friends desk which had a strange but "cool" novel on it.
The boys got it from one of Jim's customers whose son killed himself a decade ago.
For Jim the killing begins to tape shape when he notices that this novel was published two years after the authors death by no other than the college leader and boss of his wife: Conrad Chase. Where ever Jim turns he always comes back to the missing PC tower and the novel.
Very slowly he peels away layer after layer, discovering the women, his wife, whom he slowly began to trust again after a betrayal years ago, has deep dark secrets hidden from him but following his guts, he ultimately figures out the Langleys' were never the intended victim. Instead his past, the towns criminal corrupt mayors and his wife's past come together ultimately facing the murderer of not only the Langleys' but three other victims. But the killer isn't finished yet. He has an agenda of revenge and won't stop until he is stopped.
-
Too close To Home is the first novel I read by Linwood Barclay and I enjoyed every single page of it. Very suspenseful the author keeps things coming at the reader that aren't what they seem to be. Jim's character is one of uniqueness but also one of much frustration with life and his social standpoint. He his an artist at heart but no one likes his paintings except his family. So he has his personal punching back Lance who's constantly picking at him about his downfall from working for the mayor to landscaping. He even once, with right, punched the mayor's nose.
However, Jim is good at heart. Fair to his child and people surrounding him. For me a like able, human, character all around.
Impressively Barclay brought in a lot of different stories into this book that made sense at the end and also surprised because in the beginning I thought those are only stories to get the background and kind of personalities who are taking part in the plot. Never did I imagine it becomes vital for the whole story.
Overall a very good book that kept me reading non-stop.
Helpful Score: 1
This book is absolutely brilliant!!! A must read! Linwood Barclay is my favorite author after reading his stand alone novels. I can't wait for his next book! C'mon Linwood get your butt writing because it has been to freaking long!!!
Trish W has terrible taste in books if she gave this book such a bad review, she is probably one of those Danielle Steele readers that decided to try out a good thriller, stick to the gay authors Trish and stop bashing on the good ones.
Trish W has terrible taste in books if she gave this book such a bad review, she is probably one of those Danielle Steele readers that decided to try out a good thriller, stick to the gay authors Trish and stop bashing on the good ones.
Helpful Score: 1
Fast-paced thriller with an unusual plot. Starts out with an eerie scene of a teenage boy who inadvertently becomes an unseen witness to a triple murder. Some nice plot twists and an interesting subplot will keep you up until the wee hours reading this jewel. << Frequent casual use of profanity. >>
Helpful Score: 1
This was a fun, edge-of-your-seat kind of thriller. The plot kept me guessing until nearly the end! The most refreshing thing about it, though, was that the central character of this murder mystery was not a detective, or a PI, or a lawyer or anyone at all affiliated with the legal system. It was a fast read, too. I am certainly interested in reading more books by this author. I think he did a really wonderful job of maintaining suspense, creating mostly likable characters and having a strong, and at times funny, narrator. I really enjoyed this!
Helpful Score: 1
The action comes thick and fast, and it's, well, it's just great. If you like thrillers, you'll love it. Linwood Barclay made his name with one of the best-selling thrillers of 2008 No Time for Goodbye. His writing style has been accurately compared with Harlan Coben, occupying the popular thriller territory in which extraordinary things happen to ordinary people.
With lots of twists and turns, and several red herrings, this book will keep your mind whirling while the action propels the story forward. Really enjoyable listen!!
With lots of twists and turns, and several red herrings, this book will keep your mind whirling while the action propels the story forward. Really enjoyable listen!!
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent book, very suspenseful. It draws you in and you need to read to see what is next.
Very interesting, easy to read and stick with until the end, ending not what I expected. I have read his books before and liked them.
I was expecting more...seemes a little amateurish...
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and felt it was well written. This was the first Linwood Barclay book I have read and intend to read his others.
I really enjoyed this book and this author. The writing style is very fast-paced and really easy to read. He does a great job of giving personalities to the characters. You love them or hate them. I was very surprised by the ending and truly did not see it coming. I highly recommend this author and this book.
Very interesting, keeps your attention, easy to read and stick with. Outcome not what I expected.
The book was great.............kept my interest from first page!
Highly recommend..........
Highly recommend..........
This was my second Linwood Barclay book and I can honestly say that I enjoyed them both very much. Barclay has chapter endings that cause you to have to read on. Trying to put this book down is an impossibility. It's hard to figure out how all the subplots come together but in the end it all ties up nicely. If you haven't read a Barclay book, you need to remedy that and this is a good one to start with.
Violent and grim
Hmmm this was my first Barclay book and I'm a bit on the fence about it. I love first person, read a TON of first person (Including Lisa Gardner who excels at 1st person) so I'm VERY picky about my first person. For about the first 1/3 to 1/2 the first person is very clunky and awkward :( but I stuck with it. The last half or so was better (less clunky, better pacing)--mostly because (I think) there was more dialogue than anything.
Odd as my criticisms may sounds, I feel like I had a vested interst in seeing how it all turned out so I stuck with it. Keeping in mind that suspense and thrillers are my #1 genre of choice to read (meaning, I've read a lot and I'm really picky, as in, "Can you pass the Gardner test?" LOL)...There were no huge surprises here...In the end, I'm not 100% sure I bought into all the big reveals that went on. I def wouldn't read any of Barclays older books but MIGHT maybe give a newer book a try to see if the writing/plotting/etc has improved.
Odd as my criticisms may sounds, I feel like I had a vested interst in seeing how it all turned out so I stuck with it. Keeping in mind that suspense and thrillers are my #1 genre of choice to read (meaning, I've read a lot and I'm really picky, as in, "Can you pass the Gardner test?" LOL)...There were no huge surprises here...In the end, I'm not 100% sure I bought into all the big reveals that went on. I def wouldn't read any of Barclays older books but MIGHT maybe give a newer book a try to see if the writing/plotting/etc has improved.
As usual, another good book by Linwood Barclay.
An excellent page-turner: great plot, very well-developed, very readable and well-written.
My first Linwood Barclay but definitely not my last. Journalists who turn to thriller writing have a long and illustrious track record for knowing what they are doing: you could argue that it started with Edgar Allan Poe who, when the poor man wasn't dying in a ditch in Baltimore, put in some time as a journalist, of sorts, and in his spare time laid the foundations for modern thriller writing. Graham Greene. Ross MacDonald. Stephen King. Michael Connelly. Steig Larsson. Google it for yourself, it's quite an impressive list ...
What do journalists know about writing, that lends itself to thriller writing? Don't bury the lede. Structure: a story has an engine, and you have to keep it firing over. How evidence presents itself -- and adds up into a story. How dialogue enhances a story. What makes characters interesting, and either relatable or objectionable ... Or, as Elmore Leonard (who was not a journalist, but writes like one) says, "... leave out the part that readers tend to skip. ... If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."
(I don't think it's a spoiler to say that part of the plot hinges on the manuscript of a literary novel that, we are told, was a huge best seller, and made the author a Literary Darling. And it's hilarious, it's so bad ... )
In Too Close to Home, Linwood Barclay has a cracker of a premise, frightening and all too plausible. The pages tick over nicely, with a steady stream of clues presented and random revelations turning out to have more importance than first appeared. The ending/solution to the mystery does not disappoint. (All too often, something that has been chugging along nicely falls flat at the end, as you're told that the cat did it. Or the person you suspected, and rejected as too obvious, on page 2.)
This falls in the much-honored category, in our house of "better than it needed to be." I'm going to get my hands on more Linwood Barclay.
My first Linwood Barclay but definitely not my last. Journalists who turn to thriller writing have a long and illustrious track record for knowing what they are doing: you could argue that it started with Edgar Allan Poe who, when the poor man wasn't dying in a ditch in Baltimore, put in some time as a journalist, of sorts, and in his spare time laid the foundations for modern thriller writing. Graham Greene. Ross MacDonald. Stephen King. Michael Connelly. Steig Larsson. Google it for yourself, it's quite an impressive list ...
What do journalists know about writing, that lends itself to thriller writing? Don't bury the lede. Structure: a story has an engine, and you have to keep it firing over. How evidence presents itself -- and adds up into a story. How dialogue enhances a story. What makes characters interesting, and either relatable or objectionable ... Or, as Elmore Leonard (who was not a journalist, but writes like one) says, "... leave out the part that readers tend to skip. ... If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."
(I don't think it's a spoiler to say that part of the plot hinges on the manuscript of a literary novel that, we are told, was a huge best seller, and made the author a Literary Darling. And it's hilarious, it's so bad ... )
In Too Close to Home, Linwood Barclay has a cracker of a premise, frightening and all too plausible. The pages tick over nicely, with a steady stream of clues presented and random revelations turning out to have more importance than first appeared. The ending/solution to the mystery does not disappoint. (All too often, something that has been chugging along nicely falls flat at the end, as you're told that the cat did it. Or the person you suspected, and rejected as too obvious, on page 2.)
This falls in the much-honored category, in our house of "better than it needed to be." I'm going to get my hands on more Linwood Barclay.
Wow, great page turner, I could not put this book down. And fast-paced, too, it carries you right along, to the unexpected twist that you don't see coming. Good final chapter that ties up all loose ends.
Such a good book with unusual twists and turns, surprises, and characters developed well enough to actually make the reader feel something for them. I found the writing to be concise and to the point, without any needless U-turns in nonrelated directions. Our hero is a down-to-earth man that shows real emotions and actions/reactions; however, I did think his response to his wife's infidelity was a little lame. Still, a well-rounded, interesting, and entertaining story.
excellent beginning to a pretty good book...lots of twisting plot lines...good bit of suspense...surprise ending...some confusion keeping up with so many characters...but a great weekend read...
Teenager Derek Cutter had a plan. When his nextdoor neighbors go on vacation, he would use their house as a rendezvous point with his girlfriend. But his plan goes haywire when someone comes to the house while he is hiding in the basement and murders the Langleys in cold blood. Jim Cutter is shocked when he hears about the death of his neighbors. After all, things like that just don't happen in small towns. But he is even more shocked to find that the police are looking at his son as their number one suspect. As Jim starts his own investigation into the murders, he stumbles on secrets and lies that may hold the key to the murders.
Wow, this book hooked me in the prologue and never let me go. There are lots of clues, twists, turns, and red herrings in this book. If you're looking for an entertaining mystery/suspense thriller, read this one. My rating: 5 Stars.
Wow, this book hooked me in the prologue and never let me go. There are lots of clues, twists, turns, and red herrings in this book. If you're looking for an entertaining mystery/suspense thriller, read this one. My rating: 5 Stars.
Enjoyable read with lots of suspense
Linwood continues to impress. "Too Close to Home" is no exception. A guaranteed page turner, you won't figure this one out till the end!
haasker
haasker
I'm clearly in the minority here, but I didn't enjoy this book. It was very tedious. Pages and pages and pages of these characters justifying to themselves and their spouse over and over again why they're going to keep certain facts hidden from the police. The police of course are utterly inept and ignore everything that's important while focusing on crap that's easily explained. The mayor is straight out of a melodrama, practically twirling his mustache and cackling as he molests underage prostitutes, but somehow always getting away with it. Too many coincidences. Too many convenient secrets. I just felt like nothing rang true, nothing the characters did made sense, and the more they tried to justify it with their whining and bickering, the more I hated them. I was so angry by the time I finished, I wished I could have kicked them all in the junk. (And I really didn't care who the killer was.)
Very suspenseful,kept me guessing to the very end.
Another very good book by Linwood Barclay....will keep you turning the pages till wee hours of the morning!
This was my first book by Linwood Barclay and I was very pleased. This book grabs your attention from the first page and you can not put it down.
I just couldn't put this book down
i did not read this i want to but i have buy it i dont have now money in the fact i am 10 is there iny way i could read it on line in i want to make frinds but i dont now how
When I first read the write-up on this book, I thought this was the type of book I'd like. I found out otherwise. To begin with, this book was very slow moving and extremely boring. Secondly, I don't like reading books that are narrated by one of the characters. The worst part about this book is the language. If you like vulgar words beginning with "f" and a few others, this book is for you. As for me, I'll be sure and steer clear of Linwood Barclay.
