novelesque_life's review
3.0
RATING: 3 STARS
2018; William Morrow/HarperCollins
(Review Not on Blog)
For me, this was easy to figure out who did it (too many Dateline episodes!) - minus one star. Solving the mystery is not a deal breaker for me, as then it becomes a Colombo episode (working it backward). I found the plot weak. It seemed to have a beginning and ending and everything else was forced in whether it worked or not - minus another star. Barclay keeps me reading and has interesting ideas so I will always read one his books.
***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***
2018; William Morrow/HarperCollins
(Review Not on Blog)
For me, this was easy to figure out who did it (too many Dateline episodes!) - minus one star. Solving the mystery is not a deal breaker for me, as then it becomes a Colombo episode (working it backward). I found the plot weak. It seemed to have a beginning and ending and everything else was forced in whether it worked or not - minus another star. Barclay keeps me reading and has interesting ideas so I will always read one his books.
***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***
novelesque_life's review against another edition
3.0
RATING: 3 STARS
2018; William Morrow/Harper Collins (368 pages)
(Review Not on Blog)
For me, this was easy to figure out who did it (too many Dateline episodes!) - minus one star. Solving the mystery is not a deal breaker for me, as then it becomes a Colombo episode (working it backward). I found the plot weak. It seemed to have a beginning and ending and everything else was forced in whether it worked or not - minus another star. Barclay keeps me reading and has interesting ideas so I will always read one his books.
***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***
2018; William Morrow/Harper Collins (368 pages)
(Review Not on Blog)
For me, this was easy to figure out who did it (too many Dateline episodes!) - minus one star. Solving the mystery is not a deal breaker for me, as then it becomes a Colombo episode (working it backward). I found the plot weak. It seemed to have a beginning and ending and everything else was forced in whether it worked or not - minus another star. Barclay keeps me reading and has interesting ideas so I will always read one his books.
***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***
nika_nix's review
3.0
This was just so basic. I am still shocked that I managed to predict correctly the big twist after about 50 pages and that everything was so glaringly obvious. The last twist and the ending made no fucking sense and everything was wrapped up way to quickly and not properly explained at all.
I also hated all the characters and even though they have absolutely no personality aside from being "the good guy", "the bad guy" and "the bad guy, but there are worse", I was still so incredibly frustrated at the decisions they made and all of them feel very dumb to me. Every. Single. One.
I liked the concept of this and I honestly wish this went into the horror genre instead of being this messy thriller with no actual thrills. I can appreciate what the author tried to do and maybe I'd like this more had I not read a million other thrillers but this was just fine, nothing groundbreaking or exciting.
I also hated all the characters and even though they have absolutely no personality aside from being "the good guy", "the bad guy" and "the bad guy, but there are worse", I was still so incredibly frustrated at the decisions they made and all of them feel very dumb to me. Every. Single. One.
I liked the concept of this and I honestly wish this went into the horror genre instead of being this messy thriller with no actual thrills. I can appreciate what the author tried to do and maybe I'd like this more had I not read a million other thrillers but this was just fine, nothing groundbreaking or exciting.
nixbix_reads's review
2.0
This was a strange read. For the most part, I thought it was very readable & I was quickly sucked in. Paul’s confusion about whether things were happening or not was intriguing, and his search for understanding after almost being murdered by a colleague & friend had me rapidly turning the pages. There’s an obvious villain who is just so creepy, and I would have liked to see more of him in the story. However, the last 25-30% of the book is what ruined this for me. There’s a couple of wild plot twists, and I just felt that the story was getting into ridiculous territory. It almost felt like there were two storylines jammed together & it didn’t work for me.
jlohnes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
annebrooke's review against another edition
3.0
This book is a surprising failure from the master of thriller writing. It's as if Barclay's heart wasn't in it. The plot is frankly bizarre and the characters are either abandoned or under-developed. It got to the point where I just starting laughing at the unbelievable twists and turns and, by the end, I didn't really care about anyone, I'm afraid. I'm hoping he's back to his usual form for the next one!
smores11's review against another edition
5.0
This book was wild from start to finish. Even when you think you've figured it out, BAM, another surprise.
One of the best books Linwood Barclay has written to date.
One of the best books Linwood Barclay has written to date.
halcyon_rising's review against another edition
3.0
Dit is het tweede boek van Linwood Barclay dat ik gelezen heb, en was toch wel erg spannend en de moeite waard om te lezen. Entertainend was het zeker.
Wat soms wat irritant is aan dit soort thrillers, is dat het simpel is om het mysterie op te lossen: je plaatst een camera om te zien wat er juist gaande is nadat de lichten uitgaan. Of microfoons. Had het hele boek kunnen voorkomen.
Over het plot ga ik nog één ding zeggen, en dat is
Zou ik dit boek aanraden aan iemand anders om te lezen? Wel, als ik weet dat die persoon veel tijd ter beschikking heeft, en dat thrillers zoals deze geliefkoosd zijn, dan misschien wel. Voor de rest zal het boek gaan verdwijnen in de meute van andere boeken die net zoals deze het moeten hebben van de ongelofelijke plot twists op het einde om uniek over te komen.
Veel leesgenot!
Wat soms wat irritant is aan dit soort thrillers, is dat het simpel is om het mysterie op te lossen: je plaatst een camera om te zien wat er juist gaande is nadat de lichten uitgaan. Of microfoons. Had het hele boek kunnen voorkomen.
Over het plot ga ik nog één ding zeggen, en dat is
Spoiler
dat ik waarschijnlijk zelden een boek gezien heb waar de karakters zo hun verdiende loon gekregen hebben.Zou ik dit boek aanraden aan iemand anders om te lezen? Wel, als ik weet dat die persoon veel tijd ter beschikking heeft, en dat thrillers zoals deze geliefkoosd zijn, dan misschien wel. Voor de rest zal het boek gaan verdwijnen in de meute van andere boeken die net zoals deze het moeten hebben van de ongelofelijke plot twists op het einde om uniek over te komen.
Veel leesgenot!
scrollsofdragons's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Damm. The only letdown was the pacing was very slow in the beginning and the characters weren't as great as Linwood's characters normally are.
kandicez's review against another edition
3.0
I'm reading this with a group. It's somehow always more fun to read with others, especially when it's a mystery/who dunnit, like this one. You can bounce theories off the other readers, and if you end up being right, it is so much more satisfying because someone else knows you figured it out. This was a little different in that I think we all figured it out. Early!
Barclay sets up the unreliable narrator trope very nicely with a tragic incident in the prologue. He whets the appetite for what's to come by ramping up the tension in those few pages, but also introducing the main character in a way that allows us to sympathize and trust, yet not necessarily rely upon.
What follows is almost a text book example of the who dunnit formula, complete with red herrings. Red herrings that the read inevitably will eat with their theories!
Barclay uses the first third of the book to plant the seeds for three possible bad guys. THREE! He then shows us how and why what happened happened. Yes, that was a confusing sentence, but no less so than the convoluted plot spaghetti we get in the final third of this book. I enjoyed it, but despite seeming cleverness, I had figured it out very early, was convinced I was wrong in the middle and then convinced I was actually right in the end.
I know that sounds like a five star read, but I was disappointed. Yes! I want the satisfaction of figuring it out, but I want to feel clever for having done so, not tricked.
I freely admit that the narrator may have added to my disappointment. Reading another book I might have found his voice soothing, but that was my problem here. This was not a soothing read. It was supposed to be a thriller, and the tone in which it was delivered belied that and left me rewinding often to see if I had missed something. I hadn't. There simply wasn't enough change in tone to indicate that "ah ha!" I was hearing. He also voiced women in that mocking, almost falsetto way that grates on my nerves.
I enjoyed it, but think I might have enjoyed it more on the page, and that's not really Barclay's fault.
Barclay sets up the unreliable narrator trope very nicely with a tragic incident in the prologue. He whets the appetite for what's to come by ramping up the tension in those few pages, but also introducing the main character in a way that allows us to sympathize and trust, yet not necessarily rely upon.
What follows is almost a text book example of the who dunnit formula, complete with red herrings. Red herrings that the read inevitably will eat with their theories!
Barclay uses the first third of the book to plant the seeds for three possible bad guys. THREE! He then shows us how and why what happened happened. Yes, that was a confusing sentence, but no less so than the convoluted plot spaghetti we get in the final third of this book. I enjoyed it, but despite seeming cleverness, I had figured it out very early, was convinced I was wrong in the middle and then convinced I was actually right in the end.
I know that sounds like a five star read, but I was disappointed. Yes! I want the satisfaction of figuring it out, but I want to feel clever for having done so, not tricked.
I freely admit that the narrator may have added to my disappointment. Reading another book I might have found his voice soothing, but that was my problem here. This was not a soothing read. It was supposed to be a thriller, and the tone in which it was delivered belied that and left me rewinding often to see if I had missed something. I hadn't. There simply wasn't enough change in tone to indicate that "ah ha!" I was hearing. He also voiced women in that mocking, almost falsetto way that grates on my nerves.
I enjoyed it, but think I might have enjoyed it more on the page, and that's not really Barclay's fault.