Reviews

I enjoyed it, but the plot reminded me of another book I've recently read. Because of that I could figure out part of what was going on, but there still was one unexpected twist in the end.

Writing: 3.5/5 | Plot: 3/5 | Ending: plz bro/5

THE PLOT

Paul was not minding his business and caught his colleague tryna dump two bodies so he got his head bashed in. 8 months later, he's trying to recover and decides to confront the monster. But when he starts hearing a noise downstairs (see what I did there) he wonders if he's going cray cray.

MY OPINION

PSA: IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY THIS BOOK, YOU NEED TO PRETEND THAT SECURITY CAMERAS DO NOT EXIST. If you can get past the fact that the mystery would be solved if stupid ass Paul copped a $30 interior camera from Walmart, then you will enjoy this much more LOL.

TBH if any authors are reading this, I don't wanna see anymore "someone is sneaking in my house leaving weird ass msgs" and not address why there's no security cameras. OR put the sec cameras in, and address it with some hacking skills or obstruction of cameras or SOMETHING. We cannot pretend that security cameras don't exist just to keep the suspense suspensing.

Ok anyways, let me get back on track. This was... odd? But I will still read another Linwood Barclay book. I like the short chapters, the fragmented writing, the sparse prose. The "narrator" would switch randomly throughout a chapter, making it difficult to connect on an emotional level with the character's and their stories. Because of the distance between the reader and the story, the twists weren't as impactful.

I LOVED Gavin's POV. His was by far the strongest and the creepiest. His behaviour, as Linwood loved to say, "sent a chill down the length of my spine." A true villain.

SPOILERS SO SCROLL AGGRESSIVELY IF YOU HAVEN'T READ

This was my second Barclay book (I read [b:Take Your Breath Away|58735545|Take Your Breath Away|Linwood Barclay|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1643832602l/58735545._SX50_.jpg|92414258] s/o to Harper Collins Canada for the ARC) but I noticed a lot of similarities between the books. Like one of the characters in TYBW, Charlotte had an acting background—and since I knew this was important to the plot in TYBW, I sussed out the surprise pretty quickly. Also, there were a lot of similarities with the family dynamics between this book and TYBW. I'm interested to know if these are common markers of his stories, or just a coincidence.

The ending was whacktacular, but I've come to accept that most endings are. It's rare I read one that makes sense. There was a lot of spoon feeding as well... especially with the flashbacks between Charlotte & Bill and the transcript at the end between detective man and Kenneth. Readers are not that stupid and it's a waste of pages to give us a play-by-play that we already sussed out.

Anyways. I still give this three stars because it did have spooky elements (mostly Gavin), and I like how he writes. For a male author, this had minimum male gaze writing, which I appreciated. AND no whack ass secret service/mafia/drug cartel storyline thrown in just for funsies.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: Gavin wins creep of the year, interesting premise, short chapters, well-paced, Anne's character was well-developed but that's about it, limited male gaze, no rando john wick storyline

Cons: security cameras would've solved the entire mystery, flip-flopping narrators in one scene was a bit confusing and created emotional distance between the reader and the story, ending was OTT, too much spoon feeding

alexandra_7's review against another edition

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3.0

This was so predictable and

having the main character killed two-thirds through the book

and that laughable ending definitely didn't help. Pretty annoying and stupid, but very readable at least.

puzzlepersonstolecalculator's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is an excellent book. It is a page-turner and one where you definitely won't see what is coming. I would 100% recommend this to anyone who enjoys thrillers.

chelseatm's review against another edition

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3.0

This book was ok. It seemed to start strong but then seemed to unravel without wrapping up any of these loose ends by the end. The mystery was interesting but it felt less satisfying than I would have expected.

I liked some of the risks that the author took but, without doing spoilers, the big turn in the plot left me more dumbfounded than riveted.

I don't necessarily think this is a bad book but it's not for me.