Surprisingly Sad Story (No Time For Goodbye - Linwood Barclay)

Member Name: daylelisahall

Product:	No Time For Goodbye - Linwood Barclay
Date:	31/07/09 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great story, great characters, interesting, keeps you guessing

Disadvantages: None

My Dad gave me this book after reading it himself as he thought it would be the sort of story that I would enjoy and from the moment I started it, I found it hard to put down.

The Author
Linwood Barclay was born in the US and moved to Canada when he was a young child. He attended Trent University in Peterborough in Ontario which is where he also met his wife. He currently lives in Toronto with his wife and two children. No Time for Goodbye is Barclay's first stand-alone thriller and was published in 2007.

The Story
No Time for Goodbye tells the story of Cynthia Bigge, a normal 14 year old girl who lives with her parents and brother Todd - that is until one day, her parents and brother just disappear.

The book opens in May 1983, the year in which Cynthia's family go missing. From the very first chapter, the reader is quickly drawn in to the story and you are constantly left questioning everything you find out as you progress throughout the book. Cynthia wakes to find the house entirely empty with no trace whatsoever of her family. Twenty Five years later, Cynthia has not managed to find out any more information about the disappearance of her family.

The story then jumps forward 25 years - Cynthia is now married to Terry and they have a daughter, Grace together. Cynthia begins receiving strange letters and also a telephone call, all of which seem to be related to her family's disappearance. Is Cynthia finally going to find out what happened to her family all those years ago or is the trauma she suffered as a teenagers finally catching up with her and making her insane?
The first few pages of the book are told in third person. However, the rest of the book is written in the first person from the perspective of Cynthia's husband, Terry. I really liked the fact that the story is told from the perspective of the husband as I assumed it would be told by Cynthia. I found all the characters to be believable. You feel a certain amount of sympathy for Cynthia as all she really wants are some answers as to what happened to her family all those years ago. You also feel quite sympathetic towards her husband Terry as you can sense him becoming frustrated with Cynthia obsession and how this is turn is affecting their daughter Grace.
As well as the main story which is told by Terry, certain chapters were totally unrelated to this story and consisted of a conversation happening between two people that at first seemed to have no relevance to the rest of the story although as the book progressed it soon became apparent that maybe something sinister was happening elsewhere. I found that these odd chapters really helped to keep you guessing throughout the book. I thought I had sussed out exactly who was having the conversation and what it was regarding and then another piece of information was revealed which made me think again!
I thought that all the characters are extremely well written. I specifically liked the relationship between Cynthia and her husband Terry. I found it interesting to see how he dealt with everything that had happened before he met Cynthia, a situation that he had somehow managed to live through Cynthia for as long as they had been together.
The pace of this book is spot on, gently plodding along with some major twists and turns along the way. Towards the end of the story, the pace really picks up and leads you to an amazing twist at the end which I really never could have guessed!

Extra Info
The paperback contains 448 pages and the RRP is £7.99. For more information on the author and his other novels you can visit his website www.linwoodbarclay.com.

Summary
I found this book absolutely fascinating to read and it literally kept me hooked from beginning to end. The pace of the book was exactly how a thriller should be, moving along with things being revealed gradually and suddenly charging into a massive ending which tied up all the loose ends and questions you have been asking yourself throughout the book. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who loves a fast paced read.

Summary: I would read this author again