Product Description

On the morning she will never forget, suburban teenager Cynthia Archer awakes with a nasty hangover and a feeling she is going to have an even nastier confrontation with her mom and dad. But when she leaves her bedroom, she discovers the house is empty, with no sign of her parents or younger brother Todd. In the blink of an eye, without any explanation, her family has simply disappeared. Twenty-five years later Cynthia is still haunted by unanswered questions. Were her family murdered? If so, why was she spared? And if they're alive, why did they abandon her in such a cruel way? Now married with a daughter of her own, Cynthia fears that her new family will be taken from her just as her first one was. And so she agrees to take part in a TV documentary revisiting the case, in the hope that somebody somewhere will remember something - or even that her father, mother or brother might finally reach out to her... Then a letter arrives which makes no sense and yet chills Cynthia to the core. And soon she begins to realise that stirring up the past could be the worst mistake she has ever made...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-12
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
"a fast-moving roller-coaster of a read" (Emma Lee-Potter DAILY EXPRESS )

"Barclay's enjoyably creepy tale...certainly keeps one turning the pages" (TIMES )

Synopsis
On the morning she will never forget, suburban teenager Cynthia Archer awakes with a nasty hangover and a feeling she is going to have an even nastier confrontation with her mom and dad. But when she leaves her bedroom, she discovers the house is empty, with no sign of her parents or younger brother Todd. In the blink of an eye, without any explanation, her family has simply disappeared. Twenty-five years later Cynthia is still haunted by unanswered questions. Were her family murdered? If so, why was she spared? And if they're alive, why did they abandon her in such a cruel way? Now married with a daughter of her own, Cynthia fears that her new family will be taken from her just as her first one was. And so she agrees to take part in a TV documentary revisiting the case, in the hope that somebody somewhere will remember something - or even that her father, mother or brother might finally reach out to her...Then a letter arrives which makes no sense and yet chills Cynthia to the core. And soon she begins to realise that stirring up the past could be the worst mistake she has ever made...

About the Author
Linwood Barclay is married with two children and lives in Toronto. He has written a popular column for the Toronto Star since 1993.

Customer Reviews

Not terribly believeable, but that doesn't make it a bad read
I think the extreme reviews on this site in respect of this book (i.e. the 1 star and 5 star) are all a bit wide of the mark. I enjoyed reading the book and the fact that it might not feel very realistic in parts didn't detract from my enjoyment. The author could have been more subtle but I thought the opening was great and, on the whole, I thought this book was easy and enjoyable to read over a few days, albeit I suspect it won't leave a lasting impression on me.

No Time for ...
...reading rubbish like this. All of the other reviewers that have allocated one star have covered very adequately the problems with this book so I'm not going to go over them again. I'll just say, I've wasted hours of my life on this but you don't have to! Read the one star reviews and give this book a wide berth - find something worthwhile to read instead.

Thrillig page-tuner - who cares if it isn't the best writing ever?
I borrowed this book off my Mum, after watching her reading it at her desk, walking down the street, pondering whether she could squeeze in a couple of pages whilst driving.. she couldn't put it down.

When I read it, I figured I would probably end up reading half of it and getting bored, as I often do, but this book gripped me from the first few chapters. Not that anything particularly interesting ro gripping had happened, but just the thought, that by the end of it I would KNOW what had happened to her family.

The writing isn't brilliant, I agree. Yes the sentence structure could be better, characters aren't developed etc, but who cares? There must be something good about this book due to the fact I sat for 3 hour into the early hours of the morning desperate to finish it.

The story progresses slowly at the beginning. The way the writer writes isn't brilliant. Its very over descriptive at times, and not particularly interesting. The way things are described are very matter of fact, along the lines of 'There was a towel rack by our window. I went over to the towel rack to get a towel, I looked out the window, I saw a man' etc. But by halfway through I'd completely forgotten my previous qualms about the writing, I was so wrapped up in the story I needed to finish it!

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes the fast thrillers. The ending is a little predictable in the last few chapters, but even after the main climax has occurred there are lots of other ends to be tied up and you find yourself reading pages as quickly as possible so that you can sooner know what the ending is.

Another great pick from Richard and Judy, well, Richard and Judy's research team!