Ti | Book Chatter | Page 1054

Publisher: Bantam Books
Pub. Date: August 11, 2009
ISBN-13: 9780553807165
416pp

The blurb from the publisher:

Your daughter doesn’t come home one night from her summer job.
You go there looking for her. No one’s seen here. But it’s worse than that. No one’s ever seen her. So where has she been going every day? And where is she now?

In Linwood Barclay’s riveting new thriller, an ordinary man’s desperate search for his daughter leads him into a dark world of corruption, exploitation, and murder. Tim Blake is about to learn that the people you think you know best are the ones harboring the biggest secrets.

The Short of It:

This is truly a roller coaster ride!! Super fast pace—a real page turner.

My Thoughts:

Once in awhile I like to read a good thriller. I saw this one on Shelf Awareness and it immediately caught my eye. I really enjoyed the main character, Tim. He’s not a perfect dad (who is?) but he clearly loves his daughter Sydney even though they don’t always get along. When she goes missing, his frustration and concern rang true for me.

The pace of this novel is unreal! Every chapter ends with a startling discovery. Okay, not every discovery was completely unexpected but what I really liked is that even though the chapter ends with a discovery, it’s immediately picked up again at the beginning of the next chapter. It’s told from Tim’s point of view so we are never left hanging for long.

I found the ending to be very abrupt. Like slamming on your brakes. It came out of nowhere and simply ended. Perhaps the frenetic pace of the rest of the novel made the ending seem abrupt, but I could have used a few more pages to ease into it a bit.

Overall, this is the perfect book for summer. It’s quick and entertaining and although I have never read any of Barclay’s other books (and he has several), I would definitely pick up another one.

This book was sent to me by Random House via Shelf Awareness and officially comes out on August 11, 2009. If you’d like to learn more about Linwood Barclay’s other books, check out his website.

Four words—Back To School Shopping.

I’m utterly wiped out. My kids don’t start until the 19th but I got most of it done today. My girlfriend and I do it together (without kids) so we get a lot done but man, it’s a lot of walking around. We shopped, had lunch at Elephant Bar and then shopped for more. The cost of shoes is just astronomical and what’s with these Twinkle Toes that all the girls have to have? Geesh!

This post is a little backwards as I am completely exhausted but I saw Julie & Julia last night. It was wonderful! I love Meryl. She is fab in it and now I want a Julia Child cookbook. Have you seen it yet? The whole blog aspect was interesting.

Tonight we are going to grill some burgers and corn and just relax. I have another unpaid furlough day tomorrow which will be spent running some more errands but there will be time to post a review or two.

I logged in today and see that I’ve lost a follower. I take these things so personally. I know. Lame on my part but I often wonder what I’ve done. It WAS a terribly slow week as far as posts but it happens sometimes. Especially when school is looming and things must be taken care of.

What am I reading? Well, I plan to start The Angel’s Game tomorrow as well as The Day The Falls Stood Still. I am looking forward to both of them. What are you looking forward to?

Chatting with friends about books and life…