Friday 2 March 2012

Review: No Time for Goodbye



Genre: thriller

Title: No Time for Goodbye

Author: Linwood Barclay

Rating: 2.9/3

ISBN: 978-0-553-80555-0

Publisher: Random House

Number of pages: 338

Plotline:

Fourteen-year-old Cynthia Bigge woke one morning to discover that her entire family–mother, father,brother–had vanished. No note, no trace, no return. Ever.  Now, twenty-five years later, she’ll learn the devastating truth.

Sometimes it’s better not to know. . . .

Cynthia is happily married with a young daughter, a new family. But the story of her old family isn’t over. A strange car in the neighborhood, untraceable phone calls, ominous “gifts”–someone has returned to her hometown to finish what was started twenty-five years ago. And no one’s innocence is guaranteed, not even her own. By the time Cynthia discovers her killer’s shocking identity, it will again be too late . . . even for goodbye.


My take:


Yo. This book made me so scared. Sooo scared.


The whole story is told from the husband's point of view, with an inkling of itilicized scary-stuff sprinkled over it. The result is a scary-ass story you should never attempt to read before bed. (Yes, I'm speaking from experience.)


In a way, it almost reminds me of those can-you-solve-it mysteries. All through the book, I kept guessing at the culprit, with really no rhyme or reason. My one and only rule: the one least suspected is usually the one who did it. They don't have to have a motive; you'll find out the complicated backstory later. Unfortunately, my rule doesn't usually produce any results simply because there are too many innocent people who could be ultimate-mastermind-extraordinaires in the story. This time though, I'm proud to announce that I was kind of right. (Still an emphasis on the "kind of", but not as much as usual =)


SpoilerAlert!


I haven't decided if I like or dislike the plotline style so many novels emply. You know, where the mystery/conflict seems to be solved and a brief happiness ensues before another killer/scary-person appears out of nowhere and there's another intense moment you totally weren't expecting. And since you weren't expecting it, you haven't prepared yourself for the mental assault that blows you away.


I was extremely impressed by the husband (Walter? Forgot his name already... early amnesia developing argh) ability to just... just withstand it all, you know? Those romance books I love always have lovey-dovey scenes, but at the first sight of conflict between them the man usually takes of with all his manly pride. IN those types of books it's all well and good because it adds to the drama all romantic readers love, but sometimes male insensitivity can be slightly tiring. So the husband's tenderness and understanding in this book really touched me. When you really think about it, this is the kind of husband you would really want to have. One who would stay with their wife and support her through al this mess. One who would risk his own life to save that of his wife. Even when he realized it was possibly Cynthia who was crazy and messing everything up herself, he never gave the option of divorce a though. This type of relationship is really heartwarming, and its reiterance of true family values is one of the reasons I loved this book.

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