Fear the Worst: A Thriller
Where to buy Dread the Worst: A Thriller books online?
- ISBN13: 9780553591750
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Tim Blake is an average guy. He sells cars. He has an ex-wife who’s stirred in with another man. It’s not a life lacking hassles, but nothing will prepare him for when his daughter, Sydney, vanishes into thin air.
At the hotel where she supposedly worked, no one has ever heard of her. Even her closest friends seem to be at a loss. As he retraces Sydney’s steps, Tim discovers that the suburban Connecticut town he permanently thought of as idyllic is anything but. What he doesn’t know is that his every go is being watched. There are others who want to find Sydney as much as Tim does. And the closer Tim comes to the truth, the closer he comes to every parent’s worst nightmare—and the kind of evil only a parent’s like has a chance in hell of stopping.
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Exclusive: Lisa Gardner Reviews Dread the Worst
Lisa Gardner is the New York Times bestselling leader of eleven novels, including Say Goodbye and The National. She lives with her spouse and daughter in New England. She is currently at work on her next thriller, Live to Tell, which will be publish in 2010. Read her exclusive Amazon guest review of Dread the Worst:
Linwood Barclay is a #1 bestselling crime novelist in Britain and a major European suspense star. So when I received the advanced reading copy of his latest novel, Dread the Worst, my first result was guilt—what rock have I been hiding under that I’ve never heard of an leader who counts Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, and Joseph Finder among his fans? My next response was sheer anticipation. There’s nothing better than learning a fantastic new leader. I immediately cracked open Dread the Worst, hoping for the best.
Long and fleeting of it—Barclay delivers on the hype. Dread the Worst starts with one of the better opening lines I’ve read in a while: “The morning of the day I lost her, my daughter questioned me to scramble her some eggs.” It’s such a simple sentence, language of everyday domesticity. You can picture a father. You can picture a daughter. Yet you’re already filled with dread. A terrible thing has happened. And yeah, for the next four hundred pages, the terrible thing gets a lot worse.
This tension-filled dichotomy of an ordinary man caught in extraordinary circumstances isn’t new territory. Harlan Coben would be drawn to this plot, not to mention a few others. But Barclay writes with a voice that’s all his own. His ordinary man, Timothy Blake, is at that middle-aged point in life where he’s racking up more losses than wins. First marriage has collapsed. Car dealership went down the drain. Parenting a teenage daughter remains a mystery. Blake is a man who’s down but not out, which makes his efforts to find his missing daughter realistic, compelling and completely nerve-wracking.
The supporting cast is equally well-done: the prickly ex-wife; the daughter’s troubled BFF; the female detective who seems to spend most of her time on the phone dealing with her own kid. Barclay excels at making people you immediately admit, and even if you don’t like them all, you know them. He also stays right to his characters; Blake doesn’t magically turn into Rambo just because terrible guys are now trying to gun him down. The prickly ex-wife doesn’t suddenly pine for reconciliation, just because they’re now effective together to find their child. By not taking the simple road, Barclay sets the stage for several shocking plot twists, not to mention one helluva dramatic climax.
Previous Barclay fans should delight in this quick-paced outing. And if you’ve been hiding under a rock like me, time to crawl out and learn a fantastic new leader. —Lisa Gardner
Buy Cheap Dread the Worst: A Thriller Online
Related posts:
The latest in the OMG! SHE’S GONE genre. Not as compelling as Harlan Coben’s “Tell No One,” not as heartbreaking as Stewart O’Nan’s “Songs for the Missing,” and not as fascinating as the right life reappearances of girls resurfacing after abduction, this holds interet by being of the moment, using the tools and headlines and technologies of the present day. It would have been more involving if there had not been so much repetition and the writing had been tighter.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
I really wanted to like this – the tale line is appealing and the characters seemed promising…
But ultimately it was SO cliche I skimmed large parts of it and didn’t delight in the book. Usually if I’m bored by a book I can go to the ending and get a small more excited to go back and find out how they got there… but it was so predictable that I reflect I read all of eighty pages total and had no desire to read the pages in between.
There are better books in this genre.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
Excellent strong and appealing characters, excellent descriptive writing. The plot, but, did not really hold up for me. The Bruce Willis syndrome (your average, 40-something American dad single-handedly fighting off 3 guys with huge guns) made me chuckle. Come on, a bit more realism if you please. Next thing you know, he’ll be running into a phone booth to change. Also, the character of Patty (the hard nosed, constantly swearing, porn star material, 17-year-ancient friend of the missing girl) changes from an appealing and sympathetic character into an implausibe brat with contrived motives that really don’t add up. This might have been a really excellent tale had the plot been a bit more believable and a lot less contrived. There were just too many characters doing things that didn’t ring right. If you’re addicted to reading, read this only if you have nothing better laying around. It will get you through the night. Barely 3 stars for me, but I reflect this leader has the skills to write something really excellent.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
The tale isn’t very original-it will remind you of the evening news tales like Natalie Holloway, Shandra Leavy, etc. It is very well written and moves quickly, but doesn’t offer much description and leaves the reader to draw a lot of their own conclusions in an attempt to make it seem more like a mystery. The plot offers a few surprising twists, but still does not fully connect all of the plot happenings as clearly as it could. The end is very satisfying, but expected. If you like Law and Order type shows,this is a excellent book for you, if not, I would pass.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
I like to read, and I read a lot. This book still has me adage “WOW”. This is a fantastic book full of twists, turns and tons of suspense. You will not be disappointed if you buy this book. This was the first novel by Barclay that I have read and I plot on reading all of his work now!
If the use of the F word offends you, this is not the book for you. I was unable to place this book down, and really stayed up all night to read it. No regrets – it was worth it!
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5