Barclay lives in Oakville, Ontario, with his wife of more than three decades, Neetha, with whom he has two children - Spencer and Paige. [3] Bibliography [ edit ] Non-fiction [ edit ] I think No Time for Goodbye does an excellent job of highlighting how our past experiences shape our present decisions." As Paul becomes increasingly hysterical, convinced this typewriter is haunted in some way, his wife becomes more and more worried for his well-being. But, Paul is determined to investigate the murders, hoping to find answers that will help him find closure.

One of the principal delights in book reviewing is discovering a gem, a work that pushes the bar just a little higher -- and that is exactly what No Time for Goodbye does. The biggest surprise for this reviewer is that I’d never read any previous works by Canadian author Linwood Barclay, which made finding No Time just that much sweeter. Jessica from Tulsa, OkI love this song AND the video. It's so sweet. And I couldn't quite tell if that was Rebecca de mornay in the video until someone previously mentioned her in one of the comments. Barclay’s 2011 thriller, The Accident, has been turned into the six-part television series L’Accident in France, and he adapted his novel Never Saw it Coming for the movie, directed by Gail Harvey and starring Eric Roberts and Emily Hampshire. Several of his other books either have been, or still are, in development for TV and film. No Time For Goodbye opens with teenaged and hung-over Cynthia Bigge waking up to an empty home. Her family - father, mother and brother - having disappeared without so much as a note. Fast forward 25 years, Cynthia is now married with a daughter of her own and the story takes off from there. Well, actually it creeps along from there - never a good thing for a "thriller" - one of the major problems with this book. The school principal Rolly is near retirement age and we find that he, Terry's boss, has also killed several people which of course Terry uncovers and is almost killed by him too.

Praise

Good lord, though, was this ever written in blunt pencil. Simplistic, repetitive. Bland characters. Characters who blink a lot. "Charlotte blinked three times." It's my new pet peeve. I don't need to read about characters' eyelid action, okay? Everyone blinks. It goes without saying, or should, at least. What is "the meaning of so many people taking so much pride and dishonesty" supposed to convey? How does a person take pride and dishonesty? YOU certainly are not the writer of this song, nor, most likely, any other known songs in this world. Don't try to take credit where it's not due. THAT is DISHONESTY! After the incident, Paul has been having nightmares and experiencing PTSD. He begins to see Anna, a psychologist to work through his issues. His wife, Charlotte, also tries to help and buys him a vintage type writer so that he can write that novel he has always dreamed about. Paul is open to the idea, that is until he begins to hear noises in the night. Noises which sound as if the typewriter is being used. But everyone is asleep, who could possibly be typing on the typewriter? Why is Paul the only one who can hear the noise?

College Professor Paul Davis is a normal guy with a normal life. Until, driving along a deserted road late one night, he surprises a murderer trying to dispose of a couple of bodies. That's when Paul's "normal" existence is turned upside down. After nearly loosing his own life in that encounter, he finds himself battling with PTSD, depression and severe problems at work. But all of that peace is shattered, following Cynthia’s appearance on Deadline. After a fake clairvoyant is exposed, she and Terry return to their psychiatrist, Dr. Naomi Kinzler. But Kinzler proves to be of little help, as Cynthia grows increasingly anxious to discover whatever happened to her family in 1983. While it was wholly compulsive and difficult to put down, A Noise Downstairs doesn't become an action driven plot for the first 30-40% of the novel; we take our time in a slow burning suspense while becoming acquainted with the characters, which is a style of writing I'm quite partial to. Ok, except for that first section, which perfectly hooked my attention. You get a lot of the set up from the synopsis, but initially we find our main narrator Paul caught in an unexpected exchange with co-worker Kenneth. Unfortunately, Paul has decided to follow Ken to inform him that he has a tail light out, things escalate, and Ken attempts to murder Paul. We are then thrust forward 8 months after the incident, where Ken is in prison, Paul is spending time recovering with the help of his therapist Anna and his second wife Charlotte, and things are tense. Paul thinks it will be cathartic to write about his experiences in hopes of working through his PTSD, so Charlotte surprises him with an old Underwood typewriter she found at a yard sale. The thing is, Paul starts hearing the typewriter in the middle of the night, and what unfolds is a tale of "Is he delusional or is someone out to get him?" in the most suspenseful format. Between 1985 and 1991 the San Francisco-based band had eleven records on the Top 100 chart, four made the Top 10 with three reaching the #1 position, "We Built This City" for one week in November of 1985, the above "Sara", and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" for two weeks in March of 1987... What happens later in the book is just to unbelievable for me to say any more lets just say Clayton is found & remarried to Enid who is one bitter old lady who has her own agenda I didn't like her at all.

Kudos, Mr. Barclay, for another wonderful novel. I can only hope your ideas continue to flow, as I have eagerly anticipated many of the pieces you’ve presented in the last numbers of years. Overall, this veteran author shows us how psychological thrillers should be done, showing up ninety percent of what passes for a premium PT. Now a strange car starts showing up, Cynthia believes she has seen her brother, and notes appear in the house... who is doing this and is her family really still alive? Her husband, Terry is torn between wanting to believe his wife and struggling with the fact that she might be losing it. The stress has taken over, he's sure and he is afraid that she might be imagining the things that are happening.

This is supposed to be a creepy read, but I felt that it could have been creepier. I had a theory early on about what was happening, and I was right, which might have detracted from the creepiness. However, this is one of those cases where I thought that I was a smart reader and had everything figured out, but there were a couple of twists that I didn’t see coming.Clayton's will leaves everything to Cynthia. Enid somehow felt suspicious (why?) and gets the lawyer's secretary to show it to her. She and Jeremy then set out to kill Cynthia and Grace and then Clayton and Terry as well. The book is narrated by Terry - Cynthia's husband. I thought I liked him for a long time, but eventually he started grating on me with his distrust of his own wife and his occasional stupidity. He was obsessively plagued with anxiety, fear, nervousness, depression, and dread every moment of his life awake or asleep since that haunting night. I’m a fan of George Newbern and he delivered his usual fine performance, mastering each character and telling the story in a way that kept me engaged. It’s Paul’s point of view for most of the story and Newbern became him so easily, at least in my ear. Like the best literary thrillers, No Time is a very difficult novel to review, because revealing too much will spoil both the journey Terry Archer has to endure, and the story’s twisting conclusion.