Tag: Thrillers

No Time for Goodbye – Linwood Barclay

  By

 

No Tim,e for Goodbye - Linwood Barclay

 Orinally posted April 2010 – Revised and Updated April of 2026

What would you do if one day you were a normal fourteen year old with a mother, father and brother. You get caught with a boy in a car at the mall drinking, your father pulls your butt out of the car. you go to bed, Then you wake up the next morning and YOUR FAMILY is GONE! no note, no evidence of a fight or struggle they are just gone! That what happens to Cynthia Bigge in Linwood Barclay’s No Time for Goodbye.

The Story

The story picks up 25 years later, Cynthia is now married to Terry Archer and they have an eight year old daughter Grace. She has lived with this mystery for twenty five years and now things are happening that are opening all the wounds. Is the brown car really following her family? How did her father’s hat get in the house? What’s happening?

My Thoughts

I loved this well crafted well paced book. I have enjoyed Barclay’s books for a while now and have read all four of the Zack Walker books and Too Close to Home also highly recommended) another standalone.

In No Time for Goodbye the characters are believable and story line keeps moving and the suspense building toward the surprising conclusion!

In this book, I really enjoyed the character of Terry Archer, who narrates  the story. His character was a little like Zack Walker, someone, who at times is in a little over their head!

Anyway the book was great and rates at least a 4.5 if not a 5! Go find it and enjoy!

iWebsite
Orion Books
Amazon
Wikipdianks

Linwood Barclay

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay continues to be a prolific author, releasing new, critically acclaimed thrillers annually. Known for his high-octane plots and relatable characters, his recent work has solidified his status as a master of contemporary suspense.

Update: There is now a sequel to this book – Linwood Barclay’s No Safe House – new problems for Terry and Cynthia Archer when their daughter becomes involved in a possible murder.Check out my review here

Visit the Linwood Barclay Page

If you like standalone Mystery/Thrillers…….

Here are three Authors whose books might enjoy:

Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea
Michael Koryta/Scott Carson
Riley Sager
Riley Sager
  • Charlie Donlea — tightly plotted thrillers often built around cold cases, missing persons, and strong female leads, with twists that keep coming
  • Michael Koryta / Scott Carson — blends crime, suspense, and sometimes the supernatural, with a darker tone and strong atmosphere
  • Riley Sager — modern psychological thrillers with big twists, often centered on isolated settings and unreliable pasts

Forgotten Books – Bill Granger -November Man

  By ,

 

Bill Granger -November Man

I have seNovember Man - Bill GRangeren other bloggers post about Forgotten Books and I’ve done Forgotten Music. So here is a post about forgotten books. I started keeping a book journal in 1987. I also recorded the date I read the book and some thoughts, Occasionally, I added ratings. ratings. Anyway,  going back through the early book, I came across a series that I really enjoyed the November Man series by Bill Granger. Looking back at March of 1988 and 1989 I read a November Man novel in each year. In 1988 it was the 8th book in the series The Infant of Prague, which I gave 3 stars and said it was better than the previous book I had read  Hemingway’s Notebook. The brief blurb I wrote says Devereaux tries to bring a defector from Czechoslovakia. My comments says the story kept moving and the ending was satisfying! Here is the synopsis at Amazon.

In March of 1989 I read Henry Magee is Not Dead. The synopsis says that Henry Magee is an agent who crossed over in Alaska and there is a complicated plan to ruin R Section (the secret organization that Devereaux heads), a bomb on the Alaskan pipeline and Devereaux and Denisov (Soviet spy defector) end up in Alaska.  There was something about that writing style that made for difficult reading at times but overall a good read! Amazon has a synopsis from Publisher’s Weekly that is a little bit (an understatement) better than mine here

You can see more about Bill Granger and his work at Fantastic Fiction

Final Thoughts

All I remember is that the books were some of the best spy novels I read. They were always exciting  and I loved the title character Devereaux.  These books set me on a course that led to authors like Brad Thor, Vince Flynn and Alex Berenson! If you ever see an old  copy at a library book sale or you online, pick it up. You won’t be disappointed.

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Bill Granger

Bill Granger Page

Amazon

AbeBooks

ThriftBooks

The Midnight House – Alex Berenson (John Wells #4)

  By

 

So, four weeks plus later and two books read in between, I finally finished Alex Berenson‘s The Midnight House. The Midnight House is the fourth book in the John Wells series and I loved the first three. The story lines were good and John Wells was a well developed character who I liked. So I had high expectations when I picked up this book, unfortunately, the book fell short of those expectations. It’s not that the book was bad, it’s just that there really was no hook that brought me into the story and made me want to keep reading.

The novel revolves around interrogation unit 673 that operated in Poland at what they called The Midnight House. After their operation ended, the majority of the soldiers have been killed and John Wells is called in to find out the whys and wherefores. The story goes back and forth in time to tell the story of what happened at the Midnight House and at times that seemed awkward and confusing. The last one hundred or so pages were better than the first two hundred some and overall the ending was satisfying. But the story lacked any personal development in Wells’ character, though some things were touched on. Overall this book rates a 2 out of 5 stars for me. Maybe it would be more enjoyable for first time readers of the series. Those with no expectations. But will I be waiting for the next John Wells book, yes I will,  because Berenson may just knock one out of the park next time!