Linwood Barclay
Linwood Barclay is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty previous novels, and two thrillers for children. His books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. He wrote the screenplay adaptation for his novel Never Saw it Coming and his book The Accident has been made into a TV series in France. His novel No Time for Goodbye was a global bestseller. A native of Connecticut, he now lives in Toronto with his wife, Neetha.
All Books By Linwood Barclay
A Noise Downstairs
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hours 9 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: July 24, 2018
- Language: English
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3.83(8942 ratings)
The New York Times bestselling author of No Time for Goodbye returns with a haunting psychological thriller that blends the twists and turns of Gillian Flynn with the driving suspense of Harlan Coben, in which a man is troubled by odd sounds for which there is no rational explanation.
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 disposing of a couple of bodies. That’s when Paul’s “normal” existence is turned upside down. After nearly losing his own life in that encounter, he finds himself battling PTSD, depression, and severe problems at work. His wife, Charlotte, desperate to cheer him up, brings home a vintage typewriter–complete with ink ribbons and heavy round keys–to encourage him to get started on that novel he’s always intended to write.
However, the typewriter itself is a problem. Paul swears it’s possessed and types by itself at night. But only Paul can hear the noise coming from downstairs; Charlotte doesn’t hear a thing. And she worries he’s going off the rails.
Paul believes the typewriter is somehow connected to the murderer he discovered nearly a year ago. The killer had made his victims type apologies to him before ending their lives. Has another sick twist of fate entwined his life with the killer–could this be the same machine? Increasingly tormented but determined to discover the truth and confront his nightmare, Paul begins investigating the deaths himself.
But that may not be the best thing to do. Maybe Paul should just take the typewriter back to where his wife found it. Maybe he should stop asking questions and simply walk away while he can. . . .
... Read moreA Tap on the Window
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Linwood Barclay
- Length: 12 hours 17 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: August 06, 2013
- Language: English
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3.95(9793 ratings)
International bestselling author Linwood Barclay delivers pulse-pounding suspense that puts him among the masters of the genre. A Tap on the Window finds private investigator Cal Weaver making an ill-advised decision to pick up a young female hitchhiker who reminds him of his dead son. But something is off about the girl, and Cal is soon drawn into a host of nightmarish secrets.
... Read moreBroken Promise
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Linwood Barclay
- Length: 13 hours 6 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: July 28, 2015
- Language: English
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3.95(9679 ratings)
From the New York Times bestselling author of No Safe House comes an explosive novel about the disturbing secrets of a quiet small town.. After his wife’s death and the collapse of his newspaper, David Harwood has no choice but to uproot his nine-year-old son and move back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York. David believes his life is in free fall, and he can’t find a way to stop his descent. Then he comes across a family secret of epic proportions. A year after a devastating miscarriage, David’s cousin Marla has continued to struggle. But when David’s mother asks him to check on her, he’s horrified to discover that she’s been secretly raising a child who is not her own-a baby she claims was a gift from an “angel” left on her porch. When the baby’s real mother is found murdered, David can’t help wanting to piece together what happened-even if it means proving his own cousin’s guilt. But as he uncovers each piece of evidence, David realizes that Marla’s mysterious child is just the tip of the iceberg. Other strange things are happening. Animals are found ritually slaughtered. An ominous abandoned Ferris wheel seems to stand as a warning that something dark has infected Promise Falls. And someone has decided that the entire town must pay for the sins of its past.in blood.
... Read moreElevator Pitch
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 12 hours 52 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: September 17, 2019
- Language: English
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3.81(4672 ratings)
The New York Times bestselling author of A Noise Downstairs and No Time for Goodbye returns with an edge-of-your-seat thriller that does for elevators what Psycho did for showers and Jaws did for the beach–a heart-pounding tale in which a series of disasters paralyzes New York City with fear.
It all begins on a Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds, non-stop, to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds, and then plummets.
Right to the bottom of the shaft.
It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world–and the nation’s capital of media, finance, and entertainment–is plunged into chaos.
Clearly, this is anything but random. This is a cold, calculated bid to terrorize the city. And it’s working. Fearing for their lives, thousands of men in women working in offices across the city refuse to leave their homes. Commerce has slowed to a trickle. Emergency calls to the top floors of apartment buildings go unanswered.
Who is behind this? Why are they doing it? What do these deadly acts of sabotage have to do with the fingerless body found on the High Line? Two seasoned New York detectives and a straight-shooting journalist must race against time to find the answers before the city’s newest, and tallest, residential tower has its Friday night ribbon-cutting.
With each diabolical twist, Linwood Barclay ratchets up the suspense, building to a shattering finale. Pulsating with tension, Elevator Pitch is a riveting tale of psychological suspense that is all too plausible . . . and will chill listenersto the bone.
Bonus: Stay tuned at the end to hear a crowdsourced interview with the author.
... Read moreFar From True
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Linwood Barclay
- Length: 12 hours 49 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 08, 2016
- Language: English
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3.89(6076 ratings)
New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Linwood Barclay delivers the second spine-chilling thriller set in the troubled town of Promise Falls, following the electrifying cliffhanger ending of Broken Promise… After the screen of a run-down drive-in movie theater collapses and kills four people, the daughter of one of the victims asks private investigator Cal Weaver to look into a recent break-in at her father’s house. Cal discovers a hidden basement room where it’s clear that salacious activities have taken place–as well as evidence of missing DVDs. But his investigation soon becomes more complicated when he realizes it may not be discs the thief was actually interested in…. Meanwhile, Detective Barry Duckworth is still trying to solve two murders–one of which is three years old–he believes are connected, since each featured a similar distinctive wound. As the lies begin to unravel, Cal is headed straight into the heart of a dark secret as his search uncovers more startling truths about Promise Falls. And when yet another murder happens, Cal and Barry are both driven to pursue their investigations, no matter where they lead. Evil deeds long thought buried are about to haunt the residents of this town-as the sins of the past and present collide with terrifying results.
... Read moreFind You First
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hours 8 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: May 04, 2021
- Language: English
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4.05(8810 ratings)
The New York Times bestselling author of Elevator Pitch and master of psychological suspense returns with a riveting thriller in which the possible heirs of a dying tech millionaire are mysteriously being eliminated, one by one.
“Find You First starts with a bang and ends with an even bigger one. . . . It’s the best book of his career.” — Stephen King
Tech millionaire Miles Cookson has more money than he can ever spend, and everything he could dream of–except time. He has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and there is a fifty percent chance that it can be passed on to the next generation. For Miles, this means taking a long hard look at his past . . .
Two decades ago, a young, struggling Miles was a sperm donor. Somewhere out there, he has kids–nine of them. And they might be about to inherit both the good and the bad from him–maybe his fortune, or maybe something much worse.
As Miles begins to search for the children he’s never known, aspiring film documentarian Chloe Swanson embarks on a quest to find her biological father, armed with the knowledge that twenty-two years ago, her mother used a New York sperm bank to become pregnant.
When Miles and Chloe eventually connect, their excitement at finding each other is overshadowed by a series of mysterious and terrifying events. One by one, Miles’s other potential heirs are vanishing–every trace of them wiped, like they never existed at all.
Who is the vicious killer–another heir methodically erasing rivals? Or is something even more sinister going on?
It’s a deadly race against time . . .
... Read moreJacket Man
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 17 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: April 19, 2016
- Language: English
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3.28(134 ratings)
From the New York Times and #1 international bestselling author of Far From True, a short story where the grifter is not who he seems.
Sam seems like an ordinary guy. While he is filling up his car with gas in Stamford, Connecticut, a car whips into the station lot, stops alongside, and asks him for directions to LaGuardia Airport. Gian claims that he is from Milano, but Sam can spot an imitation in a second. The accent is all wrong, and while Gian tries to sell him counterfeit luxury coats that he can’t take back on the plane to Italy, they bump hips, and Sam feels what he thinks is a gun tucked into Gian’s belt. “Jacket Man” is a story of how to escape with your life, and some counterfeit pleather coats while you’re at it.
“Jacket Man” by Linwood Barclay is one of 20 short stories within Mulholland Books’s Strand Originals series, featuring thrilling stories by the biggest names in mystery from the Strand Magazine archives. View the full series list at mulhollandbooks.com and read them all!
Look Both Ways
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Linwood Barclay
- Length: 13 hours 5 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: May 16, 2023
- Language: English
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3.8(2283 ratings)
Inspired by his decades-long love of cars, internationally bestselling author Linwood Barclay envisions a world in which automotive technology outpaces our wildest dreams—and our darkest nightmares—in a gripping new novel of action and suspense
These headlights are watching you…
The media have descended on Garrett Island, a small, isolated community that is the setting of a visionary experiment. All the residents’ cars were sent to the mainland and for the past month the islanders have been “driving” the Arrival, a revolutionary autonomous vehicle. With a simple voice command, an Arrival will take you wherever you want to go and, because the fleet is networked and aware of one another, car travel is now 100% safe. The future, it seems, has arrived.
As the excitement reaches a fever pitch, Sandra Montrose—islander, single mom, and public relations executive—prepares for Arrival Inc.’s flashy press event. Sandra is more than ready for this new world. Her husband died after falling asleep at the wheel and she’s relieved that her two teens, Archie and Katie, will never need driver’s licenses.
But as the celebratory day gets underway, disaster strikes. A visiting journalist has vanished, possibly murdered. Before long, the Arrivals run amok, no longer taking orders from their passengers. They’re starting to organize. They’re beginning to hunt. And they seem hell-bent on killing any human they encounter.
Is this all just a tragic accident, a technological malfunction with deadly consequences? Or were the vehicles programmed to act this way in a cruel act of corporate sabotage? Or could it be that the Arrivals have a mind of their own?
Fasten your seatbelts—it’s going to be a bumpy ride
... Read moreNo Safe House
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Linwood Barclay
- Length: 12 hours 39 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: August 05, 2014
- Language: English
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3.76(5647 ratings)
New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay delivers an electrifying novel of suspense in which a family’s troubled past is about to return in more ways than one. And this time, they may not be able to escape.. Seven years ago, Terry Archer and his family, who first appeared in No Time for Goodbye, experienced a horrific ordeal that nearly cost them their lives. Today, the echoes of that fateful night are still audible. Terry’s wife, Cynthia, is living separate from her husband and daughter after her own personal demons threatened to ruin her relationship with them permanently. Their daughter, Grace, is rebelling against her parents’ seemingly needless overprotection. Terry is just trying to keep his family together. And the entire town is reeling from the senseless murder of two elderly locals. But when Grace foolishly follows her delinquent boyfriend into a strange house, the Archers must do more than stay together. They must stay alive. They have all been unwillingly drawn into the shadowy depths of their seemingly idyllic hometown. For there, they will be reconnected with the man who saved their lives seven years ago, but who still remains a ruthless, unrepentant criminal. They will encounter killers for hire working all sides. And they will learn that there are some things people value much more than money, and will do anything to get it. Caught in a labyrinth between family loyalty and ultimate betrayal, Terry must find a way to extricate his family from a lethal situation he still doesn’t fully comprehend. All he knows is that to live, he may have to do the unthinkable.
... Read moreParting Shot
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Length: 12 hours 55 minutes
- Publisher: Doubleday Canada
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
From New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Linwood Barclay comes a new, standalone blockbuster thriller that spins off from the events of the explosive Promise Falls trilogy.
If you made a mistake that took someone’s life, you’d remember it . . . wouldn’t you?
After a tragedy rocks the community of Promise Falls, Cal Weaver is asked to investigate the threats being made to the accused’s family. He’s heard all about it on the news: the young man who drank too much, stole a Porsche and killed a girl, and who claimed afterwards not to remember a single thing. The whole town is outraged that he got off lightly, but for reasons Cal can’t explain, he accepts the job. Then Cal finds himself caught up in a vicious revenge plot, chasing someone set on delivering retribution. In Cal’s experience, it’s only ever a matter of time before threats turn into action. . . .
A gripping thriller packed with scandal, from the master of the twist you never saw coming.
Take Your Breath Away
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Joe Knezevich
- Length: 10 hours 1 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: May 17, 2022
- Language: English
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4.05(5874 ratings)
A missing woman. A husband suspected. The truth will . . .
TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY
From the New York Times bestselling author of Find You First and Elevator Pitch comes a gripping psychological thriller about a formerly missing woman who has suddenly returned under mysterious circumstances.
One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace. Most everyone assumed Andy had got away with murder–it’s always the husband, isn’t it?–but the police could never build a strong case against him. For a while, Andy hit rock bottom–he drank too much to numb the pain, was abandoned by all his friends save one, nearly lost his business, and became a pariah in the place he once called home.
Now, six years later, Andy has finally put his life back together. He sold the house he once shared with Brie and moved away. To tell the truth, he wasn’t sad to hear that the old place was razed and a new house built on the site. He’s settled down with a new partner, Jayne, and life is good.
But Andy’s peaceful world is about to shatter. One day, a woman shows up at his old address, screaming, “Where’s my house? What’s happened to my house?” And then, just as suddenly as she appeared, the woman–who bears a striking resemblance to Brie–is gone. The police are notified and old questions–and dark suspicions–resurface.
Could Brie really be alive after all these years? If so, where has she been? It soon becomes clear that Andy’s future and the lives of those closest to him depend on discovering what the hell is going on. The trick will be whether he can stay alive long enough to unearth the answers.
... Read moreThe Lie Maker
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 10 hours 17 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: May 16, 2023
- Language: English
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4.22(1596 ratings)
In this twisty, fast-paced thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Find You First and Take Your Breath Away, a man desperately tries to track down his father—who was taken into witness protection years ago—before his enemies can get to him.
Your dad’s not a good person. Your dad killed people, son.
These are some of the last words Jack Givins’ father spoke to him before he was whisked away by witness protection, leaving Jack and his mother to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives as best they could.
Years later, Jack is a grown man with problems of his own. He’s a talented but struggling author, barely scraping by on the royalties from his moderately successful first book. So when the U.S. Marshals approach him with a lucrative opportunity, he’s in no position to turn them down. They’re recruiting writers like Jack to create false histories for people in witness protection—people like Jack’s father.
The coincidence is astonishing to Jack at first, but he soon realizes this may be a chance to find his dad. Only there’s one problem—Jack’s father hasn’t made contact with his handlers recently, and they have no idea where he is. He could be in serious danger, and Jack may be the only one who can find him.
But how will he find a man he’s never truly known? A man who has done terrible things in his lifetime and made some deadly enemies in the process—enemies who wouldn’t think twice about using his own son against him.
... Read moreThe Twenty-Three
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Linwood Barclay
- Length: 12 hours 27 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: November 01, 2016
- Language: English
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4.04(5662 ratings)
From New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Linwood Barclay comes the third jaw-dropping thriller set in Promise Falls. It’s May 23rd, and a contaminated water supply in the small town of Promise Falls, New York, has sent hundreds of people to the hospital with flu-like symptoms-and dozens have died. But the question for many, including private investigator Cal Weaver, remains: Who would benefit from poisoning this town? Meanwhile, Detective Barry Duckworth is faced with another problem. A college student has been murdered, and he’s seen the killer’s handiwork before-in the unsolved homicides of two other women in town. He begins to piece together the seemingly unrelated events and realizes that the motive for harming the people of Promise Falls points to the number 23-and working out why will bring him closer to death than he’s ever been before.
... Read moreTrust Your Eyes
- By: Linwood Barclay
- Narrator: Linwood Barclay
- Length: 14 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: September 04, 2012
- Language: English
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4.11(9983 ratings)
Best-selling author Linwood Barclay’s The Acciden tinspired Stephen King to comment, ”With this novel, Barclay vaults to the top of the suspense pantheon.” Trust Your Eyes follows schizophrenic Thomas Kilbride, who believes he’s a CIA operative, as he explores and memorizes the streets of the world through images he finds on the Whirl360 website. While examining an image of downtown New York City, he thinks he sees a woman being murdered. Compelled to investigate, Thomas is soon drawn into a web of conspiracy and lies.
... Read more