No Safe House

Completely disappointed.
I have read everything this author has written, as they are all exceptional reads. My favorite being 'No time for goodbye' from a few years back which was the prequel. I pre-ordered and when it was released I couldn't wait to crack it open. I have just finished reading it and I am still scratching my head. It was one of the silliest books I have ever read.
The plot was completely far fetched, the characters one dimensional. I literally put it down halfway thinking it must get better, well it doesnt. It seemed that someone entirely different wrote this book.
I will not give up on one of my favorite writers but If you are a fan, you will not like this book. I am not sure who would. Come on Mr Barclay this is not up to your standards.

Disappointed in Lincoln Barclay's recent release, NO SAFE HOUSE. The main theme or plot of the book was unbelievable, the characters not very interesting. I haven't finished reading the book yet and don't know that it matters one way or the other if I do. Sorry, but just being honest. Someone else might really like it, but I just didn't. My husband read it and didn't like it either.

I loved this book. What an entertaining story. Very suspenseful. I was not sure because the same characters were in a previous book and was afraid that it would be too similar, but was pleasantly surprised. Very good.

Every word he writes is important to the story and I have an "Oh s***" moment with each novel when he brings it all together. I learned after the first book I read of his years ago to soak in every paragraph. I can't imagine anyone not bragging on Linwood after reading!

Linwood Barclay is my favorite author, and he has written yet another hit. But I thought I was buying this book "New." The cover had markings on it and appeared to be used. But nonetheless, I'm happy with finally getting the lastest book from Barclay.

The Archer family - dad Terry, mom Cynthia, and teen daughter Grace - experienced serious personal trauma so it's not a surprise that Cynthia is over-protective of her daughter. In the spirit of rebellion Grace dates a juvenile delinquent and ends up breaking into a house to 'borrow' a sports car for a joy ride. Coincidentally someone else has also broken into the house. Before long a gun goes off and things go seriously belly up.

In an attempt to protect Grace from the consequences of her actions the Archers need help from an old acquaintance - known criminal Vince - who has been using 'respectable' houses to hide loot acquired in his criminal enterprises. At the same time another set of killers has become interested in these houses - apparently looking for a specific mysterious object. This all leads to a complicated plot in which Vince needs to quickly recover all the loot from the safe houses before the police or the rival killers get to it. Terry becomes unwillingly caught up in these plans, as does Grace.

Meanwhile Cynthia, to avoid constant arguments with rebellious Grace, is taking a break from the family. She's temporarily moved into an apartment building and become acquainted with a down-on-his-luck techie who now walks dogs and a landlord who still pines for a long lost love.

There's a somewhat complicated relationship between the characters that overshadows their interactions: Vince was seriously injured several years before when he was helping the Archers, which he still resents; Grace is friendly with Vince's somewhat shady stepdaughter Jane - who was Terry's former student; Grace's boyfriend is the son of a thug in Vince's gang, and so on.

The story is a somewhat suspenseful page-turner but most of the characters are not likable and the plot strains credulity. Just a so-so thriller.

Terry Archer had thought he would have nothing to do with gangster Vince Flemming. His daughter gets involved with a boy named Stuart and he convinces her to help break into a house. All goes wrong as somebody is in the house and a gun goes off. Stuart is the son of one of Vinces's henchmen and Grace is all of sudden drawn into Vince's world, bringing her father Terry back in.

Meanwhile there is a husband and wife breaking into houses and demanding answers from the owners, of which the owner cannot answer. Not being able to answer the questions, causes a vicious punishment to the owners, including death. The story of Vince and the deadly husband and wife will converge later on in the book.

This is the second book I have read by this author and it is a well written, highly engrossing thriller that is difficult to guess what will happen next. The characters are well developed and I am very tempted to read the first book involving Terry and Vince. The tension.that the author creates when Terry's daughter breaks into the house is incredible. Other such exciting scenes occur later in the book and the author's descriptions put you right there with the characters.

A first rate thriller!

Read my full review: http://bit.ly/1ONFn0Q

Synopsis: Sometimes, the past is a difficult thing to shed.

For the Archers, it is the reason for their continued problems. Terry and Cynthia are separated and daughter Grace is heading down a terrible path of poor decision making.

When Grace makes a bad decision to follow her delinquent boyfriend into a house to rob it, it opens up a can of worms with killers and those who pay them. The Archers thought they left this behind seven years ago, but the past isn't quite through with this family yet.

Can this dysfunctional, broken family come together to save themselves?

My rating: 3 Stars

My opinion: I must say that I have very mixed feelings regarding this book. I love this author but feel that the span of time between books in the series was too far. I had given the first book in this series 5 stars, but found that I had to spend too much time remembering events and dynamics between characters than on the story itself.

As in his typical style, character and plot development is superb. I simply wish that this book would have been published several years ago. It easily would have garnered a higher rating than the 3 stars given. It just seemed off with the length of time between releases.

This author still remains in my top 3 of Canadian mystery writers who are highly recommended when I am asked.

Source: Publisher for review

Would I recommend? : I would. Do yourself a favor and read No Time for Goodbye prior to reading this book.

This was a difficult review for me to write. Given that I had read the prequel, No Time For Goodbye, I can honestly say that as a follow up, I found No Safe House to be a bit disappointing. There were many moments where Barclay points out how the main characters, Terry and Cynthia, had dealt with Vince and his crime element before. With this being said, I would expect Terry to take many more precautions. All I kept asking myself was, "Didn't you learn anything last time???" while reading this follow-up book. However, if I were to rate this as a standalone book, then that would change my rating a bit. I don't think the readers necessarily need to read the first book in order to enjoy this one. As a standalone, I definitely give this book 4-stars. As a sequel, much closer to 3...maybe even lower. The fact that it was still a page turner and kept me interested won me over to settle on a 4-star vote in the end.

As “No Safe House” by Linwood Barclay starts, Bradley and his female partner break into a couple’s home and murder them, after being unable to find what they’re searching for. Switchover to Terry’s life: He has marital problems with wife Cynthia, when his teenage daughter Grace joins her loser boyfriend Stuart go to a strange house in order to take a Porsche for a ride while the owners are away—they get the surprise of their lives as someone else comes into the house as the same time as them—and that shapes the rest of the plot, as both Terry and Grace struggle to unravel whether someone was shot and how deep in trouble Grace is.

Meanwhile, the story intersperses with that of Vince Fleming, Grace’s mother’s ex-boyfriend who dated her during her teenage years and has become a career criminal—and who, along with his gang (where one of the members is the above-mentioned Stuart’s father) make their living by stashing other people’s money in---houses. As a detective gets involved, the murders pile up, and Grace’s parents and even Vince’s stepdaughter get pulled into the web, one thing becomes clear: this isn’t going to end well.

One thing that I like about Barclay’s thrillers is his ability to have the story revolve around an “everyday man”—which makes the stories more relatable and interesting. Here, the plot is told from multiple points of view—which works both ways. You get a deeper understanding of the story, but there’s less suspense when you have that understanding. Because of this, I would have preferred it be told strictly from the point of view of Terry or Cynthia---however it depends on one’s taste.

The subplot that I especially enjoyed involved Grace’s mother Cynthia, who decides to temporarily move out of the family home—and having no idea of her daughter’s troubles, meets her new neighbor—a young, handsome ex owner of a software company gone bust, who—despite his amicable personality and current job as a dog-walker—is not everything that he seems.

The writing is detailed but the chapters are short and quick to read, as the various subplots and viewpoints all act as pieces in a bigger puzzle. For a deeper back story on some of the main characters in this book—including Grace’s mother Cynthia and the criminal gangster Vince, I suggest you read “No Time For Goodbye,” one of Barclay’s earlier books as well. Overall, an interesting read.

Linwood Barclay consistently delivers excellent reads featuring ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. No Safe House is not an exception. The reader is caught up immediately by the rapid opening of events based on murders of seven years before the opening of the story. Terry and Cynthia Archer were saved from death by a man who is a known killer in his own right and live with the memory. Cynthia pursued by her demons of the past moves out of her home leaving Terry and their daughter together. Grace, the teenage daughter, is rebellious fighting the overbearing supervision of both her parents based on the horrendous events of the past. She gets mixed up with a boy who has criminal tendencies.
The young man convinces Grace to accompany him on a break in of a home in order to take out a luxury car for a joy ride. Things immediately go wrong and the boy is shot to death by someone else entering the house at the same time as they do.
With this set of events occurring the Archers find themselves mixed up in a wider and wider conspiracy involving several distinct groups, all apparently trying to find certain valuables in different houses.
The ending is typical Barclay, logical and bringing together all events in a satisfying conclusion. But wait, there is an unexpected development at the very end which ties together several loose ends which were not very apparent prior to bringing this out. Well done, another all nighter by a master, and the only question is when will we get another one from Mr Barclay.

.

I've enjoyed Barclay's novels for several years. He is a superb writer of suspenseful stores. This book is technically well written. The problem is, it has a preposterous plot. I would defy anyone, once they have figured out what the bad guys are doing, to assert that there is the slightest chance that it could ever happen. It would require an unimaginable combination of stupidity on the part of the bad guys and their "customers" plus a web of coincidence that your common sense would immediately reject. The bad guys are rife. There is plenty of senseless killing for what turns out to be an incredibly trivial purpose. Does it build suspense? Sure it does, but only if you close your mind to the contrived plot. I found it interesting enough to finish it. With a lesser writer I'd have quit reading halfway through. That makes it worth two stars, but no more than that..

I really must start by saying this is not Barclay's best book when considering the mystery. One must suspend disbelief for this tale just as one does for any action film, say one starring Bruce Willis because that's exactly what this book is: an action thriller. And a roller coaster ride indeed that spans the course of only 24 hours. Several narratives are happening at once: the current action, the events that lead up to the current action and like the author used in the previous book about this family, a running conversation between totally unknown characters which the reader has no idea who they are or what they are talking about until it is slowly revealed in the conversation. I started the book a little in disbelief at how wild the tale was growing but honestly got caught up in the action that I threw belief to the wind and went along for the ride. This is a sequel to "No Time to Say Goodbye". It is about the same family and takes place some years after the events of that book. It is a completely different case and the first book does not have to be read to understand this one, but the events of the first book are mostly disclosed here making reading "No Time for Goodbye" first, for the sake of enjoyment, advisable. The most disturbing thing about the story was the characters' moral ambiguity, not just one but pretty much all of them, are so ambivalent that the characters I liked in the first book became unpalatable here and I lost caring about them. As to the solution, Barclay got me once again and came so out of left-field I would never have seen that coming and still it made perfect sense.

Linwood Barclay is back with a novel that allows the readers to get caught up with the Archer's, who were the subject in one of his previous novel No Time for Goodbye. I will start out by recommending that if you want to read this novel you should read No Time For Goodbye first. While the stories are not connected, the characters certainly are and it is a good idea to get a feeling about these characters before starting this one.

The Archer family has run into more trouble. Terry and his wife Cynthia now have to worry about their daughter, Grace. Grace is now fourteen years old and has a new boy friend. This new boy friend takes her to a house were he can take a sports car out for a joyride. Once they get to this house they realize that they are not as alone as they previously thought. A gunshot later and Grace is calling Terry asking him to come and pick her up but will not give any details. As Terry starts to piece some of what happen together, he realizes that this house along with others are part of a shady business ran by his their old buddy Vince. At the same time, people are starting to get killed and the people are being killed because of something that may or may not have been hidden in their homes.

This is another good novel by Barclay. Characters and pacing continue to be a strength in everything that I have read from him. Once again if you haven't read No Time For Goodbye, read it first and then I think you will enjoy this novel too.

Grade: A

Linwood Barclay's latest novel, No Safe House, has been sitting on my kitchen table looking at me for over a week now. I resisted - knowing that I had some vacation time coming and I would binge read it until I literally couldn't keep my eyes open. I did - and it was worth it!

Barclay usually writes one off suspense novels, but this latest is a follow up to 2008's No Time For Goodbye.

Barclay grabs the reader from the get go with a prologue that just sets the breakneck pace for the rest of the book. You'd think that after what Terry, Cynthia and their daughter Grace went through seven years ago, life would leave them in peace.

"I don't know where I got the idea that once you've come through a very dark time, after you've confronted the worst possible demons and defeated, them, that everything's going to be just fine."

Uh-uh, it's not... When Grace goes along with a bad idea her sketchy date has to take a Porsche out for a joyride, it starts a domino effect that plunges the family into yet another nightmare.

Barclay cuts the narrative between Terry and others with their own agenda. It did take me bit to figure out that there was more than one group - these chapters are initially quite cryptic. I do enjoy this style of storytelling, but have to hold myself back from flipping ahead 'just to see'.

Barclay's plot is quite inventive - I had no idea where things were going to. The little click when things start to fit together is quite satisfying, but there are many, many pieces to Barclay's puzzle and just as many twists and turns. I did think that the one of the plot devices was a bit far fetched, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book at all.

The writing shoots straight from the hip - there no unnecessary descriptions or involved self explorations, just fast paced dialogue and action. Barclay does the 'regular guy thrown into a crazy situation' story extremely well.

No Safe House was excellent escapist reading

...And one last thing - you might want to think twice about who has a key and the alarm code to your house - the neighbour, the dog walker, the babysitter, the cleaning lady....

One of my favourite Linwood Barclay books is No Time For Goodbye, which is where Cynthia Archer arrived home to find her family missing and then it turned out that her father had killed her mother and brother as she discovers twenty five years later with the hep of family friend Vince. Fast forward seven years and you have No Safe House by Linwood Barclay featuring Terry and Cynthia Archer and their fifteen year old Daughter Grace. Ever since Cynthia discovered what happened to her family, life has been unsettling as she has tried to put in places barriers and safety measures so that her own daughter Grace won't have to go through what she did. Grace being a teenage girl argues back one night and takes it a bit too far as she brings up about Cynthia's family - the one sore spot in her life. Cynthia snaps and ends up slapping Grace which causes Grace to fall backwards and in falling backwards she reaches out for the nearest thing which turns out to be a pot and burns her hand. This is the breaking point for Cynthia as she decides it will be best if she moves out and so she does. During this time Terry is left to be a single dad to Grace and she learns to lie about her whereabouts. All is well until Grace stumbles into something terrible and finds herself holding a gun and a dead person. Turns out though, that this incident is connected to Cynthia's old mutual friend Vince and so begins all over again a love/hate relationship with Vince and being pulled into whatever criminal stunt he is pulling. As the death count rises though, is Cynthia and her family safe or has escaping death once caused them to have lost their second or third chance at life ?
Find out in this action packed rollercoaster ride of Linwood Barclay's new novel "No Safe House".

So this is the sequel to “No Time For Goodbye” an early novel from this author, and in this readers opinion still one of his best, so to say I was excited to read a sequel would be to put it mildly.

In all honesty I found it to be a bit hit and miss. Mr Barclay is well known for his haunting twisty plots, that immediately draw you into a web of intrigue…so I think the real issue for me personally in “No Safe House” was that the whole thing took a while to take off and even then was not as evocative and addictive as usual.

Thats not to say it is a bad book, by any means, in my case I think I found it difficult because I loved the characters in the first novel and this time around, frankly, I thought they (especially Terry) were just plain stupid a lot of the time. Add to that the plot became over complicated and kept disappearing down side alleys that didnt go anywhere.

In the good news department there are a couple of villainous villains who are intriguing, the last third of the book picked up pace and delivered a much better read, and there were definite flashes of the old brilliance. Overall though, although I would award it a solid 3* , I rather wish that the end of No Time For Goodbye had actually been goodbye to the story for good.

This in no way puts me off reading more from Linwood Barclay, who from his very first book has been one of my favourite thriller writers. But this one did not QUITE hit the mark for me.

Happy Reading Folks!

**Source: Netgalley UK**

Somebody is killing the inhabitants of the small town of Milford and there seems to be no motive for the killings. Police and homicide detectives are baffled since murders in their town are so unheard of. The murders start when a retired couple end up dead in their living room. Who has killed the couple and why?

In the same town, Cynthia and Terry Archer have started to lead separate lives since Cynthia is overly protective of their teenage daughter, Grace. Cynthia moves out when she slaps her daughter who has ignored Cynthia's rules. The entire family has experience a tragedy which has resulted in Cynthia's over protection of their daughter. When Grace does something exceedingly stupid, Terry Archer must extricate his daughter from her resultant craziness.

This was a typical Linwood Barclay thriller. It has the twists and turns that I have come to expect from his writing. However, it is not my favorite but still a good book. I had some problems with the book the pertain to the characters. Grace Archer, the fourteen year old daughter is portrayed as someone that seems much older to me. She is friends with a woman who is in her twenties and out of college. How many fourteen year old teenagers are fast friends with somebody who is in their twenties? I had a hard time with that one.

It is still one heck of a thriller but I don't think this is the author's best.

When I finished No Time for Goodbye I thought “well that mystery is solved now Cynthia, Terry and Grace can settle down to a quiet life”. Then along came No Safe House.

There are a few different plot lines running through the book. The mystery of the two killers looking for something or someone, viciously killing innocent people as they go. Grace, rebelling against her mother’s over protectiveness follows delinquent Stuart as he breaks into someone’s house. The incident that follows brings Vince Fleming back into the Archer’s lives. And the “who dunnit” as someone who knows about Vince’s criminal operation is ripping him off. These stories all come together for a very tense ending.

I enjoyed this novel more than the first. I think maybe it was because I had come to know the characters and their different personalities and I was more forgiving of their faults. Terry was just as annoying as usual (at least he is consistent) and a few times there I would have been happy if Vince had of shot him. I thought Vince was a bit too nice and helpful in the first book. He is much more believable as a hardened criminal this time.

Overall a well executed mystery, thriller that kept me guessing right to the end.

Thank you to Hachette Australia for my copy to read and review.

Linwood Barclay's latest release is a sequel to his 2008 novel No Time For Goodbye. Fortunately it doesn't matter if you haven't read the predecessor, or - if you're like me - and have read it but are a little murky on the specifics.

We pick up with the Archer family - Terry, Cynthia and Grace - seven years after their first outing. Cynthia is still dealing with her demons - a result of having been abandoned as a child and almost losing her life (and the lives of those she loves) later. Overly protective of 14-year-old Grace she's forced herself to take a time-out from her husband and daughter after an incident where she (accidentally) injured Grace.

Naturally (following in her mother's footsteps) Grace has been rebelling against her mother's overly strict behaviour but realises she's in over her head when she's out with Stuart who decides to break a house (he happens to know is empty via some 'list' of his father's) to joy ride in the owner's Porsche. The young pair discovers they're not alone in the house and in the ensuing dark mayhem Grace fears she's accidentally shot Stuart.

Read the full review in my blog from early August 2014: http://www.debbish.com/books-literature/book-review-no-safe-house/

Linwood Barclay’s best novel to date is the just-published NO SAFE HOUSE, a sequel of sorts to NO TIME FOR GOODBYE. The qualifier “of sorts” is applied since several years have passed since the events of its predecessor. Also, if you have never read NO TIME FOR GOODBYE (or if your memory of it is a bit fuzzy on the details), you can pick up the new book with the assurance that the estimable Mr. Barclay will economically bring you up to speed without missing a step in the narrative.

And what a narrative it is. NO SAFE HOUSE begins with a violent home invasion before seguing into a couple of mysteries in the midst of a civilized domestic bump involving Terry and Cynthia Archer, and their teenage daughter, Grace. A great deal (though by no means all) of the book is narrated by Terry; when we meet him, some time down the road from NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, the family is not so much split as they are taking what all parties agree to be a very temporary break. Cynthia, whose life has been hallmarked by the trauma of sudden and involuntary family separation, has taken up temporary residence in an apartment following an overreaction to a disagreement with Grace, who in turn is rebelling against the cloying (though certainly understandable) over-protectiveness of her parents.

Part of this rebellion manifests itself in Grace’s down-low (though more or less platonic) relationship with a local bad boy named Stuart. Their relationship, and everything else in Grace’s life, goes downhill when she reluctantly accompanies Stuart to the home of a family on vacation, ostensibly to go joyriding in a sports car garaged within. The two are only in the house for a short time when a horrific incident leads Grace to believe that she has accidentally committed a murder.

Grace’s actions bring an unwelcome figure from the past into the Archers’ lives. Vince Fleming, a local crime lord whose reluctant intercession into the events of NO TIME FOR GOODBYE proved to be the Archers’ salvation, is terminally ill but still formidable. Though his criminal enterprise is merely a shadow of what it once was, he is still as cagy, inventive and dangerous as ever. Fleming’s latest moneymaking scheme is seemingly under attack by persons unknown, who, in turn, seem to circle back into his own crew of variably talented miscreants. It slowly becomes evident that the only people Fleming can trust are the Archers, who need him to keep Grace from getting even deeper into trouble.

Meanwhile, two puzzling mysteries play themselves out, as different parties seem hellbent on recovering a mysterious object that was ostensibly in Fleming’s possession, and will stop at nothing to get it. It will take you until the final paragraphs to ultimately determine who is doing what to whom and, most importantly, why.

NO SAFE HOUSE is Barclay’s most ambitious work to date, full of plot twists and turns, grim humor, rough nobility and dark redemption. Those legions of readers familiar with Barclay’s work may find themselves surprised by his tough-guy dialogue that manifests itself here and there to superior effect; if Barclay ever decides to write a straight-up noir novel (and this book comes close to being so in spots), no one should be surprised. There is also a very subtle nod to the past that loyal and obsessive fans will find amusing. It concerns an advertisement for a car dealership and references one of my all-time favorite moments in a Barclay book. It is very subtle and, like everything else in NO SAFE HOUSE, wondrously done.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

Once again Linwood Barclay has given us a truly great mystery with relatable characters, and a story line that will keep you guessing up to the end! No Time for Goodbye is Part 1, No Safe House Part 2, both stories are independent so you don’t have to read them in succession but why wouldn’t you they are SO good!

I have read several books by Linwood Barclay and generally enjoyed them very much. No Safe House is a sequel seven years later to No Time For Goodbye. No Time For Goodbye was first rate. No Safe House is not as good as that one and indeed is somewhat disappointing. Terry and Cynthia's bratty daughter Grace features prominently in this book but she is not very likeable. The plot involving money stashed in the attics of the houses of ordinary folk is a tad far-fetched. There are some interesting plot twists.

It is worth a read but is not as good as his previous novels.

It's a fast whirlwind, one twist after another! The plot pulls you in and you won't want to quit reading. Then when you have to stop reading, you will think about it. Easy to read but with lots of surprises. Great book! Recommend this author.

Most of the time, new books by Linwood Barclay are very much looked forward to in this house. Given this, I found his newest, "No Safe House", to be a disappointment. Trying to follow the plot for the first 200+ pages is like trying to catch a nervous grasshopper. The characters, both major and incidental, pop up like whack a moles. You kind of figure out who one is supposed to be in the story's context, and here come one or two more. I suppose this could be forgiven if the story ever came together in a good, coherent read. It didn't, and the twist at the ending, though somewhat predictable, simply didn't work. Still looking forward to trying the next one, though. You just can't win them all.