No Safe House – Linwood Barclay (Book 24 for 2014)
The first Linwood Barclay books I read were his Zack Walker mystery books, and I loved them! After I fnished the third book and was ready to move on, I discovered that Mr. Barclay had left that series, and moved on to write stand alone thrillers. The first one was No Time to Say Goodbye and it was great! Since then I have read and enjoyed all of his books. The latest is No Safe House. In No Safe House, Barclay treats his readers to further adventures of the Archer family, the main characters in No Time to Say Goodbye!
In the prologue an elderly couple is brutally slain in the Archer’s hometown of Mitford, Connecticut by a sadistic duo, who are in search of something or someone…..
When we meet the Archer family, daughter Grace is now fourteen and as she moves into adolescence, she is rebelling, One night during an argument with her mother, Grace is seriously burned. Her mother, Cynthia decides that she needs time away from the family and moves out, leaving husband Terry and Grace on their own. Then disaster strikes, when Grace foolishly follows her date Stuart Koch, into a strange house. Grace ends up with a gun in her had, Stuart hears someone else in the house. Shots are fired. Were they from Grace’s gun?, Where’s Stuart? Did Grace shoot him?. Someone rushes past Grace! Stricken with panic Grace leaves the house, calls for help to a friend and her father.
Soon the Archers are thrown into the middle of a mess, because not only were shots fired, but valuables were stolen from the house, valuables that didn’t belong to the homeowner, but rather to a career criminal Vincent Fleming, who is also Stuart’s father’s boss! This isn’t the Archer;s first encounter with Vince. Years ago, Vincent helped the Archer’s with their problems. His help saved the Archer’sbut left him needing a urine bag after being shot. Needless to say he is not a friend of the Archer’s. Through the rest of the book the Archer’s mainly Terry try to unravel the mystery of what happened that night, to keep Grace safe and their family together!! What about those killers – what are they looking for? Their killing spree and search continues right up until the climax of the book.
As in all of Barclay’s books the pace of the action is swift, and the pages keep flying by. This book lacked a little of the tension that I have encountered in other works by Barclay, but the whole story isn’t resolved until the closing pages of the book which makes for damn good reading!!
One of the complaints about the book was that other readers didn’t really like the characters. I don’t have a problem with the characters. For example Terry is resolute in finding the answers that will save his daughter and he goes well outside his comfort level to do such and while Vincent is a thug, he is also a father, all be it a stepfather, who will also do anything for his daughter!
Bottom line – it was another great read from Barclay, a little less thrilling than past works, but the over all it was a good story. In the words of the New York Times Book Review…..
“Some days, all you really want is for someone to tell you a wicked-good story. Linwood Barclay answers the reader’s perpetual prayer.”
Amen to that!!
