Book Review: No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

No Time For Goodbye was recommended to our parent book group by one of the librarians. I wanted a non-gruesome page turner and Linwood Barclay delivered.

Out of nine mums, one hated it complaining it was too sad, two loved it and the rest of us were left confused.

We all agreed it was a fantastic plot that has the potential to be a blockbuster hit – should it ever be made. The problem lay in the writing style.

The story revolves around the disappearance of a 14 year old girl’s family. It very quickly jumps to 25 years later and a final attempt to solve the mystery.

It is written from the perspective of the husband of the now married girl.  As strange things happen he wonders whether she is responsible and starts to doubt his wife’s innocence.

We debated for some time the cause of our disappointment. We agreed the writing lacked something. It isn’t badly written. In fact the very last page was brilliant. And this might be the key. Apart from the very last page, it isn’t a very emotional read. For a group of mums reading a book about a child’s family going missing we expected more emotion.

That said, we ended up with an average score of 3 to 3.5 out of five. But the majority of us couldn’t hand on heart recommend it to friends as a ‘you must read this book’. Worse still, we wouldn’t jump at the chance to read his other books.

Have you read No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay? Have you read any of his other books?

I borrowed this book from my local library.