Product Description

The house was deathly quiet. That was the first sign that something was terribly wrong. Fourteen-year-old Cynthia Bigge woke that morning to find herself alone. Her family—mother, father, and brother—had vanished without a word, without a note, without a trace. Twenty-five years later, Cynthia is still looking for answers. Now she is about to learn the devastating truth.

From critically acclaimed author Linwood Barclay comes a new suspense thriller that strikes to the core of our most primal fear. What if you woke one day to find your entire life had changed? If everyone you loved had disappeared overnight without so much as a chance to ask why?

Cynthia and Terry Archer still live in Milford, Connecticut, not far from the old Bigge house on Hickory Street. With a solid marriage and a young daughter, the Archers seem on track for a successful future. But the questions raised by Cynthia’s past still haunt her, and her obsession to find the answers threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked for. For Cynthia, there can be no closure until she finds out why her family disappeared—and how they could have left her behind.

Terry thinks the segment on the popular TV crime-stopper program Deadline is a mistake. But his wife hopes that someone watching will have a lead to her missing family. Sure enough, it’s Cynthia who spots the strange car cruising the neighborhood, hears the untraceable phone calls, and discovers the ominous “gifts.” And as Cynthia’s nerves begin to unravel, no one’s innocence is guaranteed, not even her own. By the time the first body is found, it’s clear that her past is more of a mystery than she ever imagined—or may ever survive.

Someone has returned to this Connecticut town to finish what was started twenty-five years ago. And by the time Terry and Cynthia discover the killer’s shocking identity, it will be too late even for goodbye.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #209341 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-25
• Released on: 2007-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Barclay (Bad Guys) tugs hard on the heartstrings with the tragic tale of Cynthia Bigge, whose parents and brother vanished without a trace the day after she had a tempestuous teenage argument with her father. Twenty-five years later, raising a daughter with her husband, Terrence Archer, in Milford, Conn., but still haunted by her family's disappearance, Cynthia goes on TV to talk about what happened and plead for clues. A mysterious phone call leads her to believe her father, at least, may still be alive, but as her excitement grows, so do Terrence's worries. It soon appears that someone is playing a unexpectedly vicious game with Cynthia's emotions, and that her family held secrets she never suspected. Though some plot twists require significant suspension of disbelief, skilled characterization and convincing dialogue more than compensate. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
After turning out four mystery novels featuring science-fiction author Zack Walker (the most recent is Stone Rain, 2007), Toronto Star columnist Barclay pens a stand-alone thriller that carries his signature blend of humor and suspense. Fourteen-year-old Cynthia Bigge wakes up one morning to find her entire family gone. Twenty-five years later, their unexplained disappearance still haunts her. She agrees to appear on the reenactment show Deadline, hoping the TV exposure might provide her with some answers, although her husband, English teacher Terry Archer, is considerably more skeptical. Indeed, not long after the show airs, the two are shaken down by a psychic, receive a series of bizarre phone calls, and become the victims of a break-in, although nothing is taken; instead, something is left—a hat that Cynthia is convinced belonged to her father. As Cynthia's paranoia escalates, Terry's patience wears thin, and the two decide to hire a private detective. That's when the mayhem starts. Despite a few implausible plot turns, this fast-paced read is bound to please, offering an especially intriguing premise and plenty of irreverent humor. Wilkinson, Joanne

Review
"No Time for Goodbye just flies off the page. It's a one-sit thriller. You sit down with this book and you won't get up until you've turned the last page."—Michael Connelly

"No Time for Goodbye is a high-speed emotional roller-coaster. The surprises will leave you breathless."—Robert Crais

"A terrific page-turner that keeps you in suspense until the very end. If you like Harlan Coben, you'll love Linwood Barclay."—Peter Robinson, author of Piece of My Heart

"No Time for Goodbye begins as an intriguing mystery then shifts with a sinister grace into a race-against-time thriller that begs to be read in a single sitting. Barclay sets his dark tale in the most familiar of surroundings, a decent, loving family, on the verge of being torn apart by tragic events 25 years old. The author’s unique voice finds terror in the most mundane of environments, an ordinary home, and thereby makes his shocking and original tale all the more compelling."—David Hewson, author of The Lizard's Bite

"No Time for Goodbye is a turbo-charged, nonstop thriller that got me with every twist and turn. Linwood Barclay has written a mesmerizing, addictive page-turner that I just couldn’t put down. It’s one of the best suspense novels I’ve read in years."—Joseph Finder

"No Time for Goodbye is a great suburban thriller---and that's not a contradiction in terms. Linwood Barclay doesn't make one false step, and the surprises just keep on coming. Don't start reading No Time for Goodbye late at night: you'll stay up to finish it." —Charlaine Harris

"No Time for Goodbye is a deliciously smart thriller, full of surprises and perfect pacing. I'm jealous I didn't write it."—Alafair Burke, author of Dead Connection

"No Time for Goodbye is one of the best thrillers of the year! Utterly riveting, it will grab you on page one and won't let you go until the final, stunning conclusion."—Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Garden

“Skilled characterization and convincing dialogue.”—Publishers Weekly

“A top-notch thriller... doesn’t stop until the last page.”–Library Journal, starred review

Customer Reviews

One of my favorite thrillers of the year
I'm in publishing, so I get the chance to read quite a few thrillers before they're released, and NO TIME FOR GOODBYE made my top-10 list of the year. The premise is stunning: a teenage girl wakes up to find her family gone. Her father, mother, and brother have simply vanished, leaving her to deal with the painful aftermath of abandonment. Or are they dead? She never finds out... until years later, when she's happily married, with a child of her own. Suddenly new clues arise that make her wonder if her parents and brother may still be alive. But then, why did they leave her?

It's her husband who narrates the tale, and as the story twists and turns, even he wonders about the sanity of his own wife. The ending is a stunning surprise. Deeply satisfying, emotionally wrenching, this is one terrific book.

Not just a thriller
No Time for Goodbye is marketed as a can't-put-it-down suspense thriller, and while the description is appropriate, the book is much more than that. Like Linwood Barclay's novels featuring Zack Walker, No Time for Goodbye is more character- than plot-driven. Yes, there is a clever, intricately-woven plot, but what distinguises this novel from the typical thriller is that the characters seem like real people, not just convenient plot devices. Barclay has the ability to draw us into the lives of his characters, so we come to genuinely care for them, and don't want anything bad to happen to them. And, most unusual for a novel in the suspense genre, there are some truly touching passages, at least two of which brought tears to my eyes. This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill suspense thriller.

Better than the serials
I read NO TIME FOR GOODBYE because of the hook: a rebellious teenage girl wakes up in the morning to find her entire family gone. The story then moves ahead twenty-five years and Cynthia Bigge still has no idea what happened to her family.

Most of the story is narrated by Cynthia's husband Terry Archer. He's an English/creative writing teacher in Milford, Connecticut. Linwood Barclay wisely incorporates Archer's job environment, making the story seem more real. He is good friends with the principal, who knew Cynthia's father, and there's a talented young girl in his writing class, Jane Scavullo, who only does well in his class. Both will play huge roles later on in the plot. When Cynthia begins receiving strange messages Terry reluctantly sets out to find out what's going on.

There's also a dialogue going on between two mysterious characters. The reader naturally assumes they're Cynthia's lost mother and brother, still alive. Cynthia was raised by her aunt Tess, who when she is diagnosed as terminally ill, gives Terry clues as to what happened to Cynthia's family.

One of my favorite characters was Vince Fleming, the boy Cynthia was with the night her family disappeared. Fleming has criminal ties, but he's going with Jane Scavullo's mother and he's bonded with Jane. Vince furnishes the clue that sets Terry on his way to solving the dilemma.

If you're paying close attention, there's an early clue that'll give the whole plot away. I knew what was going on about twenty pages in. Some of the other connections---Terry's principal's involvement in the plot, Jance Scavullos relationship with the boy Cynthia was with during the night her family disappeared---seem a bit too convenient, but you can find that in any book if you look hard enough. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book. Non-serial thrillers have one advantage over serials: You never know for sure if one of your favorite characters is going to make it.