Started reading: Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay

The generous publisher Orion has sent me an advance copy of Linwood Barclay's latest novel, Never Look Away. I am completely hooked. A review will follow in due course, but in the meantime I'd like to share an excerpt and the trailer, made by the publisher.

The overriding concern now, with declining revenues and readership, was survival. The paper had always kept a reporter in Albany to cover state issues, but now relied on wires. The weekly book section had been killed, reduced to a page in the back end of Style. The editorial cartoonist, tremendously gifted at lampooning and harpooning local officials, was given the heave-ho, and now we picked up any number of national, syndicated cartoonists who'd probably never even heard of Promise Falls, let alone visited it, to fill the hole on the editorial page. Oh yeah, the editorials. We used to run two a day, written by staffers. Now, we ran "What Others Think", a sampling of editorials from across the country........Various city committees had a live Internet video feed. Why send a reporter? Why even pay one to watch it from the office? Why not get some guy in Mumbai to watch it, write up what he sees, then email his story back to Promise Falls, New York? 

Sad stuff, but all too true. Michael Connelly (in The Scarecrow) and The Wire (Season 5) have movingly described similar declines in Los Angeles and Baltimore, respectively. Here, Linwood Barclay made me just as mad. 

On a different but related tack, the video trailer (not watched by me) follows. Enjoy! 

 

I am hoping that the next 300 pages of this book are as exciting as the compelling first 100 - so far, no gore, no horrors, no murders, no sleaze  -  just a good story, great tension, and pure excitement. I will let you know more, when I have finished it.

Comments

[Margot Kinberg]

Maxine - Oh, thanks for this teaser and trailer! I'm so glad you are enjoying this, and of course, I look forward to your review. I really enjoy it when authors use trends like this one as the backdrop to their stories. As you say, sad but true, and it lends a real touch of realism to the story.

[Maxine]

Thanks, Margot!

[Jose Ignacio]

I'll stay tune, sounds great.

[Dorte H]

Small wonder that so many of us have stopped reading the local rag. Well, ours has been bought by a larger, regional paper anyway - plenty of huge pictures so apparently they can still afford a photographer.

The book sounds great, but I never watch trailers. I think I am too impatient to wait until they load it, knowing that they could convey the same information to this READER in a few seconds ;D

[Bernadette]

Actually that is a fairly catchy trailer. I don't like them either but I've been watching people in my office interact with them - lots of the youngsters (i.e. under 30) do like them - we're all avid readers (I swear I didn't do it on purpose) but the 'kids' do have a different way of deciding what books to read and trailers is high on the list.

As for news gathering you really do not want to get me started, I don't think you have enough bandwidth for me to write everything I would like to say ;)

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Linwood Barclay's current book doesn't disappoint. I couldn't put it down. It was a good thriller without gratuitous violence and gore. He has a knack of writing that way. I have read all of his books and wish more authors would wrote thrillers like his, without blood and horror. (The trailer won't reveal anything.)

Yes, news gathering, also coverage. The main national tv news in the morning here features three headline stories--about celebrities, features on miraculous health cures, or accidents or resilience from a horror done to a loved one; and one other, maybe an interview with a politician. But one would not know there are wars on, unemployment is horrific and growing, more people are without health insurance, etc.

[Craig]

For whatever reason, Barclay's books are now released in NZ months before they hit UK shelves. I read this back in March/April, and really enjoyed it. Will be interested to see what you think of the rest of it Maxine.

[Maxine]

Thanks, everyone, I am still enjoying it - though have not made much more progress on it since I wrote the post.

I have seen the trailer now and I agree Bernadette it is quite good (and quick!).