Not a Word

International and Sunday Times bestseller Linwood Barclay returns with a white-knuckle thriller of an everyday man who’s life takes an extraordinary turn…

Every family has secrets, but when Reece visits his parents’ home he’s shocked to find his father and a woman he assumes is his mother in bed. Dead. At first glance it looks like a murder-suicide perpetrated by his father, but on closer inspection there’s clearly more to the story. For starters, inconsistencies at the crime scene suggest his dad may not have shot himself.

As Reece, shaken by his horrifying discovery, awaits questioning from the police, his phone lights up. It’s a call from his mum – his real mum. The dead woman in that bed is clearly not the person Reece believed her to be.

His mum is at a lunch date with friends, she says, and can’t reach his dad on the phone. Could Reece drop by and see if everything’s okay? At a loss for how to tell his mum that his dad was in bed with another woman, Reece simply tells her, ‘come home now’.

But his mum doesn’t come home. Instead, she disappears. Was she involved? Was she seeking revenge on her husband and a mistress? Or, just as frightening, did someone kill Reece’s father and that woman, thinking that they’d murdered both his parents?

Soon Reece finds himself questioning how well he really knew his parents – who they were, what they did, and who they hurt.

Most importantly, he needs to figure out who might want to hurt him and his own family now.

Sunday Times bestseller Linwood Barclay returns with a break-neck thriller about families, secrets and betrayal.

*****

PRAISE FOR LINWOOD BARCLAY:

'Terrific' Stephen King

‘Linwood Barclay has crafted another perfect page-turner’ The Times

‘Pacy and tense, it’s a triumph from a master thriller writer. Every page makes your heart beat that little bit faster’ The Sun

‘You’ll be left speed-reading towards the end to discover answers expertly posed by the bestselling Toronto-based crime writer’ The Independent

‘Totally absorbing… brilliant stuff’ Neil Lancaster

‘A superior thriller’ Sunday Times

Reviews

PRAISE FOR LINWOOD BARCLAY:

‘Devilishly good’ Shari Lapena

‘The novel speeds from first page to last… Bravo!’ Jeffery Deaver

‘A fast-moving, high-concept thriller from the talented Barclay’ Daily Mail

‘Linwood Barclay is in a class of his own’ T.M. Logan

‘One of the finest thriller writers in the world at the very top of his game’ Mark Billingham