ISBN 978-0-553-80716-5
399 pages
Borrowed from my library
Every parent's worst fear is that one day their daughter won't come home. And when that happens - that's what you do - fear the worst, that is.
Publisher's blurb
Sydney Blake’s summer is shaping up to be typical for a teenager: she’s spending it with her father, and she has landed a part-time job at a local hotel. One night, Syd fails to come home from her shift, and her father Tim begins to panic after he visits the hotel and the manager claims that Syd has never worked there. Grilling his daughter’s friends for clues leads Tim nowhere — except to threats against his life — and as he frantically chases every lead, he can’t help but wonder if Syd is even still alive. Despite a growing list of unanswered questions, all Tim knows for certain is that he must continue searching for his daughter no matter how high the stakes become.
If Sydney has run away, then there are some things that need explaining. She hasn't taken anything with her - no clothes, nor her bag, not her laptop, nor her iPod Shuffle. Everything is expecting her back. And then her car turns up in a car park in a nearby town. The steering wheel and the door handle have blood stains.
Tim has a website set up with details about Syd's disappearance on it, and hope flares when someone in Seattle contacts him with a sighting. The journey to Seattle is worse than useless though - when he arrives back his house has been trashed. Tim comes to understand he is being watched, and that there is nothing simple about Syd's disappearance.
As time goes on, the tension builds, the drama escalates, the police show they are not sure they believe Tim's version of the story.
FEAR THE WORST makes you thankful that nothing like this has ever happened to you. I'm not sure that all of the story is entirely credible, but the events heighten the suspense and it is certainly a page-turner.
My rating: 4.5
I read FEAR THE WORST for the Canadian Book Challenge hosted by John Mutford who blogs at The Book Mine Set
You might like to check
My reviews of other Linwood Barclay titles:
Linwood Barclay's website
Petrona's Review
Review by Material Witness
Kerrie - Thanks, as always, for this review. Sometimes, if there is the right amount of tension and a good plot, the reader can excuse a bit of a lapse of credibility. I know that's happened to me....
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely reading this book this month. I've enjoyed all the Barclay's I've read - so suspenseful.
ReplyDeleteI read this last year ... I like his writing style.
ReplyDeletewww.teenaintoronto.com/2009/10/book-fear-worst-2009-linwood-barclay.html