Fear the worst (Review)
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OptimistMinds
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Author bio
The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
We will discuss “Fear the worst” book reviews.
Fear the worst
“Fear the worst” is a book written by author Linwood Barclay. However, before we jump into the book itself let’s also talk about what it is understood by “fear the worst”.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines Fear the worst as when we feel that the worst possible thing has happened or it is likely to happen.
In addition, it can also be understood as to think something unpleasant is about to happen or might happen.
According to the MacMillan Dictionary, fear the worst is defined as to feel worried that something very bad will happen or has already happened.
This gives us a better understanding of what it means when someone says “Fear the worst”.
On the other hand, Fear the worst is also the title of a book that actually has a UK edition and a North American Edition.
About the book (lindwoodbarclay.com):
“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.”
The book revolves around the story of a father looking for his missing daughter.
One night, she doesn’t come home from her summer job. He does what any other father would do, goes looking for her but he is surprised and worried, even more, that no one seems to have seen her.
In fact, no one’s ever seen her so he wonders where she has been going every day and where is she now.
This is considered a thriller novel, where an ordinary man, named Tim Blake, is in his desperate search for his daughter which in turn leads him into a world of corruption, exploitation, and murder.
He discovers how the people he thinks he knows best are the ones that have the biggest secrets.
He works as a salesman selling cars and has an ex-wife who has moved in with a man whose moody son spends more time online than he should.
Nothing has prepared him for the nightmare he is about to step in.
His daughter Sydney seemed to have vanished into thin air at the hotel where she supposedly worked, even her closest friends seem to be at a loss.
Now Tim faces the fact that he knew very little from the daughter he loved and thought he actually knew very well.
“As he retraces Sydney’s steps, Tim discovers that the suburban Connecticut town he always thought of as idyllic is anything but. What he doesn’t know is that his every move is being watched. There are others who want to find Syd as much as Tim does (goodreads.com).”
As soon as Tim starts to get closer to the truth, the nightmare seems to get worse and he has to face the kind of evil only a parent’s love is able to overcome.
Reviews from linwoodbarclay.com
The New York Times Book review has said: “(Barclay) comes up with revelations that would make any parent’s hair stand on end.”
Steve Berry who is a New York Times Bestselling author of The Paris Vendetta says “What a story! Holds the reader in a tight grip, as good and evil match wits and wiles. Barclay pushes the edge of suspense to the edge and beyond, offering a revealing peek into the human psyche, exploring every parent’s worst fear.”
The National Post stated “Canada’s current thriller king…Fear the Worst has a throat-grabbing premise. The action squeezes ever tighter, leading to a genuine shocker of an ending.”
Reviews from amazon.com
Here are some reviews from Amazon readers of the book “Fear the Worst”.
We hope you find them helpful when deciding whether you should or shouldn’t read the book.
“I always enjoy Linwood Barclay’s thrillers. I wish someone would explain to me the difference between a thriller and a suspense novel. Anyway, I enjoy Mr. Barclay’s writing style and his plots move along at a good pace. The premise is not anything new, but how many unique premises can there be in the thriller genre. So this car salesman, Tim, discovers that his daughter is missing. From there he moves at a rapid clip to uncover all sorts of clues as to what happened to her. What I like is that he doesn’t lead you on any wild goose chases. All of his clues and characters are meaningful and lead somewhere. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book. The ending did disturb me somewhat in one of the final reveals and how it played out. Hence, it loses a star from me. Very good, nevertheless. I will keep looking for more books by this author.”
“I “discovered” Linwood Barclay a few weeks ago, and he’s quickly become one of my favorite authors. He writes standalone* thrillers in which an ordinary guy is suddenly in an extraordinary situation. This was a favorite device of Alfred Hitchcock, and here’s why — it works! You can immediately sympathize with someone who is just living their ho-hum or mildly annoying life when stuff begins to hit the fan and then goes wildly out of control, wondering what you would do if this happened to you. The emphasis is on the action, yes, but also on this person totally unprepared to be dealing with this stuff, thrust in to mystery and danger.”
“This book would more aptly titled “The Perils of Pauline”, (or Timothy, as it were). With an ex-wife moving in with her new, more successful boyfriend and his skulking around son, a smart-mouth, sneaky teenage daughter, car customers from Hell, a tough talking, non-empathetic female boss, and underhanded colleagues I don’t see why the guy even gets out of bed in the morning. To top off his next few days the daughter goes missing, he goes hunting for her all the way across the country, his house gets majorly trashed, he has two sexually excited women after him (one paranoid and the other a criminal), fist fights with a couple of people, people shooting at him, loses his job, and a horrendous destruction derby inside a car dealer ship, shooting a guy, and all the while being questioned and chased by the cops because of the dead body in his house. Entirely too much mayhem for one book!!! Could have made three books out of all the psychological trauma, major mayhem, and criminal elements included in this one book.”
More about the author
Linwood Barclay is considered an internationally best-selling author of 17 novels for adults such as:
- Broken Promise
- Far from True
- The Twenty-Three
- No Safe House
- A Trap on the Window
- Trust Your Eyes
- Never Saw It Coming
In addition, he has written two thrillers for children.
The books have been translated to more than a dozen different languages and he even wrote the screenplay adaptation for his novel “Never Saw It Coming”.
He is a very talented writer and has millions of fans all over the world.
Why is this blog post about Fear the Worst important?
Maybe you have heard from a friend about this book or maybe you saw it in a bookstore or bookshelf somewhere, meaning it definitely caught your attention.
If you are still hesitant about reading the book then consider reading some additional reviews to decide whether it is a good idea to go and get it.
This book promises to have everything that makes a great thriller novel, mystery, murder, corruption, and more.
In addition, if you are truly a thriller novel fan, we believe this book will trap you from beginning to end for sure.
If you have read the book or you’re planning to please feel free to comment in the comments section below about your own experience with it.
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Recommended links
- Fear the Worst: A Thriller
References
Goodreads.com
Amazon.com reviewsPenguinrandomhouse.ca
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