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Your daughter doesn't come home one night from her summer job.
You go there looking for her. No one has seen her. It's worse than that.
No one has ever seen her. So where has she been going every day? Where is she now?
Linwood Barclay has a new thriller which leads us through an ordinary man's desperate search for this daughter. This search leads him into a dark world of corruption, explotation and murder.
Sydney has vanished into thin air. Even her closest friends seem to be at a loss. Days pass without a word. As Tim retraces his daughters steps, he is unaware that his every move is being watched by those who want to find Sydney as much as Tim does. Let's just say that these people watching Tim do not plan on a "Welcome Home" party for Sydney if they find her first.
Discussion questions:
- Did you find the character of Tim Blake to be a believable protagonist? Did he act like a dad bent on finding his daughter or did you perhaps think that the character of Sydney was a bit too thin to make the reader feel the connection to her that the author intended?
- The elements of a mystery story include lots of clues and intrigue. Were you able to figure out the most important element, "who-done-it?"
I found the character of Tim Blake to be a blievable protagonist. I think he did all he could do to find his daughter. Tim didn't really have much to go on but he still went out looking for Sydney alot and at the points where he didn't its because there wasn't really anything else he couldn't do. I think that by not knowing anything really about Sydney was a good thing. If we knew more we probaly could have guessed more to what happened. It helped the whole suspense and mystery to figure out where she had gone and why.
ReplyDeleteI was not able to find out "who-done-it". I was very surprised at the ending because usually im making a bunch of guesses i never once thought about who it actually was.
Q1. I do agree that Sydney was portrayed to 'thinly' and I was unable to feel any emotional connection to her character, therefore felt no sympathy while reading this book. I think Barclay should have given us more first-hand experience with her character at the beginning, instead of the brief introduction that frankly made her sound like a terrible person. Then all we had for her character were other peoples claims which were a mix. In regards to Tim Blake, he was a bit hazy too. His character was not as developed as it could have been. However, I think the downfall in character portrayal lies with Sydney.
ReplyDeleteQ2: For this mystery novel I was not really able to follow it. I got lost when Tim was being followed, or whatever it was and the drugs were planted. I figured something was off with Patty when she was introduced but did not see all the plot potential with her, and Veronica kinda phased me too.
Tim Blake put in his full effort in order to find his daughter even if it got in the way of his job and interfered with his personal life. Yes Sydney may have been brought up a bit thinly but than by the time you reach the end of the novel you realize why, its meant to create more suspense and questioning in the novel as your reading. yet if the author had maybe given more info and input to the characters and plot in the beginning of the novel it may have helped people to keep on track with the events that were happening. it depends on how you can relate Sydney to your personal lives in order to be able to feel a connection, she is protrayed as a disobedient person in the beginning but than realize that its all been a cover up and that she actually is a very nice girl. Hence, many teenagers nowdays are looked upon in that way.
ReplyDeleteas reading the novel you get many major clues that would have given away the person behind it if you had been paying very close attention. I had many guesses to who it may have been or how it happened but by the end none of my possibilities played themsleves out, the ending its a complete surprise to the general readers. Yes the author gives some major clues that give it away but than not to much after gives some offtrack clues that change your whole perspective on the train of events. I enjoyed this book, i mean it may have been a bit slow in the beginning but once you get a hang of whats going on you may get into it, my opinion anyways.
Q2: Yes.. For some reason I always had my suspicions about Sydney's friend. However, I could not even imagine WHY she would do the things she did. It was not until Tim Blake met up with Sydney's friend's mom (forgive me I forget her name), that I truly suspected her of having something to do with the whole scandal. It was definitely one of the more mysterious mysteries that I have read because even tho I suspected the "who", I didn't have a clue as to the "why" which is equally important.
ReplyDeleteI found the book to increase in intensity so drastically that i was content about learning about Sydney while the book went on. I was glad not knowing much about her in the beginning since it gave me time to predict what her character was like.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story i had tons of predictions as to who done it. The author was throwing so many obvious points out too but they never really occurred to me to be hints until after i found out.
Overall this story was well written and got the reader thinking as to who had done it, why, and when,
VERY WELL DONE
ReplyDeletefirst horror/thriller i ever read and i loved it
I found Tim Blake to be believable, I'm not sure all his actions connected to his character. I would remind myself that these are unusual circumstances, but I did not feel a strong enough connection to Sydney. The memories from Tim Blake helped thicken Sydney's character, perhaps more opinions from minor characters would strengthen.
ReplyDeleteThe many twists kept me guessing who was responsible.
Overall, it is my favourite book so far, but I'm not crazy about it, I did not like that the ending left many questions unanswered. Would the police really have believed everything? Did Patty officially die? What happens between Bob and Susi, Evan and Sydney? How does Susi react to the situation? Patty's guy friend? Tim's work? Does the whole unfair trade operation shut down?
I think that Tim was fairly believeable because, from what I have heard from adults with children, parents will do almost anything for their children. However, some of his actions may have been more rash, dangerous, and extreme than than an average parent's with a missing child. It is true that the reader does not feel much of a connection to Sydney because of the limited information supplied, but I do not think that it was the author's intention to make the reader feel connected to her; rather, through the use of flashbacks and information gained through interaction with Sydney's friends and acquaintances, to demonstrate Tim's connection to her. By demonstrating Tim's love for Sydney, it causes the reader to want to know what happened to her, because the reader sees Tim's determination to find her and cares about his character rather than Sydney's.
ReplyDelete