I Will Ruin You by Linwood Barclay [Audiobook]

🎙🎙🎙 Narrated by George Newburn and Johnathan McClain 🎙🎙🎙

Description from Goodreads:

"How would you react in a life-or-death situation?

It’s a question everyone asks themselves, but few have to face in real life. English teacher Richard Boyle certainly never thought he would find himself talking down a former student intent on harming others, but when Mark LeDrew shows up at Richard’s school with a bomb strapped to his chest, Richard immediately jumps into action. Thanks to some quick thinking, he averts a major tragedy and is hailed as a hero, but not all the attention focused on him is positive.

Richard’s brief moment in the spotlight puts him in the sights of a deranged blackmailer with a score to settle. The situation rapidly spirals out of control, drawing Richard into a fraught web of salacious accusations and deadly secrets. As he tries to uncover the truth he discovers that there’s something deeply wrong in the town—something that ties together Mark, the blackmailer, and a gang of ruthless drug dealers, and Richard has landed smack in the middle of it. He’s desperate to find a way out, but everyone in his life seems to be hiding something, and trusting the wrong person could cost him everything he loves.

What price will he pay for one good deed?"

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I have read a few of Linwood Barclay's novels before and have enjoyed them for what they are ... suspense and action filled stories that entertain and I Will Ruin You is no exception.

Richard's day starts off like any other day but soon turns into a nightmare and it doesn't get any better.  A student threatening to blow up the school, accusations about inappropriate behaviour with students, drug dealers, another teacher stirring the pot, murder and so much more.  

The action and suspense start from the beginning and doesn't let up until the end; yes you have to suspend reality whilst listening but this was easy to do and I just enjoyed the ride and the twists as they came along.  The narrators were excellent and really brought the characters and story to life.

Definitely recommended for people who love this author's work and enjoy an action-packed thriller that's full of suspense and twists that you can lose yourself within its pages for a few hours.

Many thanks to the author, HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for enabling me to listen and share my thoughts of this suspenseful book.

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Other books by Linwood Barclay I have read and reviewed:

Find You First

Take Your Breath Away 

Look Both Ways [Audiobook]

Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay [Audiobook]

 

🎤🎤🎤Narrated by Ako Mitchell🎤🎤🎤

Description from Goodreads:

"These headlights are watching you…

The media have descended on Garrett Island, a small, isolated community that is the setting of a visionary experiment. All the residents’ cars were sent to the mainland and for the past month the islanders have been “driving” the Arrival, a revolutionary autonomous vehicle. With a simple voice command, an Arrival will take you wherever you want to go and, because the fleet is networked and aware of one another, car travel is now 100% safe. The future, it seems, has arrived.

As the excitement reaches a fever pitch, Sandra Montrose – islander, single mom, and public relations executive – prepares for Arrival Inc.’s flashy press event. Sandra is more than ready for this new world. Her husband died after falling asleep at the wheel and she’s relieved that her two teens, Archie and Katie, will never need driver’s licenses.

But as the celebratory day gets underway, disaster strikes. A visiting journalist has vanished, possibly murdered. Before long, the Arrivals run amok, no longer taking orders from their passengers. They’re starting to organize. They’re beginning to hunt. And they seem hell-bent on killing any human they encounter.

Is this all just a tragic accident, a technological malfunction with deadly consequences? Or were the vehicles programmed to act this way in a cruel act of corporate sabotage? Or could it be that the Arrivals have a mind of their own?

Fasten your seatbelts – it’s going to be a bumpy ride."

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I would say that this book is a cross between Christine and The Terminator and is one crazy ride!

Garrett Island's inhabitants have had all their cars removed and self-driving and fully automated 'Arrivals' given to them as an experiment.  Arrivals are aware of each other and of everything around them ... gone are accidents, speeding, dints and scrapes; well, that's the theory anyway and it works until someone throws a spanner in the works and all hell breaks loose.

There's some great characters; I especially liked Bruce, Kate and Archie.  The story is solid and the action comes thick and fast and whilst I found it a very entertaining story which I enjoyed, I think I would have enjoyed it even more had I read the actual book as the narration just didn't do it for me unfortunately and it just didn't seem to be right for the story somehow. 

Overall, a great book that makes you think twice about what the future is likely to hold and my thanks go to HarperCollins UK Audio, HQ and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of Look Both Ways.

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Other books by Linwood Barclay I have read and reviewed:

Find You First

Take Your Breath Away

Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay

 

Description from Goodreads:

"A missing woman.

A husband suspected.

The truth will … Take Your Breath Away

It’s always the husband, isn’t it?

One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace. Most people assumed Andy had got away with murder, but the police couldn’t build a strong case against him. For a while, Andy hit rock bottom – he drank too much, was abandoned by his friends, nearly lost his business and became a pariah in the place he had once called home.

Now, six years later, Andy has put his life back together. He’s sold the house he shared with Brie and moved away for a fresh start. When he hears his old house has been bulldozed and a new house built in its place, he’s not bothered. He’s settled with a new partner, Jayne, and life is good.

But Andy’s peaceful world is about to shatter. One day, a woman shows up at his old address, screaming, ‘Where’s my house? What’s happened to my house?' And then, just as suddenly as she appeared, the woman – who bears a striking resemblance to Brie – is gone. The police are notified and old questions – and dark suspicions – resurface.

Could Brie really be alive after all these years? If so, where has she been? It soon becomes clear that Andy’s future, and the lives of those closest to him, depends on discovering what the hell is going on. The trick will be whether he can stay alive long enough to unearth the answers…"

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This is a quick and enjoyable read and one that didn't disappoint.

Brie disappeared off the face of the earth 6 years ago and whilst the husband, Andy, was prime suspect, no evidence could be found against him.  Now, a woman who appears to be Brie reappears and this sets off a chain reaction that has devastating results.

Written at a fast pace, with many twists and turns, this is a book with an intriguing plot that had me guessing most of the way through and although I did figure it out before the big reveal, it didn't spoil my enjoyment.

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

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Other books by Linwood Barclay I have read and reviewed:

Find You First

Find You First by Linwood Barclay

 

Description from Goodreads:

"Tech millionaire Miles Cookson has more money than he can ever spend, and everything he could dream of—except time. He has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and there is a fifty percent chance that it can be passed on to the next generation. For Miles, this means taking a long hard look at his past . . .

Two decades ago, a young, struggling Miles was a sperm donor. Somewhere out there, he has kids—nine of them. And they might be about to inherit both the good and the bad from him—maybe his fortune, or maybe something much worse.

As Miles begins to search for the children he’s never known, aspiring film documentarian Chloe Swanson embarks on a quest to find her biological father, armed with the knowledge that twenty-two years ago, her mother used a New York sperm bank to become pregnant.

When Miles and Chloe eventually connect, their excitement at finding each other is overshadowed by a series of mysterious and terrifying events. One by one, Miles’s other potential heirs are vanishing—every trace of them wiped, like they never existed at all.

Who is the vicious killer—another heir methodically erasing rivals? Or is something even more sinister going on?

It’s a deadly race against time . . ."

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I haven't read anything by Linwood Barclay for some years and I really don't know why but I had a word with myself and got stuck into this with relish.

What we have here is an exciting thriller that had me hooked.  The pace is unrelenting, the characters are just excellent ... even the horrid ones ... and the story is captivating.  There are  a number of threads to the story and to go into them all would ruin it so I will say nothing apart from you needing to keep your wits about you, but in a good way.

There is tension, twists and nail-biting moments and, yes, you have to suspend reality at times but if you can't do that in fiction, when can you?

All in all, a really enjoyable read and my thanks go to HQ (an imprint of HarperCollins UK) and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

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