Never Saw It Coming An eSpecial from New American Library eBook Linwood Barclay
Download As PDF : Never Saw It Coming An eSpecial from New American Library eBook Linwood Barclay 
Keisha Ceylon is a psychic. At least, that's what she tells people. She watches the news for stories of missing people, then waits a few days and goes to see the family. She tells them she’s had a vision and that she may know where their missing loved one is—for a price, of course.
Keisha's latest mark is Wendell Garfield, whose wife disappeared a week ago. She's seen him on TV, pleading for his wife to come home, or for whoever took her to let her go. Keisha tells Wendell her vision of what might have happened. Unluckily for Keisha, her vision turns out to be alarmingly close to the truth. As she wades deeper into the mystery, Keisha inadvertently finds herself caught in a web of suspicion and violence that’s much more complicated than she first thought—and which may end up with her own disappearance…
Also includes a preview of Linwood Barclay’s newest thriller, Trust Your Eyes
Never Saw It Coming An eSpecial from New American Library eBook Linwood Barclay
In reading other standalone thrillers from Linwood Barclay I've noticed his fondness for one of Alfred Hitchcock's favorite devices -- the plot that centers around an Everyman character swept up in extraordinary events. Think North by Northwest, The Wrong Man, Sabotage and many others. The character is almost immediately identifiable and sympathetic, and Barclay uses this same element in almost every one of his excellent thrillers. But this book is unique among his works, at least of the ones I've read. This book is more humorous, more playful and twisty, an assemblage of motley characters who stumble through this comedy of errors and twists that is more reminiscent of Hitchcock's last film, Family Plot.Honestly I was having trouble getting into this book. It is not narrated in the first person, which I think is one of Barclay's strengths. Instead it's told in the third person and focuses on pseudo-psychic Keisha Ceylon, who was a minor character in the author's first standalone, No Time for Goodbye. But gradually I got to love this book too, which takes a different tone than his other books, but ends up being just as fun and intriguing.
Barclay is such a talented author. Great plots, characters, dialogue, suspense, twists. I really enjoy his books, not least because they often take place in the towns of Promise Falls NY, or Milford CT, and sometimes a familiar character will make an appearance, in much the same way Richard Russo's books share a fictitious location. These overlaps are a lot of fun. I didn't read these books in any order because they are standalones, but now that I've realized there is some overlap I'd love to go back some time and read them in order. Whatever the setting is, though, Barclay will have you on a roller coaster and you will not rest easy until you find out what happens next, over and over, until it reaches a satisfying conclusion.
In this book Keisha runs scams on people in the news -- those with a relative who is missing or recently deceased. In No Time for Goodbye Keishe gets tossed out pretty rapidly, but here she may be up to her old tricks but things are going pretty well -- until they go horribly, horribly wrong. While she is dealing with a new scam gone awry, an old scam, a creepy con artist and her deadbeat boyfriend, she's also trying to rise above her own upbringing to be a good mother -- but really, how can even an intelligent woman like Keisha keep all of it under control?
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Never Saw It Coming An eSpecial from New American Library eBook Linwood Barclay Reviews
One of the best authors ever. After reading the first book recommended to me, I purchased every book that he's written. I would suggest starting at his first novel and go down the list because there are nuggets in the books that connect them and make them even more enjoyable. Funny, suspenseful, full of twists mysteries that happen to normal people.
The only thing wrong with this book is that it caused me to stay up into the wee morning hours because I couldn't put the book down! I loved the characters and the novel story line. As usual, Barclay added his humorous descriptions that made me laugh out loud at times. Keep them coming Mr. Barclay!
... and Barclay is usually so much better. Barclay is a master of putting ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
Never Saw it Coming is the story of a young woman who makes a living 'finding lost souls'. In other words, she is a psychic. Keisha Ceylon has a young son, a lazy lover and is behind on rent and low on groceries. She watches the news for stories of people who are missing loved ones. She then presents herself as having visions of the missing ... and bilks the grieving family.
The story is convoluted and casts Keisha in multiple roles - from victim to sham back to victim.
While the story had promise the writing is not near the quality Barclay usually presents. Did he write it? Or need a payday?
Not worth your time.
Keisha Ceylon was given the gift of psychic con artist. She learned her illicit trade early in life from her mother. This apple did not fall far from the tree. In this case, like mother - like daughter. When Keisha was just a girl, Mommy dear had been looking after some elderly people suffering from serious illness. As they passed away one by one, being the saint that she was, she hid their bodies and stole their Social Security checks that continued to come in every month. Business was good. People couldn't die fast enough as far as she was concerned. Eventually, that came to an end.
Now as an adult, Keisha knew she had no special talents as a psychic. It was all a scam. Hustling were the only useful skills passed down from her mother. That's all she really knew and depended upon. And her ten-year-old son Matthew and her had gotten into the habit of eating.
She preyed on people who were desperate to find a missing loved one. That was her main shtick. Timing was essential. She scanned new stories and watched the news reports for unsuspecting poor souls. These were the easiest to feed upon. She figured that if people were stupid enough to buy into what she was doing, then they deserved to be parted from their money.
One fateful day, things took a nose dive. What began as her usual con had taken a deadly turn. Now it was her turn to become the victim of her own craft. Her world had turned upside down. The threat of going to jail and losing her son was now an ever approaching reality. There had to be a way out. Everything appeared to be stacked against her.
There were just enough characters in the story to make it an interesting read and all sufficiently introduced to the reader. Too many, and it becomes confusing. Also, enough attention was paid to each scene to deliver just the right amount of impact to the reader. It's also worth mentioning that there was no additional fluff added just to fill empty space. Lastly, the storyline advanced through each chapter without meandering. Hats off to Linwood.
In reading other standalone thrillers from Linwood Barclay I've noticed his fondness for one of Alfred Hitchcock's favorite devices -- the plot that centers around an Everyman character swept up in extraordinary events. Think North by Northwest, The Wrong Man, Sabotage and many others. The character is almost immediately identifiable and sympathetic, and Barclay uses this same element in almost every one of his excellent thrillers. But this book is unique among his works, at least of the ones I've read. This book is more humorous, more playful and twisty, an assemblage of motley characters who stumble through this comedy of errors and twists that is more reminiscent of Hitchcock's last film, Family Plot.
Honestly I was having trouble getting into this book. It is not narrated in the first person, which I think is one of Barclay's strengths. Instead it's told in the third person and focuses on pseudo-psychic Keisha Ceylon, who was a minor character in the author's first standalone, No Time for Goodbye. But gradually I got to love this book too, which takes a different tone than his other books, but ends up being just as fun and intriguing.
Barclay is such a talented author. Great plots, characters, dialogue, suspense, twists. I really enjoy his books, not least because they often take place in the towns of Promise Falls NY, or Milford CT, and sometimes a familiar character will make an appearance, in much the same way Richard Russo's books share a fictitious location. These overlaps are a lot of fun. I didn't read these books in any order because they are standalones, but now that I've realized there is some overlap I'd love to go back some time and read them in order. Whatever the setting is, though, Barclay will have you on a roller coaster and you will not rest easy until you find out what happens next, over and over, until it reaches a satisfying conclusion.
In this book Keisha runs scams on people in the news -- those with a relative who is missing or recently deceased. In No Time for Goodbye Keishe gets tossed out pretty rapidly, but here she may be up to her old tricks but things are going pretty well -- until they go horribly, horribly wrong. While she is dealing with a new scam gone awry, an old scam, a creepy con artist and her deadbeat boyfriend, she's also trying to rise above her own upbringing to be a good mother -- but really, how can even an intelligent woman like Keisha keep all of it under control?
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