Find You First by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
You can’t go wrong with Linwood Barclay, but in Find You First, Barclay has outdone himself. A wickedly clever premise of Miles Cookson, a dying billionaire looking for the adult children he fathered via a sperm bank many years before, the twists and turns are fast, furious and seemingly endless. That said, there isn’t a single time that a twist felt contrived.
Central to the story arc is the delightful Chloe Swanson, an independently-minded waitress who happens to be the first name on Cookson’s list of illegally acquired names of his protegny, and who isn’t the least bit interested in the money Miles has to offer. She’s feisty and fun and the perfect counterpart to Miles, and without her, this would be a far less interesting book.
While all this is going on, there’s a series of mysterious disappearances, each of them a potential heir to Miles Cookson’s considerable fortune. This is also the story of Nicky, a teenaged girl who is being held captive, albeit in luxurious quarters, because she’s overheard a conversation she had no business hearing.
Multi-layered, fast-paced, and brilliantly told, this is by far my favorite book of Barclay’s to date. I can’t wait to read what he comes up with next. 5 Stars and every one of them well deserved.