Publishers Weekly
05/13/2024
A Connecticut high school teacher stops a mass murder only to be targeted by a blackmailer in this hair-raising standalone from bestseller Barclay (The Lie Maker). Richard Boyle looks out his classroom window one afternoon just in time to spot Mark LeDrew, a “benign fuckup” of a former student, approaching the building while wearing a vest loaded with dynamite. Boyle tells his class to call 911 and lock themselves in, then goes to confront Mark. He convinces the 20-something to leave—but then Mark trips and sets off the explosives, killing himself and wounding Boyle. The fallout is swift. First, Mark’s parents, who blame Boyle for their son’s death, slap him with a lawsuit. Then Billy Finster, whom Boyle coached on the wrestling team, claims the news about Mark dug up memories that Boyle sexually abused him, and that he won’t go to the cops if the teacher comes up with an unspecified sum of cash. As Boyle scrambles to pay off Billy and hire a lawyer, he discovers links between Billy’s threat and a local crime network. Barclay makes his protagonist’s plight devastatingly immediate, and keeps readers on tenterhooks throughout. This is difficult to put down. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency. (May)
From the Publisher
"Linwood Barclay's I Will Ruin You is a page-turner that also has important things to say. You'll get your money's worth out of this one." — Stephen King
“I Will Ruin You is Mr. Barclay’s 25thmystery-suspense novel, and he deftly manipulates its overlapping elements and whiplash twists in ways that should impress and astonish even his veteran readers." — Wall Street Journal
“Linwood Barclay is a flat-out master of the modern thriller, and I Will Ruin You is impossible to put down. You need this book in your life.” — David Koepp, author of Aurora
"I Will Ruin You is filled with so many plot twists that rooting for Richard will become a perilous task with so much stacked against him. It’s a must-read for those who love psychological thrillers, and Barclay shows once again why he is a master of the genre." — Bookreporter
“A Connecticut high school teacher stops a mass murder only to be targeted by a blackmailer in this hair-raising standalone from bestseller Barclay (The Lie Maker)… Barclay makes his protagonist’s plight devastatingly immediate, and keeps readers on tenterhooks throughout. This is difficult to put down.” — Publishers Weekly
"Barclay’s new book is a well-written and suspenseful thriller. Yet, it’s more than that: it is, mostly due to a single, mind-blowing revelation, probably the best book he’s ever written.... In addition to the story, which is pure gold, the author also gives us some of his most irresistible characters, including not just his protagonist, but also the supporting players, some of whom are keeping some interesting secrets. A standout novel from a writer who, like Harlan Coben, always delivers the goods.” — Booklist
“Linwood Barclay does this all superbly: Hitchcock-type stuff for a new century” — Winnipeg Free Press on I Will Ruin You
"[Barclay] takes readers on an emotional roller coaster of deft plot twists and what-the-hell?! moments. I Will Ruin You will indeed ruin you—or at least your sleep schedule until you've reached the end. Barclay proves once again that he's at the top of his game." — Mystery Scene on I Will Ruin You
“A vein of humor runs through The Lie Maker, lightening the mood of a menacing tale…It takes a gifted writer to perfectly balance all the suspense, wit, violence and poignance in a book such as this. Lucky for us, Mr. Barclay is one of the best in the business.” — Wall Street Journal
“Barclay (Look Both Ways) nails this riveting standalone thriller about a washed-up writer’s search for his long-lost parent… Barclay expertly knits the strands together and constructs a fully realized everyman in Givins. Crafty plotting and rich characters make this a winner.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Lie Maker
"[The Lie Maker] is filled with such imaginative plot twists and turns that it becomes physically impossible to put the book down at any point.... It is easily one of the best thrillers of 2023!" — Bookreporter.com
"The latest thriller from Barclay asks the reader to accept a slightly out-there premise but delivers a tightly plotted, surprising novel that winds up explaining why the premise wasn’t really so out-there at all. It’s the kind of thriller Barclay does so well: a story that constantly changes direction and forces readers to reconsider their notions of what the book is actually about. We soon find, when reading Barclay, that it’s better simply to put ourselves in the author’s hands and enjoy the ride, because trying to guess what’s going to happen is a fruitless exercise." — Booklist on The Lie Maker
““Relentless…Barclay does a bang-up job of mixing and matching characters and plotlines and building suspense...Barclay’s latest is a fun ride…with dips and swerves that should delight his fans.” — Kirkus Reviews on The Lie Maker
"A twisty tale of skullduggery....[Barclay is] a pro." — Library Journal on The Lie Maker
JULY 2024 - AudioFile
George Newbern and Johnathan McClain narrate this story of heroism, blackmail, and secrets. When a high school teacher named Richard, portrayed by Newbern, thwarts an attempted school massacre, he ends up in the spotlight. The publicity catches the attention of a former student who accuses him of abuse and blackmails him. While attempting to clear his name, Richard uncovers drug smuggling that involves many people, portrayed by McClain. Newbern puts so much emotion into Richard's story that it sounds like a real-life account. McClain's characters include an enraged victim of abuse, a desperate drug smuggler, and a vengeful drug dealer. All the characters come to life, thanks to the skills of the two narrators. L.M.G. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2024-03-23
An 11th-grade teacher declared a national hero for saving his Connecticut school from an armed invader is knocked down several pegs by an unexpected lawsuit and a blackmail scheme.
The instructor, Richard Boyle, successfully talks a former student in a dynamite vest out of carrying out his planned grudge killings only to see him trip over a shoelace as he turns to go and blow himself up. The attacker’s parents sue Richard, charging he didn’t do enough to save their son. Richard is not on the greatest terms with parents, who are already unhappy with him for teaching their kids about cannibalism via Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. But this turns out to be the least of Richard’s worries after another one-time student, a misfit drug dealer looking to capitalize on Richard’s celebrity, demands $10,000 not to tell everyone that the teacher fondled him as coach of the wrestling team. Richard’s desperate efforts to avoid the false charge only draw him in deeper, eventually linking him to a murder and threatening his marriage. “I think the only thing we can accuse Richard of is being an idiot,” says his sister-in-law, a police officer. Though the book has one glaring red herring and one saw-that-coming plot twist, Barclay makes up for those missteps with his perfectly pitched treatment of topical subjects including school violence, book censorship, and the gun violence epidemic. When the drug dealer’s girlfriend asks him where he got his gun, “He rolled his eyes. ‘Lucy, this is America.’” It’s not clear why Richard’s narration is in the first person and everyone else’s is in the third. But Barclay, one of crime fiction’s most reliable stars, makes that approach, and much more in this page-turner, work.
A first-rate addition to the subgenre of Threatened Men Acting Stupidly.
