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Too Close to Home  By  cover art

Too Close to Home

By: Linwood Barclay
Narrated by: Christopher Lane
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Publisher's summary

“The night they killed our neighbors, we never heard a thing.”

In a quiet suburban neighborhood, in a house only one door away, a family is brutally murdered for no apparent reason. And you think to yourself: It could have been us. And you start to wonder: What if we’re next?

Linwood Barclay, critically acclaimed author of No Time for Goodbye, brings terror closer than ever before in a thriller where murder strikes in the place we feel safest of all. Promise Falls isn’t the kind of community where a family is shot to death in their own home. But that is exactly what happened to the Langleys one sweltering summer night, and no one in this small upstate New York town is more shocked than their next-door neighbors, Jim and Ellen Cutter. They visited for the occasional barbecue and their son, Derek, was friends with the Langleys’ boy, Adam; but how well did they really know their neighbors?

That’s the question Jim Cutter is asking, and the answers he’s getting aren’t reassuring. Albert Langley was a successful, well-respected criminal lawyer, but was he so good at getting criminals off that he was the victim of revenge - a debt his innocent family also paid in blood? From the town’s criminally corrupt mayor to the tragic suicide of a talented student a decade before, Promise Falls has more than its share of secrets. And Jim Cutter, failed artist turned landscaper, need look no further than his own home and his wife Ellen’s past to know that things aren’t always what they seem. But not even Jim and Ellen are ready to know that their son was in the Langley house the night the family was murdered.

Suddenly the Cutters must face the unthinkable: that a murderer isn’t just stalking too close to home but is inside it already. For the Langleys weren’t the first to die and they won’t be the last.

Praise for Too Close to Home

“[Linwood] Barclay knows how to put ordinary people into extraordinarily dangerous circumstances. . . . Readers will zip through it with delight.” -Publishers Weekly

“[An] affecting and effective thriller.” -Wall Street Journal Review

©2008 Linwood Barclay (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Too Close to Home

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Plots and subplots galore

What made the experience of listening to Too Close to Home the most enjoyable?

Lots of twists, multiple subplots, definitely must pay attention to story. Well written and narrated. Good story.

What about Christopher Lane’s performance did you like?

Christopher Lane did a great performance. Easy character differentiation with his tones and cadence.

Any additional comments?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. With all the underlying plots and motives the ending was a total surprise. Worth the $ or credit.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

What Happened to the Family Next Door?

This is a good mystery and is easy to follow.
Linwood Barclay is an excellent story teller, and this one was enjoyable, interesting, and had a good amount of mystery. What happened to the family next door? The story had one glaring downside in that it took too long for the main characters to figure out that it's not about the family next door.... mistaken identity.

It started off somewhat slow, but once the pace picked up, the pace remained consistently at an entertaining level. There are lots of twists and turns, some predictable and others not so much. A few surprises and unexpected twists.

Christopher Lane is a top notch narrator ... one of audible's best. A good narrator bring life to the words telling the story, and helps elevate an average story to an above average story.

Recommend....

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very Enjoyable Book

I really wanted to give this book five stars. Barclay is an excellent story-teller, and the book was thoroughly enjoyable, interesting, and entertaining. The only drawback was that parts of it were pretty predictable, and I was wondering why the main characters took so long to catch on. Other than that, it was one of the most enjoyable books I've heard in a while.

I am so glad I caught this book, not only because it was entertaining, but also because I was told the story by Christopher Lane. I wasn't sure if I had heard him before, but I looked back at my library and saw that he has performed in some Dean Koontz books that I've *read*. I didn't take notice before, but in "Too Close to Home," and in Barclay's "No Time for Goodbye" (which I also just recently listened to), I really came to appreciate Lane as a narrator. He's really top notch--one of the best. A good narrator really brings a book to life, and does make a difference. Wonderful job, Mr. Lane.

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9 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Should really be 3 1/2 stars

There are plots and subplots which will hook you from the very beginning (with a very likable main character to boot), so for that it would give it four stars. However, when the mystery finally unravels, it falls a little flat on its face--so for that I would have to take at least a half star away. Still, I will recommend it as an entertaining mystery. Christopher Lane, as always, does an excellent job with the narration.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

it just keeps pulling you in

Like most of Barclay story lines--these people live in a community made up of normal, everyday, working for a living, back yard bbq neighborhoods. They are friendly people who don't expect anything unusual to change their lives in any dramatic way--but one day something happens. Life changes for one family in particular. Like domino's falling over, each action creates another action, and it seems like it will never stop.

Very good writing--and the narration is spot on. If you want to take your mind off of your own troubles for awhile, read one of his--and your life may seem to be pretty good after all. Things could be so much worse.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Only So-So

As I started the book I thought, "What possessed me to buy this book?" Then it got a little better, then it didn't. This book is mostly back story and there is very little current story line. It moves slowly as all of the back story has to be told in order to conclude the plot. I found it very predictable and rather trite in many places. The characters are not very well developed. The narrator is only average. I had a difficult time separating one character speaking for another.

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5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • KP
  • 06-14-13

Twists, Turns, and a Likeable "Hero" Besides

This is the first Linwood Barclay I have read. I chose it because a co-worker recommended the author, and this was the highest-rated one available from Audible at the time.

I would categorize this as a thriller and mystery.

I liked the main character, Jim Cutter, because he's a straight-shooter, the type you find yourself liking even though he doesn't always do exactly the right thing. Though it started off a little slow, once the pace picked up, the story remained consistently entertaining. There are lots of twists and turns, some predictable and some not, which helped my commute go by more quickly.

All that said, the experience of reading this was just okay. When I read something I really like, I can't wait to go jump back in the car to hear the next segment of the story. That just didn't happen with this. For me, three stars = I liked it (whereas four stars = really liked it and five stars = it was amazing -- the Goodreads rating system).

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I liked it but.......

I liked the book but I would have enjoyed it lots more without all the filthy talk! I guess I'll never understand why the authors feel the need for that. The book would have been great without it

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great Story. . . But the Ending. . .

Barclay's books are almost always great and this one is no exception. It started strong and stayed that way throughout, until the very, very last minutes when a spousal confession became just too much to accept (in the context of all the other events within the book.) Nevertheless, I'll give it four stars, maybe even 4.5. It certainly kept me listening with rapt attention as the plot and its many subplots were experienced. Best of all, I didn't know who the really, really bad guy was until the end, and that makes it a good thriller in my book!

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Too close to home .

Proof that you really never get away with being sneaky Very suspenseful book , easy to listen too . A little lame in the mystery dept. I really enjoyed it though .

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2 people found this helpful