Library Journal
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Two murders, one witness, a brutal assault, and a possessed vintage typewriter. -Barclay (No Time for Goodbye) expertly weaves these details into a tantalizing psychological thriller. College professor Paul Davis is trying to help a friend when he stumbles onto the scene of a double murder. Eight months later, still recovering from the injuries inflicted on that fearful night, he wonders if he's gone insane. After all, he doesn't even remember conversations with his wife, Charlotte, who's been much more loving since the accident. When Paul decides to confront his fears by researching the man who brutally attacked him, Charlotte buys him a vintage typewriter to write about his feelings. His therapist Anna White isn't sure Paul's plan is a good idea but supports him anyway. As days pass, Paul's anxiety goes into overdrive. He now hears noises in the night and is convinced the murdered women are trying to contact him. Charlotte is as certain that he's either delusional or blacking out, while Anna doesn't know what to believe. At what point does a person know for sure they've lost their mind? -VERDICT Prepared to be blindsided by an ending you didn't see coming. Barclay's nerve-wracking tale will have readers scared to close their eyes at night. [See Prepub Alert, 1/22/18.]-K.L. Romo, Duncanville, TX © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly
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College professor Paul Davis, the protagonist of this fast-paced psychological thriller from bestseller Barclay (Parting Shot), has suffered from PTSD since the night his respected colleague and mentor, Kenneth Hoffman, attacked him outside their small town of Milford, Conn. Kenneth, who confessed to the murders of the two women whose bodies were in his car at the time, is now in prison. In order to encourage Paul, whose short-term memory has been spotty since the incident, to start work on a novel he wants to write, his wife brings home an old typewriter. Soon Paul begins hearing noises in the night coming from the typewriter, which happens to be much like the one Kenneth made his victims write their final notes on. Paul's theory that the typewriter might be haunted has his wife and his therapist concerned that he might actually be losing his mind. But is there a more sinister answer? Barclay carefully conceals hidden motives and secret lives until the startling conclusion. Harlan Coben fans will find much to like. Five-city author tour. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada). (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

*Starred Review* Several months ago, college lecturer Paul Davis was nearly murdered by a close friend after he caught the friend in the act of disposing of the bodies of two dead women. Now Paul is still struggling to recover from a serious head injury not to mention trying to come to terms with the fact that his friend, now in prison, is a murderer. He's experiencing memory lapses, nightmares, depression, and most troubling the repeated feeling that someone, apparently the ghost of one of the dead women, is trying to communicate with him through an old typewriter. Is there something paranormal going on? Or is Paul being gaslighted? If so, by whom? The imprisoned killer's son or wife? Paul's own wife, or his ex-wife? This could be Barclay's most structurally intricate novel (and he's written a string of very good thrillers, including Trust Your Eyes?, 2012), an engagingly convoluted, thoroughly suspenseful story. Barclay takes a lot of risks here, too there are several points where the story could have fallen apart, where a single too-obvious clue might have pulled readers right out of the action but he does a masterful job of layering on the mysteries until we're almost frantically turning the pages, impatient to find out what the hell is going on. A beautifully executed thriller.--David Pitt Copyright 2018 Booklist