Ask the Author: Linwood Barclay
Answered Questions (204)
Linwood Barclay
Thanks so much for those kind words, Richard. Whistle was very much a departure for me. My 25th novel, but my first dealing with horror and supernatural. All my other thrillers have been very much in the real world, although my book Look Both Ways was also a bit different. I've had a crazy first six months of the year doing tours and interviews and now hoping to coast for a few months doing none, but thanks for offering a chance to chat about Whistle on your Youtube channel. Best, Linwood.
Linwood Barclay
Trying to remember ... a few years ago, saw a woman walking through a department store, carrying one. Said hello, asked if she'd like it signed, and she said yes. Best story is from writer Mark Billingham. Sat down on a train and woman opposite him was reading one of his books. He said, "I see you're reading my book." She looked horrified and said, "I'm so sorry! It was just sitting there when I sat down and I thought someone had left it behind. Here, take it, take it, I'm so sorry."
Linwood Barclay
Thanks for the kind words. My latest novel, Whistle, leans into horror and supernatural (a departure from my other books) so if you like Mr. King, you might enjoy it. (He did!) My own favourites are No Time for Goodbye, Find You First, The Lie Maker, A Noise Downstairs.
Linwood Barclay
So glad you enjoyed it. Sorry not to have replied sooner. I was on a UK tour for Whistle and returned home last night. I had a blast writing that book.
Linwood Barclay
Thanks for the kind words. I must have read Something Wicked ... at some point, but don't remember it. Needful Things was in the back of my mind when I started Whistle, so I reread it to make sure the similarities were limited. But it's a very fun book.
Linwood Barclay
Much will depend on how the book is received. I might lose some readers, but on the flip side, I might pick up some new ones. I have ideas for two books that are outside what I usually do, so I guess we'll see. My novel Look Both Ways, from a couple of years ago, was also different, for me, more of a Michael Crichton kind of novel. Thanks for the kind words.
Linwood Barclay
A mix. I don't plot the entire book out, but before I begin I want to know the underlying structure. Who did what and why and what happened in the past to drive the present. I want to know where I'm headed, where I will end up, but I don't know what route I will take to get there. That just kind of unfolds.
Linwood Barclay
I have sent your off your question and hope to hear something back before long! Whoa, I haven't even hit send and I have a reply from my agent: "I'm seeing your Dutch publisher at the London Book Fair on 11th March to ask the very same thing! This is a great prompt for her in advance - I'm forwarding to Meulenhoff Boekerij now." There you have it! Fingers crossed there are books coming soon. That publisher always does the best covers.
Linwood Barclay
Maybe crime and horror aren't your kind of books.
Linwood Barclay
Ha! I had never thought of that, but I take your point. Richard's woes are very Zack-like, but without the laughs.
Linwood Barclay
Some background here: Clouded Vision was written specifically for a UK Quick Reads program to encourage reluctant readers. So it was quite short. But my publisher thought it was worth expanding, so I wrote Never Saw it Coming. The first 40 or 50 pages are similar, but then it's all new. That should definitely be available as an ebook, and is a much better read than CV.
Linwood Barclay
It's not quite clear to me from your note whether you think I got it all wrong about what it's like to teach. I've never been a teacher, but my wife taught her entire career (and I saw how much harder she worked than I did), many of our friends were teachers, and during the second half of the 90s I probably spoke to about 100 educational groups across Ontario (the invitations coming from what I was writing in my newspaper column at the time). I'm hoping I picked up enough from those experiences to at least get it half right.
Linwood Barclay
Thanks for those kind words. I was involved for the better part of four or five years in bringing the Promise Falls trilogy to television. Multiple drafts of a script for the first episode, countless meetings, and as so often happens, it did not get off the ground.
Linwood Barclay
It's been a long time since I wrote this book and have written several since, so plot details become pretty vague after a while (like if I asked you want you did at work one day five years ago), but if memory serves, it is set up early in the novel that Frank often would get in the back of the car and fall asleep. So he would already have been in the car when Anna drove to the scene.
Linwood Barclay
If I referenced a Dodge Neon, I have no memory of it. The Accident and Trust Your Eyes were both written more than a decade ago. I probably just grabbed the name out of thin air. My thriller totally devoted to cars is last year's Look Both Ways, and the foreword will explain my fascination with the subject.
Linwood Barclay
You've got me. I am delighted you enjoyed it but have no idea what editions 1700 or 1865 mean. All I know is I have a new trade paperback edition of The Accident. It's news to me they offered a new e format edition, but I am not surprised at all that they have done that. Next time I am talking to the folks at Doubleday Canada I will ask. (They are not my current publisher, but do have the rights on my older books.)
Linwood Barclay
For the most part, the books are standalones and order doesn't matter. There are some exceptions, however. My Zack Walker novels are best read in order -- Bad Move, Bad Guys, Lone Wolf and Stone Rain. (Those last two were renamed Bad Luck and Bad News in the UK.) My Promise Falls trilogy (Broken Promise, Far From True, The Twenty-Three) must be read in order. There is a followup to those three with a novel called Parting Shot. It's kind of related, but not essential to be read after the other three. Some trilogy characters do show up in my earlier novels Too Close to Home and Never Look Away. Hope that helps!
Linwood Barclay
Certainly not at this time. When my publisher has sent me on a US tour, and it has included Texas, it has always been to visit Murder by the Book in Houston.
Linwood Barclay
It would be hard to pick just one person. I didn't have JR (I think I know who you mean) in mind, but he would be a perfect model for such a person.
Linwood Barclay
I'm so glad you have enjoyed the Zack books. They were so much fun to write. I did four of them, the last coming out in 2007. (If you are a UK reader you may think they are newer, but they were published first in North America and a long time went by before their UK release.) So, I haven't written a Zack book in 17 years, and at the time of their first release, they were not big sellers, although many people have discovered them more recently. All of which is to say, I think it's very unlikely I will ever do another Zack book.
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