Book Review: Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay

My Rating: 

4.5⭐

It has been six years since Andrew Mason returned home after a fishing trip with his best friend and business partner to find his wife Brie missing. In those six years, he has been hounded by the police (who still suspect him), hated by his wife’s family, lost his reputation and his business before finally moving to a neighboring town, changing his name and rebuilding his life. He is now in a new relationship with Jayne, who is unaware of his past, and has apparently moved on. 

When a woman who looks a lot like Brie turns up in their old neighborhood in front of where their home used to be and creates a scene only to disappear again, Andrew and the police led by Detective Marissa Hardy resume their respective investigations of what happened six years ago and try to figure out the identity of the woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Brie. Is Brie alive and if so, where has she been for six years? Will Andrew be able to prove his innocence this time or is he hiding something? Is there someone out there who knows the truth? 

The narrative is shared between multiple PoVs with flashbacks of past events and transcipts from police interviews from the investigation dating back six years.  With a plot that kept me guessing till the end (I love it when my predictions turn out to be wrong!), crisp writing, short chapters, consistent pacing and well-executed twists and turns, I thoroughly enjoyed Linwood Barclay's Take Your Breath Away. I combined reading with the incredibly entertaining audio narration featuring  Joe Knezevich, George Newbern, Hillary Huber, Pete Simonelli, Michael Crouch, Lauren Fortgang, Jim Meskimen and Karissa Vacker.

My first Linwood Barclay novel but definitely not my last!