Find You First by Linwood Barclay

 

Find You First by Linwood Barclay is a fast-paced thriller readers won’t want to put down until the crashing finish! A tech millionaire, nine people created with help from a fertility clinic, a narcissistic mastermind, and cold-blooded killers come together in this book, about which writer Stephen King says “… starts with a bang and ends with an even bigger one. . . . It’s the best book of his career.”

When Miles Cookson, who has more money than a person could spend in a lifetime, finds out he has a genetic terminal illness, he calls to mind those days 20-some years ago when he needed fast money and became a sperm donor. With a 50-50 chance that his Huntington’s disease has been passed on to any children fathered by him, Miles realizes he needs to warn and provide for them.

Using an underhanded method, Miles learns the names of the nine children who were born because of his donation to a fertility clinic in New York. He sets his assistant on an information journey to find out more about these nine people so he can find them and fund them with enough to take care of them no matter what.

As he begins his search, one of his children has already begun a hunt on her own to find her biological father, and Chloe Swanson has already found and developed a relationship with a half-brother, Todd Cox, through DNA matching. Coincidentally, she is first on Miles’ list as she lives in Providence, Rhode Island, closest to his home in New Haven, Connecticut, than the eight others.

When Miles and Chloe connect, she immediately wants to take him to Todd’s house to share the news. But something is amiss as Todd is gone along with all of his belongings; his unusually messy trailer is sparkling clean and reeks of bleach. A call from his assistant Dorian clues in Miles that two of his other children have “disappeared.” He soon suspects someone is hunting down his children, but he does not share his suspicion with Chloe yet. His mistrust is spot on as the gruesome murders have been revealed to readers in interspersed chapters.

Who is killing his offspring and why? Is one of the nine trying to secure all the inheritance? Just what is going on in this enthralling page-turner?

Linwood Barclay is the bestselling author of Elevator Pitch and 17 other novels. He adapted his novel Never Saw it Coming for the movie starring Eric Roberts and Emily Hampshire. Born in the United States, his family moved to Canada when he was a toddler. Prior to writing books full-time, he was a newspaper journalist and columnist. He lives with his wife in Ontario.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting March 6, 2021.

I would like to thank William Morrow and Custom House for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.