Flashback to twelve days previously and readers learn that David is a reporter for the Promise Falls Standard working on a story which involves payoffs from Star Spangled Corrections, a company that wants to build a for-profit prison in Promise Falls. David interviews a member of city-council who had his side-trip to Italy paid for by the company's president.

The Standard has fallen upon hard times economically and now outsources many sections of the paper including editorials and entertainment. Reporters in India view the events of City Council on television and write articles for a reduced hourly wage to save the paper further money.

The publisher is reluctant to print David’s article and she is rumored to be selling her family's land to Star Spangled Corrections in order to keep The Standard afloat. Elmont Sebastian, the president of Star Spangled, meets with David to try to stop the article even going so far as to offer him a job at double his salary.

David's married life is also in disarray. Jan recently seems depressed and tells David he might be better off without her. She is acting strangely and while out to dinner and sporting a bandage on her wrist creates a scene in the restaurant.  

When David reports his missing wife to Detective Duckworth, the snack-loving detective does not believe his story for a multitude of reasons. First, park security find no evidence that Jan entered the park. Second, Jan’s physician denies that Jan met with him to discuss her depression as David stated. Third, Jan's employer states that Jan was very excited about a coming event and was not depressed at all. With overwhelming circumstantial evidence against him, David becomes the key suspect and there is growing concern that Jan has been murdered.

Never Look Away is a taut, fast-paced thriller which provides the reader just enough of the backstory to be fooled at every turn. Canadian Linwood Barclay writes a very Harlan Coban-like story with one final surprise from left field. Like Coben, Barclay’s writes about ordinary middle-class people who might be your neighbors. His characters are well-developed including the almost clueless and sometimes painfully naive but sympathetic David, although his female characters are not nearly as likeable.

Barclay's recent thrillers are quite a departure from the lighter, irreverent Zack Walker series (about another newspaper reporter) including Bad Moves and Bad Guys which are also well worth the read. If you don’t mind a main character who sometimes is a bit dense, Never Look Away is a quick read that will have you on the edge of your seat.

--Jerry Solot