Find You First, By Linwood Barclay    2021

Reviewed by:  Dawn Bechtel avid Andover Ohio reader (listener), who enjoyed the novel in audiobook format on ClevNet- Overdrive.

My Review:  “Find You First” is a fast paced, well written, entertaining novel that keeps you guessing right to the very end.  The characters are intriguing, complex and relatable, and the reader is invested in the outcomes for them all.  The twists and turns are balanced with suspense, action, character development and I liked the unique plot that draws you in and keeps you wanting to read on. 

Find You First” is a psychological suspense novel that brings into question the practice of sperm donation and how money can buy just about anything except more time, but that isn’t all…

About the Author:  Linwood Barclay was born in Darien Connecticut in 1955.  He is an American-born Canadian author, noted as a novelist, humorist, and (former) columnist.  Barclay was a columnist for The Toronto Star and the author of several critically acclaimed novels.  He lives in Oakville, Ontario, with his wife of more than three decades, Neetha, with whom he has two children – Spencer and Paige.

The Story:  Miles Cookson has more money than he can ever spend, but twenty years ago, a young, struggling Miles was a paid sperm donor. He has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and there is a 50% chance that it can be passed on to his children. Somewhere, he has kids—nine of them. Because of his illness Miles feels responsible to find these nine offspring and encourage them to be tested to see if they have it.  He plans to split his fortune between them.  As Miles begins to search for the children he’s never known, aspiring film documentarian Chloe Swanson begins a search of her own to find her biological father who donated the sperm that twenty-two years ago, her mother used to become pregnant.  When Miles and Chloe eventually connect, they feel a close bond and begin to look for the 8 other siblings but the potential heirs are disappearing one by one — every trace of them wiped out like they never existed at all.  Is it another heir erasing rivals or something more sinister?  It’s a deadly race against time . . .