Linwood Barclay Books In Order – Complete List

Linwood Barclay is a bestselling Canadian-American author who wrote several popular thriller series, standalone novels, short stories, anthologies, and non-fiction books. Here are all the Linwood Barclay books in publication order for his works.

Latest Linwood Barclay Books

Zack Walker Series in Order of Publication

1. Bad Move, 2004
2. Bad Guys, 2005
3. Lone Wolf, 2006 (aka Bad Luck)
4. Stone Rain, 2007 (aka Bad News)

No Time For Goodbye Series in Order of Publication

1. No Time for Goodbye, 2007
2. No Safe House, 2014

Promise Falls Books in Publication Order

1. Broken Promise (#1), 2015
2. Final Assignment (#1.5), 2015
3. Far From True (#2), 2016
4. The Twenty-Three (#3), 2016
5. Parting Shot (#4), 2017

All the Books Set in Promise Falls Publication Order

1. Too Close to Home, 2008
2. Never Look Away, 2010
3. Broken Promise (#1), 2015
4. Final Assignment (#1.5), 2015
5. Far From True (#2), 2016
6. The Twenty-Three (#3), 2016
7. Parting Shot (#4), 2017

Chase Books in Publication Order

1. Chase, 2017
2. Escape, 2018

Keisha Ceylon Books in Publication Order

• Clouded Vision, 2011
• Never Saw it Coming, 2013

Standalone Books in Publication Order

• Fear the Worst, 2009
• The Accident, 2011
• Trust Your Eyes, 2012
• A Tap on the Window, 2013
• Parting Shot, 2017
• A Noise Downstairs, 2018
• Elevator Pitch, 2019
• Find You First, 2021
• Take Your Breath Away, 2022
• Look Both Ways, 2022
• The Lie Maker, 2023
• I Will Ruin You, 2024

Novellas in Order of Publication

• Clouded Vision, 2011 (novella in the Quick Reads series)
• Pit Stop, 2015 (with Raymond Khoury)
• Jacket Man, 2016

Anthologies in Order of Publication

• FaceOff, 2014
• Nothing Good Happens After Midnight, 2020
• Cold Canadian Crime, 2022

Non Fiction Books in Publication Order

• Father Knows Zilch, 1996
• This House Is Nuts, 1997
• Mike Harris Made Me Eat My Dog, 1998
• Last Resort, 2000
• Ford AbomiNation, 2019

Linwood Barclay Biography – About the Author

Critically acclaimed author Linwood Barclay was born in 1955 in Darien, Connecticut, USA, but has spent most of his life in Canada. When Linwood was 4, his father, a commercial artist at the time, accepted a position in advertising that put the family across the border to Canada, where he grew up. His father died when Linwood was 16 years old, and soon after he started helping run a cottage resort and trailer park.

He earned a B.A. (Honors) in English at the Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario. His first serious job as a journalist was with a small Ontario daily called the Peterborough Examiner in 1977 where he worked for two years before he went to a small Oakville paper in 1979.

Linwood Barclay remained there until 1981 when he got hired by the Toronto Star, one of the biggest newspapers in Canada, basically being Canada’s largest circulation newspaper to work in various positions that included being an assistant city editor, Life section editor, news editor, chief copy editor and finally in 1993 got to write and maintain the newspaper’s Humour column.

During these years the author Linwood Barclay wrote his first few books including Father Knows Zilch, This House is Nuts!, and Mike Harris Made me Eat my Dog, as well as an autobiography called The Last Resort, published in 2000 about growing up in cottage country. He retired from the Toronto Star in 2008 to focus exclusively on writing crime mystery and thriller novels. Before leaving the newspaper, he worked in the trade as a columnist and journalist for three decades.

The first book I’ve read by this author was No Time For Goodbye, published in 2007. At the time it was a standalone novel; however, I was happy to learn that in 2014 Linwood Barclay also wrote a second, follow-up book with the title No Safe House.

In 2016, the author wrote a screenplay for his book Never Saw It Coming, for a Canadian director, Gail Harvey to turn it into an upcoming TV series. At the same time, Linwood Barclay’s book The Accident was being turned into a 6-part TV show in France with the title L’Accident made by Acorn TV. The TV show premieres December 18 and focuses on Gabriel Cauvy who has to deal with the death of his wife following a suspicious car crash. Trust Your Eyes has been also optioned for film by Warner Bros. No Time Goodbie has also been optioned for movie by Eric McCormack.

Among Linwood Barclay’s books, one of his best novels is is Parting Shot, a standalone novel published in 2017. The book, while is standalone, is also set in Promise Falls, which is the small-town location of this popular series. Here, Carl Weaver is asked for help to protect Jeremy Pilford who has been convicted of killing a friend while driving under the influence of alcohol. Pilford is on probation at home, having not gone to prison.

This creates a major online media reaction where threats even become physical and serious. While Weaver is not overly happy about this latest case, he does take it. Then there is a seemingly unrelated case the author loops into the book which eventually will intersect with Weaver’s main case in a suspenseful climax.

In 2017, Linwood Barclay started a new thriller series, titled Chase, this time catering to kids and young adults. In an interview, he mentioned that the idea for Chase came to him one night out of the blue, and he knew that this book had to be written for younger readers. The second book of the Chase series was published in 2018 with the title Escape.

Linwood Barclay’s books have been so far translated into more than 40 languages and have sold in over 30 countries. In 2009 the author received the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel for Too Close to Home and No Time for Goodbye was nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award, the Barry Award, and short-listed as Best Novel by the International Thriller Writers. Also, his Stone Rain book was a nominee for the  2008 Shamus Award in the Paperback Original P.I. Novel category. A Tap on the Window was nominated for the Best Novel Barry award in 2014.

Should We Read The Linwood Barclay Books In Order?

I’ve read most of the Linwood Barclay books, and I found all to be real page turner stories, and what I’m glad about is that I’ve read No Time For Goodbye before I’ve read Never Saw It Coming. The psychic, Keisha, who is the main character in Never Saw It Coming is actually introduced (in a secondary role at the time) in No Time For Goodbye.

In No Time For Goodbye, Linwood Barclay sets the stage for his same-named series, while Never Saw It Coming is a standalone novel. So in this case, reading all the Linwood Barclay books in proper chronological order makes the best sense.

In addition Cynthia and Terry Archer, the main characters in the book No Time For Goodbye are also mentioned in Never Saw It Coming.

Also Private Investigator Cal Weaver, who is a main character in Far From True, the second book in the Promise Falls trilogy, also appears in A Tap on the Window, which is a standalone novel, and in Parting Shot, Too Close to Home and Never Look Away, other standalone thrillers set in Promise Falls. Based on the author’s comment, Parting Shot seems to be really the last book set in the fictional town of Promise Falls, New York.

As mentioned above, Linwood Barclay’s page-turner books are often interconnected, with characters from one book appearing in another. Therefore, I think it’s best to read his books in order.