Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Trust Your Eyes

Rate this book
Thomas Kilbride hat ein Problem: Als er an seinem Computer einen virtuellen Spaziergang durch Manhattan unternimmt sieht er plötzlich im Fenster eines Hauses einen Menschen, über dessen Kopf eine Plastiktüte gestülpt ist. Erinnerungen werden in ihm wach an etwas ähnliches, das er vor Jahren erlebt hat: Ein Junge, am Fenster stehend, verängstigt und wehrlos. Thomas will der Sache auf den Grund gehen. Doch vielleicht hat er sich auch alles nur eingebildet? Schließlich leidet er an Schizophrenie ...

528 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2012

555 people are currently reading
9383 people want to read

About the author

Linwood Barclay

82 books7,155 followers
Linwood Barclay is the #1 internationally bestselling author of seventeen novels for adults, including No Time for Goodbye, Trust Your Eyes and, most recently, A Noise Downstairs. He has also written two novels for children and screenplays.
Three of those seventeen novels comprise the epic Promise Falls trilogy: Broken Promise, Far From True, and The Twenty-Three. His two novels for children – Chase and Escape – star a computer-enhanced dog named Chipper who’s on the run from the evil organization that turned him into a super-pup.
Barclay’s 2011 thriller, The Accident, has been turned into the six-part television series L’Accident in France, and he adapted his novel Never Saw it Coming for the movie, directed by Gail Harvey and starring Eric Roberts and Emily Hampshire. Several of his other books either have been, or still are, in development for TV and film.
After spending his formative years helping run a cottage resort and trailer park after his father died when he was 16, Barclay got his first newspaper job at the Peterborough Examiner, a small Ontario daily. In 1981, he joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper.
He held such positions as assistant city editor, chief copy editor, news editor, and Life section editor, before becoming the paper’s humour columnist in 1993. He was one of the paper’s most popular columnists before retiring from the position in 2008 to work exclusively on books.
In 2004, he launched his mystery series about an anxiety-ridden, know-it-all, pain-in-the-butt father by the name of Zack Walker. Bad Move, the first book, was followed by three more Zack Walker thrillers: Bad Guys, Lone Wolf, and Stone Rain. (The last two were published in the UK under the titles Bad Luck and Bad News.)
His first standalone thriller, No Time for Goodbye, was published in 2007 to critical acclaim and great international success. The following year, it was a Richard and Judy Summer Read selection in the UK, and did seven straight weeks at #1 on the UK bestseller list, and finished 2008 as the top selling novel of the year there. The book has since been sold around the world and been translated into nearly thirty languages.
Barclay was born in the United States but moved to Canada just before turning four years old when his father, a commercial artist whose illustrations of cars appeared in Life, Look and Saturday Evening Post (before photography took over), accepted a position with an advertising agency north of the border. Barclay, who graduated with an English literature degree from Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met when she served as writer-in-residence at Trent, and Kenneth Millar, who, under the name Ross Macdonald, wrote the acclaimed series of mystery novels featuring detective Lew Archer. It was at Trent that he met Neetha, the woman who would become his wife. They have two grown children, Spencer and Paige.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
5,456 (35%)
4 stars
6,905 (44%)
3 stars
2,442 (15%)
2 stars
428 (2%)
1 star
132 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,831 reviews
Profile Image for Arah-Lynda.
337 reviews622 followers
November 12, 2014
Stephen King says it best. My idea of a sweet ride is three days of rain, a fridge filled with snacks, and a new Linwood Barclay.

Right on. I picked this one up at the beginning of my last weekend. I just happened to be in my sweet spot………ready to select my next read.

King also said that it’s a tale Hitchcock would have loved and once again, he is spot on.

I have come to think of Barclay’s books as domestic thrillers. These things could happen to you or me. Today or tomorrow. This one is top notch!

It is the story of two brothers; one, Thomas, is a map- obsessed schizophrenic with a computer and a program that leads him through the streets of this world. His brother, Ray, has just returned home to deal with their father’s recent, accidental death and hopefully to bond and work with Thomas so as to forge a plan for Thomas’s future care.

But while Thomas is sitting at his computer, clicking and trolling streets in New York City, he sees an image in a window. An image that looks like a woman being murdered. And so it begins…………

Riveting, Thrilling, Suspenseful, Gripping, Accessible…….. Yes, Yes, Yes and yes. Still for me the first word that comes to mind is ENTERTAINING!

HUGELY SO

I’m getting me another Linwood Barclay.
Profile Image for Tim.
2,497 reviews331 followers
August 7, 2020
A slow rather confusing start is not enough to derail this interesting thriller of twists. This was my first Barclay and not my last. 8 of 10 stars!
Profile Image for Paul Weiss.
1,466 reviews543 followers
November 29, 2022
Three stories for the price of one

Thomas Kilbride is a functional schizophrenic convinced by the internal voices that he hears that he is working as a consultant to the CIA. His obsession with maps and the streetscapes of cities all around the world confine him to his room, his computer and the fevered imagination of his own troubled mind. The real world intrudes when Thomas sees an image of what he is convinced is a woman being murdered in a New York apartment.

TRUST YOUR EYES is really three tales wrapped up in a single package. The first is a gripping, well-conceived high speed murder mystery with plenty of mischief and mayhem, twists and turns, red herrings and blind alleys. The second is a rather more upsetting tale of domestic abuse, pedophilia and child prostitution. The third, as you might imagine from the plot summary, is a more realistic imagining of the difficulties of living with schizophrenia from both a patient and a care giver’s point of view. Barclay manages to weave the stories together seamlessly and has produced a novel that is at once a compelling page-turner, scary, tender and heartwarming, frequently humorous (albeit rather darkly) and even educational.

Oh, … and, by the way, under NO circumstances should you even glance at the final paragraph. Remember all those novels with your favorite twist endings in the final few sentences? PRIMAL FEAR, SHUTTER ISLAND, MY SISTER’S KEEPER, and the like? Trust me … TRUST YOUR EYES’ last page will knock your socks off!

Paul Weiss
Profile Image for Glenn Sumi.
408 reviews1,928 followers
June 7, 2021
It’s been a really hectic week, so I wanted to lose myself in an escapist (but well-written) thriller. This book – the first I've read by author Linwood Barclay, former Toronto Star columnist – more than did the trick. I literally couldn’t put Trust Your Eyes down. It’s the kind of book where if I found myself with an extra 10 minutes during the day, I’d crack it open.

Thomas Kilbride, who’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia, has always been obsessed with maps. Now an adult, he spends nearly all his waking time in front of his computer studying the streets of the world’s biggest cities via a Google Street View-like program called Whirl360. When he sees what looks like the image of a person being strangled in a window in a building in New York City, he and his brother, Ray, an illustrator, are intrigued.

Soon the two unwittingly get enmeshed in a series of crimes that involves a politician, his and – probably the scariest character of them all – a former Olympic gymnast who’s now a hired assassin with a thing for ice picks.

Ray is a witty, sympathetic first-person narrator, and his strained relationship with Thomas gives the book emotional ballast and genuine humour. Barclay’s depiction of mental illness is sensitive and respectful. And he easily slips into the skin of other characters – including a few unsavoury types – for a few chapters, making some hard-to-believe plot points palatable.

The film rights to the book have been sold. This will make a terrific movie. Actors will be hounding their agents to play Thomas.

Don’t be surprised if, like me, you find yourself saying “One more chapter” until it’s 3 or 4 in the morning.
Profile Image for Delee.
243 reviews1,325 followers
August 8, 2014
3.5

Anyone who has seen my book recommendation request list would know I am a big fan of novels that have the main character witnessing a crime/murder through a window. One of my favorite books from my early teens was "The Undertaker's Gone Bananas" by Paul Zindel, and as I got older, Cornell Woolrich's short story "It had to be Murder" (Rear Window) was added to my favorites list- Rear Window is also in my top ten movies list-Hitchcock one of my favorite directors...So when I saw reviews of TRUST YOUR EYES and spotted comparisons to Rear Window, and Hitchcock's name thrown out there, I knew this was a book I had to read.

Ray Kilbride- comes home for his father's funeral, and gets more than he bargained for. He knew it wasn't going to be a quick visit, because Ray's brother, Thomas needs someone to look after him now that their dad is gone.

Thomas Kilbride- has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he is a bit of an Agoraphobe. When he is not sleeping or eating breakfast lunch and dinner, he is in front of his computer memorizing everything he sees. The computer program Whirl360 lets him travel from city to city never having to leave the house. It is on this program that Thomas spots something rather strange-it looks like a person with a plastic bag over their head. When he finally shows his brother the image, Ray doesn't know what to think, but he travels to New York City anyways to check out the address, and opens a can of Whoop-Ass into both their lives.
 photo 2b0999e1-a451-47d7-a1e6-3fb74651180d_zpsebe453e7.jpg

I enjoyed TRUST YOUR EYES for the most part. I especially loved the relationship between Thomas and Ray (I was reminded of Rain Man quite a few times with their bickering back and forth). There were a couple of teeny weeny little problems I had- One being a few too many side plots going on, and the other was in the very last paragraph. The ending took this from being a solid four star rating-to a 3.5 for me, but I am sure it won't be an issue for most readers.



140 reviews200 followers
December 28, 2024
3.5⭐ Would've been 4 if a certain characters death wasn't so ludicrous. Maybe it's possible it could play-out that way in the real world. What do I know. Statement not question.

Two siblings, Ray and Thomas Kilbride, find themselves in a dangerous situation - courtesy of the younger brother's insane obsession with Whirl360 an online mapping site (similar to Google Maps, street-view.) One day he happens upon something whilst doing his thing. What appears to be someone with a bag over their head...or is it a mannequin? The image is blurry - so difficult to ascertain. Thomas eventually tells Ray what he thinks he's seen - and so it begins.

As Thomas suffers from schizophrenia and spends most (all) of his time glued to his computer, moving from street-to-street, memorising everything (comes in handy, eventually) - his older brother, doesn't take him seriously - at first. Understandable, I guess, but eventually he looks into it, going to the address where there may have been...? - when he's in the area.

Apparently, Stephen King used Whirl360 in Doctor Sleep, so I assume he read this book and slipped it in. Maybe.

Would've finished this sooner if I wasn't playing Diablo 4 and The Elder Scrolls Online to death. But I digress.

One thing I've learned from reading this book: so-called do-gooders are overrated and can go to hell.

In summation: Another roller-coaster ride, with a few red herrings, sub-plots, the usual humour and crazy reveals at the end. Now, what do I read next? Think I need a break from Barclay. We'll see.
Profile Image for JadeLovesBooks.
43 reviews176 followers
June 16, 2025
BOOK REVIEW: Trust Your Eyes by Linwood “I Will Ruin Your Life in the Best Way” Barclay

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / five deranged CIA hotline calls

Summary (a.k.a. what the actual f*ck just happened):

So we got this dude Ray who’s just trying to live his life as an illustrator when his dad dies. Now he’s stuck babysitting his full-grown brother Thomas, who has mental health issues but also he's basically Rain Man but with maps.

Thomas is convinced he’s working for the CIA (and also Bill Clinton keeps calling him?? like okay sir) and spends 23.9 hours a day on Whirl360 (aka 2012’s sketchy knockoff Google Maps) memorizing literally every street in the world.

He accidentally stumbles upon a woman being murdered on street view.
Or what he thinks is a murder happening in a window. There's a bag over her head.

Thomas tells Ray. Ray’s like “I want absolutely no part of this".
And then Ray goes “fine I'll look into it.”
AND THAT’S WHEN EVERYTHING GOES TO HELL.

suddenly they’re accidentally:
• exposing government corruption
• pissing off the police
• getting stalked by HITMEN
• and possibly still being monitored by Bill FKING Clinton.


What I loved:

🧠 Thomas.
• he’s unhinged but lovable
• schizophrenic, paranoid, hilarious, brilliant
• somehow the sanest one in the whole damn book
• that man would 100% outsmart the FBI using an atlas from 1987 and a Wendy’s napkin

👨‍👦 Ray and Thomas’s bond:
• heartwarming in the “aw they love each other but also might commit crimes together” way
• they felt like actual brothers. one’s tired, one’s weird, both are traumatized

🔪 THE PLOT NEVER STOPS.
• every time I blinked someone was getting suffocated, blackmailed, or having a public breakdown
• I was NEVER bored.

💀 The accidental comedy.
• it’s not even a funny book. and yet??? I was howling.
• literally everything that could go wrong did go wrong


Final Thoughts:


No notes.
Masterpiece.
Profile Image for Adrienne.
527 reviews128 followers
August 5, 2020
This was a re-read; being one of the best murder thrillers I have ever read.
I agree with Stephen King - "the best Barclay so far". But clearly I go further than that.
Profile Image for Darcia Helle.
Author 30 books735 followers
October 8, 2012
The premise for this book fascinated me, and the opening pages sucked me right in. Barclay is, no doubt, a talented author and knows how to weave a good story. Unfortunately, this book didn't quite measure up to its promise.

The problems I had:

The pace is slow. The entire middle of the book drags, with information repeated and dwelled on so often that I had almost all of the plot figured out long before we got there.

Thomas, while an interesting character, struck me more as someone with high-functioning autism than schizophrenia. In fact, he reminded me of Gary on the show Alphas. The schizophrenia diagnosis felt like a convenient label to explain the need for this character occasionally hearing voices and didn't quite fit his personality.

The biggest problems I had were the timeline of the story and the POV choices. The journey took us through many transitions back and forth in time. They were unclear and left me trying to figure out where we were in the story. Also, during the first half of the book, certain characters' POV sections were written in third person present tense, while others were written in third person past. Then there was Ray's POV, which was always first person past. The transition didn't flow well and didn't seem to have anything at all to do with the time frame for events. Then, suddenly, all the third person present tense went to past tense. I couldn't understand the need for the present tense POV and found it jolting each time.

The big twist at the end didn't have the impact it could have. All the hints and rehashing of facts throughout the book had already led me to the same conclusion.

In the end, this book had enough substance to keep me reading, but didn't live up to its potential.
Profile Image for Beth .
784 reviews90 followers
September 25, 2012
I'm so glad to tell you that I finished reading TRUST YOUR EYES by Linwood Barclay. That is not a compliment. Here's why.

1. Have you ever read a book in which nothing happened until well after the 200th page? That's the first and biggest problem with this book. I could excuse other faults if Barclay had interested me right away.

2. Too many sentence fragments are throughout the book. Barclay likes the predicate. So he often eliminates the subject. This appears to be a deliberate technique, but I don't know why.

3. Although many authors successfully go back and forth in time, Barclay does it suddenly. So you don't know until you are a few sentences/paragraphs in that you are a few weeks back from where you just were.

4. Barclay uses too many tired phrases, you know, phrases like "He took two stairs at a time."

5. There are too many coincidences. Someone looking up at the right window at the right time is enough. But the god in the machine appears too often after that.

6. Two stories are going on, which is not a problem.

One story is about Ray and his schizophrenic brother Thomas. Their father just died. They're both grown men, but Thomas doesn't know how to care for himself or his home. While Ray figures out what to do, Thomas "works" on his mapping on the computer. When he sees on the Internet what appears to be a murder, it looks like something will happen, and it does, but it's slow. And Ray never adequately explains to the authorities that Thomas is schizophrenic, which is maddening.

The other story going on is about a woman named Allison. She gets in all sorts of trouble when she tries to blackmail a politician's wife.

The problem is that it takes too long for these two stories to come together.

7. Barclay seems to try too hard to have snappy dialog. It comes across as unrealistic. Too often the characters say things the way normal people wouldn't say them.

There are more problems in addition to these seven I cited above. In short, though, I am unhappy with this book. Even more, I am disappointed that I can no longer rely on reviews written by the person who gave this book a good review.

I won TRUST YOUR EYES through LibraryThing Early Reviewers on librarything.com.
Profile Image for Lucy'sLilLibrary.
599 reviews
September 26, 2024
I Really enjoyed this one, I often find thrillers have bland characters because they are so focused on the plot, but these characters were so well written. Linwood Barclay is now an author I will look out for rather than James Patterson (well his newer works).

This book managed to surprise me a few times too, the twists and turns were unexpected and expertly done. Thomas feels like a real person, he isn't just another character in a book, he has authentic thoughts and feelings. A super easy read and very entertaining. A little far-fetched of course but who cares.

Profile Image for The Bookish Wombat.
782 reviews14 followers
August 27, 2012
Ray Kilbride finds his life turned upside down when the accidental death of his father means having to move back home to look after his adult brother Thomas, who has schizophrenia. Thomas believes he is doing important work relating the safety of the USA, but while studying a mapping website he thinks he sees a murder in New York. Ray is despatched to investigate – is there anything to be found, or is it all in his brother’s head?

This is a really difficult book to review it would be really easy to give something away and spoil the experience for other readers, hence the sketchiness of some of what follows.

I’ve read a couple of Linwood Barclay’s books before – his breakthrough No Time For Goodbye and the later Fear The Worst – so I thought I knew what to expect when I started Trust Your Eyes. Many of my expectations were met, among them a twisty plot containing unexpected surprises, realistic characters and enough crumbs dropped along the way for the reader to work out the denouement before it actually happens – though in such a clever way you don’t immediately realise you’ve seen the key to the whole thing. But I would have to say that this book surpassed my expectations as I enjoyed it more and found it more satisfying than either of his previous books that I’ve read.

To call something a page-turner is a huge cliché, but I can’t think of a better way to describe Trust Your Eyes. Once I’d started the book I just wanted to keep going in order to find out the truth about many things, not just the main plotline, but other aspects of Ray and Thomas’s lives. I got a real sense of Barclay enjoying his writing and taking time to shape the book very precisely so that everything unwinds at the right speed and at the right time. I found it a satisfying read which didn’t leave untied up ends or leave me wondering about what had happened – everything knitted together wonderfully into a pleasing whole.

I also got that wonderful sense of realisation when I picked up on the author’s clues and cottoned on to how one particular plot strand was going to work out – a real light bulb moment, which in itself is very satisfying.

I found both Ray and Thomas likeable characters and thought the portrayal of Thomas was quite well done. Barclay shows him as a real person, who happens to have a mental illness, but who has more to him than that. Ray is what the world would call “normal”, but we gradually learn that he too has his own issues and isn’t perfect – in short, he’s a real person. Most of the other characters also come across as real people you might have met, but there are a couple which are more cardboard-cut-out-like, however I didn’t feel this was too big an issue and it certainly didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the novel.

If you’re looking for a well-plotted, clever and absorbing thriller then this is the book for you. I’d recommend it to anyone who has read any of Linwood Barclay’s work before and to anyone who has not. Trust Your Eyes will grip you throughout, and when you close the book you’ll feel you’ve had a great experience.
Profile Image for Diane S ☔.
4,901 reviews14.6k followers
December 3, 2012
There are parts of this story that I liked better than others. Loved the two brothers and the modern day take on Rear Window, this was a very clever device on the part of Barclay. Using a schizophrenic really added to this story and I enjoyed the map meanderings by this brother. I think in part the author added to many elements to this story, too many different plots, which made some of them not very believable to me. Do love this author and his writing style and look forward to his next book.
Profile Image for Kevin.
1,643 reviews100 followers
November 16, 2012
Thomas Kilbride is a map-obsessed schizophrenic so affected that he rarely leaves the self-imposed bastion of his bedroom. But with a computer program called Whirl360.com, he travels the world while never stepping out the door. That is until he sees something in a street view of downtown New York City. Thomas's keen eyes have detected an image in a window...an image that looks like a woman being murdered.
Thomas's brother, Ray, takes care of him, cooking for him, dealing with the outside world on his behalf, and listening to his intricate and increasingly paranoid theories. When Thomas tells Ray what he has seen, Ray humors him with a half-hearted investigation. But Ray soon realizes he and his brother have stumbled onto a deadly conspiracy.
And now they are in the crosshairs...

Linwood Barclay has fast become one of my favorite authors. An interesting and fun thriller.
Profile Image for Kathleen.
1,725 reviews113 followers
August 17, 2020
This Barclay murder mystery weaves multiple plot-lines that takes a believability leap or two. But the story of a schizophrenic savant who discovers a picture of a woman being murdered through a computer program called Whirl 360.com and his brother who tries to verify the event holds the readers’ attention despite a slow start. Thomas and Ray slowly learn to respect one another, despite Thomas’ psychiatric issues. Enjoy!
Profile Image for Alisonbookreviewer.
837 reviews67 followers
August 24, 2024
5 Stars

Going through LBs books has been an amazing ride so far.
One book tops the next. His stories are so original.
This might be my second favourite book by him. Just amazing characters, circumstances, and writing.
This story is about Thomas, who has a mental illness that increases his intelligence in certain subjects. His happens to be Cartography.
His lifelong obsession has been reading maps and marking places until global maps hits the internet.
He can see everything now. Every street and building in every city in the world.
He can also see where global maps has taken a photo of people.
A certain picture captures his attention. He's worried it might be murder.
His brother Ray assures him it's nothing.
Ray has been living with Thomas since the death of their father.
After incessant nagging to Ray to go check the building in New York where he saw the picture, Ray finally agrees.
Because of the timeline of global 6 tells his brother it might not be recent.
This leads Ray into a ring of bad political people who will stop at nothing to see nothing goes wrong with the attorney generals' reputation.
This was a long book which I listened to in a day and a half. It was too addictive to stop.
Highly recommend this book to anyone regardless of the genres you like.
Profile Image for Freda Malone.
378 reviews66 followers
June 16, 2017
Another Promise Falls novel so riveting, you just can't put it down. The blurb says it all. Tons of twists and turns, red herrings, strong characters as well as villains with an explosive end that leaves you so stunned you can't think straight. I LOVE this author, I can't say it loud enough. Another favorite this year.
Profile Image for Bill.
1,054 reviews421 followers
August 2, 2018
The best Linwood Barclay novel I've read so far.

I had read three of his before, No Time for Goodbye (4 stars), Never Look Away (3 stars) and Too Close to Home (3 stars).

No Time for Goodbye was very good and I was excited to have a strong start with an author who was new to me. But the next two were a bit short off the mark: Too Close to Home got a little too long in the tooth and convoluted towards the end, and Never Look Away? I had some major issues with the last 50 pages that bugged me so much I was hesitant to read him again. That was four years ago.

One thing about all of those novels though: Noone can lay out a plotline like this guy. The best parts of his books are for the first half or so, wondering where the heck things are going to go and what is going to be revealed.

Lately I noticed his Promise Falls trilogy was getting a lot of love and he's back in the spotlight again with his latest novel.
I had been planning on reading Trust Your Eyes for a while and I was at the point where I was having a difficult time choosing from my to-read pile. So I picked it.

And devoured every. last. word.

Like his other novels, again the plotline is trawled out brilliantly and again, you're wondering where the heck he's going to take you.
There is a lot of dialogue in this story, which really moves things along at a brisk pace, and some
of his character development is fantastic, particularly Thomas.

Any misgivings that I had had with the previous two novels were completely dashed by this one. It's a terrific plot that stayed strong right up until the last page, with some characters behaving badly but believably. I hated putting this one down for any length of time and couldn't wait to pick it up again. It's a perfect vacation read (I wish I had started it earlier than the last day of mine!) so highly recommended.

This was stellar entertainment. What more do you want?
Five stars, easy.
5,729 reviews144 followers
March 29, 2020
5 Stars. Linwood Barclay is such a wonderful writer, so easy to read, yet he holds you in suspense to the end. Get ready for some real surprises. The story is mainly told through the eyes of Ray Kilbride, an editorial cartoonist, whose father has just died. He returns to his hometown of Promise Falls in upstate New York to deal with the funeral and finds his younger brother, Thomas, who is schizophrenic, excited about something. Thomas patrols the cities of the world on a computer app, "Whirl360," memorizing the streets and its maps for, ostensibly, the CIA and a former US President! Has he stumbled on a murder in progress in New York City? Ray is skeptical but he agrees to visit the Big Apple to put his brother's notion to rest. And it starts. Always the thought Thomas is making this up. A sense of rising dread too. (December 2017)
Profile Image for Robin.
1,603 reviews35 followers
June 18, 2012
While Linwood Barclay is popular in our library, he still deserves to be as best-selling as Harlan Coben (which is why I said Barclay is the Rodney Dangerfield of thriller writers). He sides more on the domestic side of weird goings on such as disappearances, conspiracies, and murders, and his characters are always likeable every day kind of guys. This will make you look at Google Earth in a different and chilling way.

This is due in September.
Profile Image for ✨Susan✨.
1,153 reviews232 followers
October 10, 2017
An interesting story of a man who is borderline schizophrenic/autistic who spends his days studying maps of the world similar to google earth where you get a birds eye view. One day he thinks he has witnessed a murder. When his brother try's to prove that it was not true the two of them are plunged into a high society conspiracy that may just get them killed. Lots of twists and turns and a good fast pace. I do recommend this to those that like light mysteries.
Profile Image for ReadingWryly.
251 reviews930 followers
February 2, 2023
This novel was very well written.
There were 2 big twists, and a last minute zinger that I appreciated. The way the twists were set up were expertly done.

I personally didn't connect with this style of thriller (conspiracy/political intrigue/action), or the authorial voice. Whether intended or not, this felt like it was written for men.

Not to say women can't enjoy it, but I was just turned off by the way the author described things. For example, there is a line describing the size of a woman's purse that mentions (and I'm paraphrasing) it could fit no more than a jackhammer and a dozen cinderblocks. Nothing wrong with this per se, but I don't think I'm necessarily the intended audience.

That said, I was worried that the main character Thomas, and his struggle with Schizophrenia could be dealt with poorly, but I found it to be well done. I don't think his mental health was used in a harmful way at all, and Thomas' character was especially endearing. As far as the representation is concerned, I don't personally know.

Profile Image for Kirsten .
1,749 reviews292 followers
May 6, 2017
Wow! Quite a page-turner!

This is basically an updated Rear Window, but without Grace Kelly. The book also reminded me of Daniel Palmer's thriller Delirious, except it was much better.

Like Delirious, you have two brothers, one mentally ill, and the other trying to deal with that.

The plot of witnessing a murder via a website similar to Google Earth was interesting. I've looked and seen pictures on Google Earth where you can see people and dogs in yards, so I can see how this would work.

The mentally ill brother seems to have some high functioning syndrome/conditions that allows him to do amazing things with his brain, but he has a hard time managing his place in society.

The ending was especially satisfying. So many authors are excellent on the build-up but just can't stick the landing. (LOL! Considering one of the characters that was quite an appropriate analogy.)

I highly recommend this book. I read it in 2 sittings. It would be a great book for a rainy afternoon.
Profile Image for Maria.
506 reviews92 followers
January 30, 2023
Leave it to Barclay to concoct a whole thriller based on the capabilities of Google Earth! The book consist of five subplots running at the same time all equally thrilling, exciting and very well written.

Barclay keeps you in suspense until the very last sentence. What an ending! The main character was a little flat but Thomas was as a character, fresh and surprisingly good. With this writer it is not the main character who stands out, it is usually the sidekick of the story who shines brighter. It happened here and in Find you First.

I think Thomas was misdiagnosed by the author, to me he was more autistic than schizophrenic but in order for the character to work in the story he needed to hear voices.
Profile Image for Siğnem.
127 reviews1 follower
September 19, 2024
Psikoz bitirene kadar elimden bırakamadığım, merak uyandırıcı bir gizem/gerilim kitabıydı. Bir film izler gibi okuduğum için sinemaya uyarlanacağını öğrenirsem hiç şaşırmam, tam beyaz perdeye uygun bir kurgusu var.

Babalarının ölümünden sonra iki kardeş, Thomas ve Ray beraber yaşamaya başlar. Thomas bir gün Ray'e bir cinayete tanık olduğunu söyler. Fakat Thomas haritalara saplantılı, hükümete çalıştığını iddia eden bir şizofrendir.

Derine gömülmüş sırların, gerçeğin, hayalin iç içe geçtiği gizem dozu yüksek bir kitaptı. Farklı olayların, alakasız gibi gözüken karakterlerin yer aldığı katmanlı bir yapısı vardı. Kurgusu tamamen tesadüfler üzerine kurulu olmasına rağmen yazar bunları iyi bir mantıkla bağladığı için beni rahatsız etmedi. Fakat sonunu pek sevmedim. Aksiyonun yükseldiği, her şeyin bağlandığı noktada yaşananlar benim için inandırıcılığını kaybetmeye başladı. Belki de kitabın başındaki o ağır ilerleyen gizem havası beni daha çok çektiği için sonlara doğru üzerimdeki etkisi azalmış olabilir.

Yine de genel olarak türü sevenlerin ilgisini çekecek bir kitap olduğu kesin. Çeviri ve editörlüğü de gayet temizdi.
Profile Image for Aylin.
376 reviews23 followers
December 2, 2024
Psikoz; su gibi akan anlatımı, anı unutturan hikayesi, okuma sürecinde yaşattığı sürpriz dönemeçleri, farklılıklara yönelik katılık ve tahammülsüzlüğü vurgulayan göndermeleri, temposu düşmeyen işleyişi ile bir solukta okuduğum ve beğendiğim bir kitap oldu. Paranoid düşünceleri ve sanrıları olan bir bireyin içsel dünyasını çarpıcı bir netlikte yansıtması beğendiğim yönlerinden oldu.

Thomas Kilbride, ülkedeki tüm yerleşim yerlerinin haritasını ezbere bilen, herhangi bir sokakta bulunan tüm unsurları zihninden söyleyebilen bir şizofrendir. Bütün vaktini Whirl360 programı ile Avrupa ve Amerika'daki tüm bölgeleri gezerek geçirmekte, dijital haritaları yok edecek bir virüs beklentisi ile bilgilerini canlı tutmaktadır. Thomas, CİA' ye danışmanlık yaptığını,dijital haritaları yok edecek bir saldırı olacağını, bu sebeple devlet için kritik bir rol oynayacağını düşünmektedir. Babası Adam Kilbride'in çim biçerken bir kaza sonucu ölmesi ile abisi Ray Kilbride bakımını üstlenmek üzere yanına taşınır. Thomas herzamanki gibi günlük rutinini tekrar edip, bir sokağı yakından incelerken; bir dairenin penceresinde,kafasına poşet geçirilmiş bir kadın kafası görür. Bu keşfini abisi Ray ile paylaşan Thomas; abisini o sokağa gidip , olayı araştırması yönünde teşvik eder. Thomas ve Ray Kilbride böylece kendilerini beklenmedik tehlikeli insanların entrikalarının merkezinde bulurlar.

Zihin yormayan heyecanlı kurgusu ve merak uyandıran gizemli olay örgüsü ile bu kitap, psikolojik gerilim türünü sevenlere önerimdir.
Profile Image for Erk.
606 reviews71 followers
March 25, 2024
3.5

ส่อง-แส่-ซวย น่าจะเป็นคำจำกัดความที่ตรงคอนเซ็ปต์ของเรื่องนี้ที่สุดละ

เพลิน ๆ ดี เนื้อหาเหมือนจะมาก แต่พออ่านจริงๆ ก็อ่านได้เร็วกว่าที่คิดไว้ แรกๆ ถึงช่วงกลางมีเรื่อยๆ เอื่อยๆ บ้าง แต่โดยรวมก็เพลิน ๆ ไม่แย่อะไร
Profile Image for Louise.
1,548 reviews87 followers
September 15, 2012
TRUST YOUR EYES (LINWOOD BARCLAY)

Story Description:

Doubleday Canada|September 4, 2012|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-385-66957-3

Thomas Kilbride is a map-obsessed schizophrenic so affected that he rarely leaves the self-imposed bastion of his bedroom. But with a computer program called Whirl360.com, he travels the world while never so much as stepping out the door. He pores over and memorizes the streets of the world. He examines every address, as well as the people who are frozen in time on his computer screen. Then he sees something that anyone else might have stumbled upon – but has not – in a street view of downtown New York City: an image in a window. An image that looks like a woman being murdered.

Thomas’s brother, Ray, takes care of him, cooking for him, dealing with the outside world on his behalf, and listening to his intricate and increasingly paranoid theories. When Thomas tells Ray what he has seen, Ray humours him with a half-hearted investigation. But Ray soon realizes he and his brother have stumbled onto a deadly conspiracy. And now they are in the crosshairs.

My Review:

Thomas Kilbride, a man with schizophrenia witnesses an attempted murder on a website called Whirl360.com. Thomas memorizes street names from cities around the world which is how he stumbled upon this scene. He is so upset that he convinces his brother, Ray, who looks after him to investigate. Thinking he is placating and humouring, Thomas, they both soon learn that getting involved was huge mistake and now their lives are at stake.

Trust Your Eyes is a thrilling rollercoaster ride that you won’t want to get off. The thrills, suspense, and intrigue just keep coming and coming. As usual, Linwood Barclay, has penned a stupendous novel! This is a keeper that I’d like to read again just to experience the thrills a second time around.

115 reviews10 followers
October 12, 2012
Ok...again, if you are into these murder mystery thrillers this is probably a great one. My mother in law loaned me the book, otherwise I never would have read it. I struggle with the lack of character development, believability of the situations, etc. I know that what I should be focusing on in a book like this is the murder, the mystery, and the emotional twists and turns. Based upon those three things alone I would give this book a much higher rating....I just can't read that way. It was interesting, but mostly I just wanted to finish it, and was so happy when i was done and it was over! The great books are the ones you don't want to end because you will miss the characters, but there is no one to miss in this book. I personally wouldn't read another one by this author, but if you like these books this is probably a good one. Also....really bad language.
Profile Image for Chuck Karas.
259 reviews15 followers
December 6, 2021
This is first and foremost a "thriller" kind of book moved by plot, but I was surprised to find that it had characters I could identify with. I cared about the personal relationships as much as I cared about finding the killer. For my taste, this is a good blend. Too many "over the top" concept books rely only on the concept and then fall apart in the telling because there's no character in the story I care about, no personal narrative I care about. Not so here.

This is a roller coaster ride with an incredible speed booster. Recommend any of Barclay's books
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,831 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.