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Zack Walker #3
Lone Wolf
Newspaper writer, family man, and reluctant hero Zack Walker has stumbled onto some dicey stories before, but nothing like what he’s about to uncover when a mutilated corpse is found at his father’s lakeside fishing camp. As always, Zack fears the worst. And this time, his paranoid worldview is dead-on.
While the locals attribute the death to a bear attack, Zack suspects something far more ominous—a predator whose weapons include arson, assault, and enough wacko beliefs to fuel a dozen hate groups. Then another body is discovered and a large supply of fertilizer goes missing, evoking memories of the Oklahoma City bombing. But it’s when he learns that his neighbor is a classic Lone Wolf—FBI parlance for a solo fanatic hell-bent on using high body counts to make political statements—that Zack realizes the idyllic town of his childhood is under siege. The fuse is lit to a catastrophe of unimaginable terror. And with time running out, Zack must face off with a madman.
While the locals attribute the death to a bear attack, Zack suspects something far more ominous—a predator whose weapons include arson, assault, and enough wacko beliefs to fuel a dozen hate groups. Then another body is discovered and a large supply of fertilizer goes missing, evoking memories of the Oklahoma City bombing. But it’s when he learns that his neighbor is a classic Lone Wolf—FBI parlance for a solo fanatic hell-bent on using high body counts to make political statements—that Zack realizes the idyllic town of his childhood is under siege. The fuse is lit to a catastrophe of unimaginable terror. And with time running out, Zack must face off with a madman.
434 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Linwood Barclay
86 books7,514 followersLinwood 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 224 reviews
October 12, 2024
Meh, not really up to the expectations set by the books I'd previously read by Mr. Barclay. Sure, there were some funny scenes, snarky remarks and the like here and there, but on the whole, the need to throw disbelief out the window just proved too much for this reader.
Nonsense and silliness aside, there just wasn't enough substance to elevate this beyond 3 stars, despite the zany antics and clever lines interspersed within the story. There were threads that could have been more compelling had they been fleshed out further, but so much time was spent on the main plot, which was just beyond the pale, that the opportunity faded.
Fans of Barclay will want to include this, but I'd recommend anyone new to the author begin elsewhere in his body of work.
Nonsense and silliness aside, there just wasn't enough substance to elevate this beyond 3 stars, despite the zany antics and clever lines interspersed within the story. There were threads that could have been more compelling had they been fleshed out further, but so much time was spent on the main plot, which was just beyond the pale, that the opportunity faded.
Fans of Barclay will want to include this, but I'd recommend anyone new to the author begin elsewhere in his body of work.
December 1, 2010
I found myself laughing out loud several times while reading this book. I really liked being able to read suspense and laugh so much. It was good that the suspense was not really scary. Then I could easily sleep after reading. My husband read it too and I cannot remember him reading a book so quickly. He liked it very much.
July 14, 2018
By this point in my reading of the Zack Walker mysteries, anyone following my reviews will release I’m somewhat addicted. In fact, reading this series is reminding me just how much I love crime thrillers. I used to read them all the time, but as of late my reading of such books has been rather sporadic. However, this series is making me want to go back to the way I once was. I think, in part, I had a bad run with thriller books and that is why I moved away for a while – but I assure you, that is about to change.
With Bad Luck (or Lone Wolf, as it was published in some countries), Linwood Barclay brings us more of what we have come to enjoy so much with this series. Like the two prior books, Bad Move and Bad Guys, Bad Luck sucked me in from the very start, and refused to let up until I was finished with the book. The moment I was finished, I had one thought in my mind – to grab Bad News (or Stone Rain, as it was published in some countries), the final book, and see how everything came together.
Each time I finish a Zack Walker book, I want to dive into the next. Yet my desire was even stronger this time, as we get quite a bit of promise throughout this one of what is to come in the final book. We get to see that it will involve a side character I have rather enjoyed, one I want to see more of, and I cannot wait to see how her story unfolds. Whilst I have enjoyed all the Zack Walker mysteries, I have the highest hopes for the final book – it really is a whole new level of excitement.
Back to Bad Luck, though.
Bad Luck was another addictive read, leaving me turning the pages as I worked to see how everything came together. You’re sucked in deep, and before you know it coming up for air is no longer important. We get more of the great characters we have been enjoying throughout the prior books, along with being introduced to some new individuals, and we finally get to meet characters who have been mentioned in the past. We have a wonderful storyline, one with many elements that link together wonderfully – and even the predictable elements made for great enjoyment. We have more of the humour that keeps you chuckling away – some being quite childish, but all bringing a smile to your face.
Keeping me gripped throughout, and providing a serious kick, Bad Luck was another great Zack Walker mystery.
With Bad Luck (or Lone Wolf, as it was published in some countries), Linwood Barclay brings us more of what we have come to enjoy so much with this series. Like the two prior books, Bad Move and Bad Guys, Bad Luck sucked me in from the very start, and refused to let up until I was finished with the book. The moment I was finished, I had one thought in my mind – to grab Bad News (or Stone Rain, as it was published in some countries), the final book, and see how everything came together.
Each time I finish a Zack Walker book, I want to dive into the next. Yet my desire was even stronger this time, as we get quite a bit of promise throughout this one of what is to come in the final book. We get to see that it will involve a side character I have rather enjoyed, one I want to see more of, and I cannot wait to see how her story unfolds. Whilst I have enjoyed all the Zack Walker mysteries, I have the highest hopes for the final book – it really is a whole new level of excitement.
Back to Bad Luck, though.
Bad Luck was another addictive read, leaving me turning the pages as I worked to see how everything came together. You’re sucked in deep, and before you know it coming up for air is no longer important. We get more of the great characters we have been enjoying throughout the prior books, along with being introduced to some new individuals, and we finally get to meet characters who have been mentioned in the past. We have a wonderful storyline, one with many elements that link together wonderfully – and even the predictable elements made for great enjoyment. We have more of the humour that keeps you chuckling away – some being quite childish, but all bringing a smile to your face.
Keeping me gripped throughout, and providing a serious kick, Bad Luck was another great Zack Walker mystery.
Read
July 24, 2021[rating tbd] Fun thriller with good comedy, readable writing, and tension levels that made the whole thing super addictive. Zack, as always, was brilliant fun, but while his dad was a good addition i did miss Sarah and the rest of his family in this instalment. The main villains were a little over the top with the juxtaposition between their scheme and beliefs and their occasionally childish behaviour, and very obvious almost from the get go, but the side plots concerning Zack’s family and Leonard added a much needed mystery element.
August 11, 2024
The Zack Walker series gets better each book
April 10, 2019
I love cracking a Linwood Barclay novel. I've read most of them but somehow missed this early one. He has such a talent for dropping the extraordinary into the ordinary, painting both with depth and style
This one lives up to my expectations with relatable varied characters, a gripping plot that keeps you guessing and its fair share of excitement. There is no second guessing some of the twists and turns - s common Barclay hallmark. He is one of my favorite authors. A great read if entertainment is your goal.
This one lives up to my expectations with relatable varied characters, a gripping plot that keeps you guessing and its fair share of excitement. There is no second guessing some of the twists and turns - s common Barclay hallmark. He is one of my favorite authors. A great read if entertainment is your goal.
July 4, 2020
Okay, this was another hilarious mystery. I absolutely love Zack Walker and the way that he see's the world. First, he is led to believe that his father has been killed by a bear. Turns out he wasn't and its some other poor guy. From there, the mystery takes off, long-held secrets are revealed, and what actually happened is completely unexpected. I love the characters that appear throughout the novel and the way that they work together. I both look forward to and am a little sad about reading the next and final book of the series. Who knows, he might write another one day.
July 28, 2015
The 3rd book in the Zack Walker series by one of my favourite authors Linwood Barclay.
Another adventure in Zack's trouble filled life, full of action, thrills and a good dose of humour. Not Linwood Barclay's best work but they are certainly entertaining a well worth a read. The book finishes by setting up the the 4th and final episode of the Zack Walker series.
Another adventure in Zack's trouble filled life, full of action, thrills and a good dose of humour. Not Linwood Barclay's best work but they are certainly entertaining a well worth a read. The book finishes by setting up the the 4th and final episode of the Zack Walker series.
July 8, 2026
I really enjoyed Bad Luck: A Zack Walker Mystery by Linwood Barclay. I liked the mix of mystery and humour, and the characters were enjoyable to follow. The story kept me interested throughout, and there were plenty of entertaining moments. I've really enjoyed this series so far, and this was another fun read. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys light-hearted mystery novels.
December 17, 2012
Another superb read in the Zack Walker mystery series. Once an asshole, always an asshole! However, he now meets up with his father's neighbors who reign supreme over being assholes. Although I do find Zack to be much more subdued in this one.
March 26, 2012
I always like Linwood Barclay's books, and since I've read the most recent ones, I'm reading some I must have missed. This mystery's set in northern Ontario, well know to Barclay who grew up there. Fast action, unpredictable, and a smart ass main character - what more could you want?
January 20, 2019
What a great read. Absolutely loved this book from start to finish. Was laughing out loud at some parts in it
May 13, 2019
Not anywhere near as good as his previous work. If this were my first experience with Barclay I wouldn't have read as many of his books. Really surprised!
January 5, 2025
I’m usually reading two or three books at the same time, and when I want to switch from the main read (in this case, Iron Flame), I’ll pick up Barclay, Harlan Coben, or one of many other thriller writers of that ilk. The protagonist of this story - it’s one of several books featuring the same guy - gets himself in more hot water than any one individual really should, but Barclay has a nice touch for first-person writing, and his books are fun to read.
April 2, 2019
Lone Wolf is the third book in Linwood Barclay's Zack Walker series. Although this book wasn't as good as the first two (I felt it was a little predictable), it was a great read. I love the Zack Walker character - a normal guy - a father, a dad, a writer, and he's funny in a sarcastic way. I enjoy a good mystery that adds some humor to the story and these book do that really well.
February 10, 2023
enjoyed this
It had been a while since I read the first two books in this series, but I remembered that I liked them and returned to the books. I’m glad I did! While predictable, the story was funny in spots and suspenseful in others. The characters kept me entertained.
It had been a while since I read the first two books in this series, but I remembered that I liked them and returned to the books. I’m glad I did! While predictable, the story was funny in spots and suspenseful in others. The characters kept me entertained.
November 22, 2019
Barclay pulls off the comedy and mayhem really well. And Zack has a wicked take on life. This is Carl Hiassen like, but takes place in Canada.
January 23, 2022
The original name of this book was “Bad Luck” to fit with the first two in the series - not sure why they changed it to “Lone Wolf”. Anyway it was a very enjoyable read and different than the first two. It took place at Zach’s father’s fishing camp and had a whole crew of weird and crazy characters. At times it was laugh-out-loud funny. There were the usual twists and turns and many tense situations. A really good read!
April 28, 2013
I've read and reviewed Linwood Barclay's BAD GUYS and BAD MOVE, and so I was disappointed when I started reading LONE WOLF.
I was expecting the same degree of humor and page-turning suspense that I'd come to expect after reading his previous books. It was definitely Linwood Barclay. Same prose, same approach to story writing, but so, so boring. I usually read books in a matter of days. A week tops. I bought LONE WOLF on September 8th, 2012. I kid you not. I gave up on it and tried again twice last year. Finally, a week ago, having finished the new Harlan Coben, Nelson Demille, and Jonathan Kellerman books, I finally decided to give LONE WOLF a final try.
About halfway through the book, things started getting interesting, a lot funnier, and a lot more like his other books.
But no reader should have to endure such boredom through chapter after chapter to get to the good stuff. Sorry.
There are two instances of what anyone familiar with firearms would consider glaring mistakes that caught my attention. One, a gun doesn't go off when it's dropped. Two, shotguns fire shot and in some instances slugs, not bullets. But then I realized that since the story is told from the first-person perspective of Zack Walker, a guy who admits in the narrative that he knows nothing about guns, the misconceptions about firearms actually make perfect sense.
Anyway, by the end of the book, Linwood Barclay manages to redeem himself. Barely.
I just visited his website and noticed Stephen King has endorsed Mr. Barclay's most recent novel, TRUST YOUR EYES.
I'm going to get it. I just have to know what Linwood Barclay did with his writing to deserve such high praise from the one-and-only Stephen King.
If it hadn't been for that endorsement, however, I think I might have dropped out of the Linwood Barclay fan club.
If you like Linwood Barclay, have nothing better to read, and are willing to suffer through a snail-paced beginning, then buy LONE WOLF. Otherwise, I'd give this one a miss.
I was expecting the same degree of humor and page-turning suspense that I'd come to expect after reading his previous books. It was definitely Linwood Barclay. Same prose, same approach to story writing, but so, so boring. I usually read books in a matter of days. A week tops. I bought LONE WOLF on September 8th, 2012. I kid you not. I gave up on it and tried again twice last year. Finally, a week ago, having finished the new Harlan Coben, Nelson Demille, and Jonathan Kellerman books, I finally decided to give LONE WOLF a final try.
About halfway through the book, things started getting interesting, a lot funnier, and a lot more like his other books.
But no reader should have to endure such boredom through chapter after chapter to get to the good stuff. Sorry.
There are two instances of what anyone familiar with firearms would consider glaring mistakes that caught my attention. One, a gun doesn't go off when it's dropped. Two, shotguns fire shot and in some instances slugs, not bullets. But then I realized that since the story is told from the first-person perspective of Zack Walker, a guy who admits in the narrative that he knows nothing about guns, the misconceptions about firearms actually make perfect sense.
Anyway, by the end of the book, Linwood Barclay manages to redeem himself. Barely.
I just visited his website and noticed Stephen King has endorsed Mr. Barclay's most recent novel, TRUST YOUR EYES.
I'm going to get it. I just have to know what Linwood Barclay did with his writing to deserve such high praise from the one-and-only Stephen King.
If it hadn't been for that endorsement, however, I think I might have dropped out of the Linwood Barclay fan club.
If you like Linwood Barclay, have nothing better to read, and are willing to suffer through a snail-paced beginning, then buy LONE WOLF. Otherwise, I'd give this one a miss.
January 30, 2014
'The sh*t you get into. I do declare.' So says Lawrence Jones to his friend Zack Walker near the end of Lone Wolf, the third in Linwood Barclay's series featuring anti-hero Zack Walker, sci-fi novelist and self professed paranoid geek turned newspaper reporter. And it's true. He's like Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote - trouble just seems to follow him wherever he goes. This time around Zack visits his father after a false alarm call saying his father may have been gruesomely killed by a bear. This story is more of an action thriller with some mystery twists thrown in for good measure. Most other Barclay books that I've read are the opposite - mystery thrillers with some action added to ratchet up the suspense. I found myself comparing it to Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, only Zack Walker doesn't have the self assured swagger of Reacher. I quite liked this story, Lone Wolf, and found it, like all Barclay's others, very hard to put down. Another one to recommend to lovers of good, fun stories.
March 10, 2021
Another great Zack Walker novel from Linwood Barclay.
Following a reported bear attack, Zack ends up in the little town where his father lives and rents out lakeside cabins. When he arrives, he finds that the neighbours from hell are renting his father's farmhouse next to the cabins and that the animal attack may not be quite as reported.
In this third book in the series, Zack comes across as less of a self-proclaimed asshole, than in previous books. He ends up embroiled in controversy and danger while trying to help get to the bottom of events, rather than having made poor decisions that have contributed to his problems.
I'm enjoying this series, and I'm already well into the fourth book.
Following a reported bear attack, Zack ends up in the little town where his father lives and rents out lakeside cabins. When he arrives, he finds that the neighbours from hell are renting his father's farmhouse next to the cabins and that the animal attack may not be quite as reported.
In this third book in the series, Zack comes across as less of a self-proclaimed asshole, than in previous books. He ends up embroiled in controversy and danger while trying to help get to the bottom of events, rather than having made poor decisions that have contributed to his problems.
I'm enjoying this series, and I'm already well into the fourth book.
July 16, 2017
4.75. It was a little slow at first, but about half way through I couldn't put it down, especially the last 100 pages. And then you keep wondering what story he wrote at the end for the newspaper and whether they caught the fish. And then out of the blue Trixie says something at the end that made me go back to the first chapter and I still couldn't figure it out, so just saying Barclays is an amazing writer!
October 27, 2018
I've probably read a good two thirds of Barclay's books and this, for me, fits somewhere in the middle. The story itself is good (not great) and runs along at a steady enough pace, but it lacks the punch that made No Time For Goodbye so gripping - it'll take something pretty epic from him to top that, in my opinion.
July 22, 2020
titular sentence:
p224: "A lone wolf," he whispered.
woah!
p225: Pump action shotguns. With double barrels.
p263: "WHERE ARE MY DAUGHTER AND GRANDSON?" Timmy asked, the shotgun still raised and staring me in the face.
p263: The bullet went past my left ear and blew a hole in the wall.
It sure is looking to be a pattern. But it is good, nonetheless.
p224: "A lone wolf," he whispered.
woah!
p225: Pump action shotguns. With double barrels.
p263: "WHERE ARE MY DAUGHTER AND GRANDSON?" Timmy asked, the shotgun still raised and staring me in the face.
p263: The bullet went past my left ear and blew a hole in the wall.
It sure is looking to be a pattern. But it is good, nonetheless.
October 26, 2009
Reluctant hero, Zack Walker, is called to go to his Father's cabin because his Father is missing and a body which has been mutilated by a bear has been discovered close by. As usual Zack's paranoia is dead on. A brilliant plot line... funny and suspenseful. A great book in a fantastic series.
March 9, 2022
I don't even know where to begin...I LOVE IT! First time reading a Barclay's book and I'm obsessed. It has it all: great characters, great storyline and great humor (a surprise on a thriller book). I cannot wait to read others Barclay's books.
September 1, 2026
This is a two-star book for me, and a clear step down from the first Zack Walker novel. That verdict is a Nolan problem more than a Linwood Barclay one. Most readers are not as worn out by white-supremacist plotting as I am. The crowd has this around four stars, and I would still send most people to it. There is plenty of talent here to celebrate.
Zack is Barclay’s anxious everyman, a science-fiction writer and part-time newspaperman who assumes the worst and is, too often, right. The first two books keep him tangled up with his wife, Sarah, and the kids in the suburbs. This one pulls him north to the small fishing camp his father, Arlen, runs on an idyllic lake. They rarely talk. What brings Zack is not Arlen’s wrecked ankle. He hears his father is missing and that a bear may have killed him. Campers have found a badly mauled body near the cabins, and long-time guests want Zack to know in case the remains are Arlen’s. Arlen is alive, ankle in ruins. Zack stays to help run the place.
The father-son business does not do much work for me. They get along all right. They are more alike than either would enjoy admitting, both professional worriers, and the relationship may tick forward by tiny increments. I do not remember those moments clearly. The town chief, Orville Thorne, is part of that same family tangle. The book waits to tell you he is Zack’s half-brother. I saw it coming, and I found the reveal almost juvenile.
The campers are a mixed lot. A returning wife, a former nurse, refuses the local cop and doctor’s bear story and is first to ask whether someone murdered Morton Dewart. Morton was mixed up with the family renting from Arlen, McVeigh worshippers with dogs that explain the body better than any bear. A diaper magnate who wants a swanky resort by the lake dies unnaturally before the last page.
Then a second body turns up, and a load of fertilizer goes missing. That is the Oklahoma City echo made practical. Zack calls in Lawrence Jones, the capable friend from the previous book, because a nervous reporter is not enough.
I am so done with authors who lean on extremists and white supremacists to drive a plot. I do not condone that behavior. I am tired of meeting it on the page, especially when a highly talented writer reaches for it instead of building a fresher story. I yawn just remembering this strand. The renters are a particularly obnoxious lot, including two young men whose stupidity almost eclipses the violence they mean to do. They invite Zack and Arlen to supper. The father throws a knife he was just using, skewers a mouse, flings it outside, and goes back to slicing beef with the unwashed blade. Zack and his dad wanted no more beef after that. The book has a lot of chapters like that.
An annual parade is coming. A gay coalition wants to march. The mayor, a white woman in her sixties married to a black guy, has no problem with that. A local faction wants to “keep our parade straight.” The renters plan a terror attack for parade day.
Barclay is trying to write a funny-dark small-town thriller, and a lot of readers think he pulled it off. Humor depends on timing. I read this while gulping down a gallon of colonoscopy prep and missed gems I might have caught on a better week. That is on me.
I have now read the whole four-book series. It was largely worth reading. If this premise does not already weary you, you will likely enjoy the ride. If you are pressed for time, read Bad Move, the first book, and skip the rest without too much guilt. The fourth book, Stone Rain, turns to Zack’s dominatrix friend, Trixie Snelling.
Zack is Barclay’s anxious everyman, a science-fiction writer and part-time newspaperman who assumes the worst and is, too often, right. The first two books keep him tangled up with his wife, Sarah, and the kids in the suburbs. This one pulls him north to the small fishing camp his father, Arlen, runs on an idyllic lake. They rarely talk. What brings Zack is not Arlen’s wrecked ankle. He hears his father is missing and that a bear may have killed him. Campers have found a badly mauled body near the cabins, and long-time guests want Zack to know in case the remains are Arlen’s. Arlen is alive, ankle in ruins. Zack stays to help run the place.
The father-son business does not do much work for me. They get along all right. They are more alike than either would enjoy admitting, both professional worriers, and the relationship may tick forward by tiny increments. I do not remember those moments clearly. The town chief, Orville Thorne, is part of that same family tangle. The book waits to tell you he is Zack’s half-brother. I saw it coming, and I found the reveal almost juvenile.
The campers are a mixed lot. A returning wife, a former nurse, refuses the local cop and doctor’s bear story and is first to ask whether someone murdered Morton Dewart. Morton was mixed up with the family renting from Arlen, McVeigh worshippers with dogs that explain the body better than any bear. A diaper magnate who wants a swanky resort by the lake dies unnaturally before the last page.
Then a second body turns up, and a load of fertilizer goes missing. That is the Oklahoma City echo made practical. Zack calls in Lawrence Jones, the capable friend from the previous book, because a nervous reporter is not enough.
I am so done with authors who lean on extremists and white supremacists to drive a plot. I do not condone that behavior. I am tired of meeting it on the page, especially when a highly talented writer reaches for it instead of building a fresher story. I yawn just remembering this strand. The renters are a particularly obnoxious lot, including two young men whose stupidity almost eclipses the violence they mean to do. They invite Zack and Arlen to supper. The father throws a knife he was just using, skewers a mouse, flings it outside, and goes back to slicing beef with the unwashed blade. Zack and his dad wanted no more beef after that. The book has a lot of chapters like that.
An annual parade is coming. A gay coalition wants to march. The mayor, a white woman in her sixties married to a black guy, has no problem with that. A local faction wants to “keep our parade straight.” The renters plan a terror attack for parade day.
Barclay is trying to write a funny-dark small-town thriller, and a lot of readers think he pulled it off. Humor depends on timing. I read this while gulping down a gallon of colonoscopy prep and missed gems I might have caught on a better week. That is on me.
I have now read the whole four-book series. It was largely worth reading. If this premise does not already weary you, you will likely enjoy the ride. If you are pressed for time, read Bad Move, the first book, and skip the rest without too much guilt. The fourth book, Stone Rain, turns to Zack’s dominatrix friend, Trixie Snelling.
August 25, 2026
I liked this book; I almost rated it a 4, but I've read almost all of Linwood Barclay's other books and I would have to say that this one is maybe my least favorite of them, even though I enjoyed it. So, I felt compelled to give a 3 instead of the usual 4 or even 5 stars I would normally assign.
Sometimes the dialogue in "Lone Wolf" (aka "Bad Luck" in the U.K.) was a bit clunkier than his usual terse razor-witted style, which he has honed very well with each successive book. I would say that there weren't as many jaw-dropper cliffhangers that I got used to him ending each chapter with in his other books. I should say that this is one of his very earliest entries in his domestic thriller genre. He began his thriller novels with a quartet of books featuring Zack Walker, a science fiction novelist turned newspaper reporter. This book is the third in that series, and I'll be reading the fourth and last one, "Stone Rain" (aka "Bad News" in the U.K.) very soon.
His first two books in the series were called "Bad Move" and "Bad Guys", and although the British series continued the "Bad"-title theme, the U.S. editions switched. The decision to move away from the "Bad" pattern for the U.S. market has not been publicly explained, at least not that I can find. If someone out here in Goodreads knows the answer to that I'd love to hear what you found out. The books "Lone Wolf" and "Stone Rain" were originally published with those titles, and the British publishers decided to change those titles to "Bad Luck" and "Bad News" in keeping the titular theme consistent.
In this third book, the predicament Zach finds himself in separates him from his wife and daughter and son, all of whom had prominent roles in the first two books. Maybe that lack of interaction changed the pacing, or created less conflict? Like I mentioned, there were far fewer chapter endings that made me gasp like his books later on usually have done. He sure has created some villains here that you hate, and that amps up our desire to see them vanquished. The climax felt a little confusing for me geographically, as I tried to picture who was where during the explosive events unfolding. And there was one "twist" that really wasn't very unpredictable like the plot twists in his other books. The post-main-conflict twist here, you see coming from far away--the clue is pretty much mentioned straight forwardly so you know, "Aha, well that couldn't have happened the way so-and-so said it did." Barclay is usually better than that.
But there is an emotional twist that you don't see at first, but then you catch on before it is revealed outright. And it's moving. You feel for Zach and the other parties involved.
Sometimes the dialogue in "Lone Wolf" (aka "Bad Luck" in the U.K.) was a bit clunkier than his usual terse razor-witted style, which he has honed very well with each successive book. I would say that there weren't as many jaw-dropper cliffhangers that I got used to him ending each chapter with in his other books. I should say that this is one of his very earliest entries in his domestic thriller genre. He began his thriller novels with a quartet of books featuring Zack Walker, a science fiction novelist turned newspaper reporter. This book is the third in that series, and I'll be reading the fourth and last one, "Stone Rain" (aka "Bad News" in the U.K.) very soon.
His first two books in the series were called "Bad Move" and "Bad Guys", and although the British series continued the "Bad"-title theme, the U.S. editions switched. The decision to move away from the "Bad" pattern for the U.S. market has not been publicly explained, at least not that I can find. If someone out here in Goodreads knows the answer to that I'd love to hear what you found out. The books "Lone Wolf" and "Stone Rain" were originally published with those titles, and the British publishers decided to change those titles to "Bad Luck" and "Bad News" in keeping the titular theme consistent.
In this third book, the predicament Zach finds himself in separates him from his wife and daughter and son, all of whom had prominent roles in the first two books. Maybe that lack of interaction changed the pacing, or created less conflict? Like I mentioned, there were far fewer chapter endings that made me gasp like his books later on usually have done. He sure has created some villains here that you hate, and that amps up our desire to see them vanquished. The climax felt a little confusing for me geographically, as I tried to picture who was where during the explosive events unfolding. And there was one "twist" that really wasn't very unpredictable like the plot twists in his other books. The post-main-conflict twist here, you see coming from far away--the clue is pretty much mentioned straight forwardly so you know, "Aha, well that couldn't have happened the way so-and-so said it did." Barclay is usually better than that.
But there is an emotional twist that you don't see at first, but then you catch on before it is revealed outright. And it's moving. You feel for Zach and the other parties involved.
July 28, 2019
I don't know how many Linwood Barclay novels I've read this summer, but expect the number is higher than the number of books most people read in a year. This summer literature has felt too heavy. After Stephen King recommended Barclay's upcoming book I went to the library website & started working my way through his books. It doesn't make sense to review them individually really, they are all good reads, but I thought I would on this one as a way of raising the author's profile among my friends.
Barclay has an entire series set in Promise Falls and that's where I started. I was super-engaged and pleased the way the books fit together, how a minor character in one book can show up as a major or minor character in another.
After I'd read all those and some stand alone novels I went back to his beginning, the Zack Walker books. I really like Zack and his family. The first book is clearly a first book and a bit over the top. But I can handle unbelievable plot lines if there are believable characters and relationships. One of the things I would praise Barclay for is handling of the way family relationships enter into our daily lives, but the upsides and the downsides. Particularly grateful at the moment to watch how Zack and his wife deal with their teenagers.
All of Barclay's books have humor in them, not over-the-top crazy humor, just humor as you encounter it in real life (a wry observation, an amusing comment you make to your spouse, a moment of ridiculousness), and that is also delightful. I found Zack's self-depreciating humor about his own anxieties to be charming. I'm savoring the fourth Zack Walker book now, and will be sad to see it end. Look forward to reading Barclay for a long time to come.
Barclay has an entire series set in Promise Falls and that's where I started. I was super-engaged and pleased the way the books fit together, how a minor character in one book can show up as a major or minor character in another.
After I'd read all those and some stand alone novels I went back to his beginning, the Zack Walker books. I really like Zack and his family. The first book is clearly a first book and a bit over the top. But I can handle unbelievable plot lines if there are believable characters and relationships. One of the things I would praise Barclay for is handling of the way family relationships enter into our daily lives, but the upsides and the downsides. Particularly grateful at the moment to watch how Zack and his wife deal with their teenagers.
All of Barclay's books have humor in them, not over-the-top crazy humor, just humor as you encounter it in real life (a wry observation, an amusing comment you make to your spouse, a moment of ridiculousness), and that is also delightful. I found Zack's self-depreciating humor about his own anxieties to be charming. I'm savoring the fourth Zack Walker book now, and will be sad to see it end. Look forward to reading Barclay for a long time to come.
April 5, 2020
Zack Walk is really just a mild-mannered reporter - with nary a trace of Clark Kent and his alter-ego Superman - in sight. And, yet, his quest to live a quiet safe life just keeps going off track.
In this outing Zack receives a call about a mutilated corpse found at his father's fishing camp. Zack races up there heart in his throat, worried about his father. Fortunately it turns out the dead man is not his father. Also fortunately, during the course of this story Zack and his father get much closer.
Unfortunately, Zack gets involved in solving the mystery of first the dead mutilated man, than a dead guest of his father's and a possible terrorist bombing. With his usual humor and unlikely scenarios we follow Zack on another bumbling quest to get to the truth. How he manages to get out alive is astonishing, but he does.
He promises his wife this won't happen again, but even before the next installment of this series, we know this is not going to be the case!
In this outing Zack receives a call about a mutilated corpse found at his father's fishing camp. Zack races up there heart in his throat, worried about his father. Fortunately it turns out the dead man is not his father. Also fortunately, during the course of this story Zack and his father get much closer.
Unfortunately, Zack gets involved in solving the mystery of first the dead mutilated man, than a dead guest of his father's and a possible terrorist bombing. With his usual humor and unlikely scenarios we follow Zack on another bumbling quest to get to the truth. How he manages to get out alive is astonishing, but he does.
He promises his wife this won't happen again, but even before the next installment of this series, we know this is not going to be the case!
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