Find You First

Linwood Barclay is on my list of favorite authors - I don't even bother reading the synopsis - I just know I'm going to enjoy it. And I most certainly did with his latest - Find You First.

Miles Cookson owns a successful tech company. He struggled financially when he was starting out - even resorting to being a paid sperm donor. He's just received some disturbing medical news - he has a terminal condition that can be passed onto the next generation. Well...the only children he has would be the result of those donations. He's determined to find them..... but so is someone else.....

Miles was a great protagonist, eminently likeable, calm (mostly) and caring. The first of the nine he finds is Chloe and she's front and centre with Miles for show more the rest of the book. She's smart, sassy and seemingly fearless. The interactions between the two are well played. And there's some poignant moments as well. You'll have no problem identifying the antagonists - some nasty characters there.

The plot of Find You First is full of unpredictable twists and turns, keeping the listener in suspense from first chapter to last. There's so much more going on than just a hunt for those nine progeny. One element of the plot has taken inspiration from news headlines.

There are multiple points of view in Find You First that really worked for this book, giving the listener an inside look at all of the plot threads. There are lots of choices for the whodunit. The action is non stop and made for addictive listening.

I chose to listen to Find You First. I was delighted to find that George Newbern was the reader. He is hands down one of my favorite narrators. He has the most interesting, expressive voice with a somewhat sardonic bent to it. He brings an author's work to life with his inflections, timber and tone. His voice is clear, easy to understand and pleasant to listen to. He changes things up for each character and it is easy to know who is speaking. Another five star performance for Newbern. show less

“Find You First” opens with a chilling declaration: “Two down, seven to go.”
Billionaire tech giant Miles Cookson has been diagnosed with an incurable, destructive, genetic disorder; Huntington's disease is untreatable, progressive, and terminal. Now his life is one risk after another from Cheetos and Big Macs to speeding and sky diving. The defective gene is passed to children. Does he have children? The answer is complicated. It seems reasonable and humanitarian to share his wealth with his unknown children. In the meantime, he has a company to run, innovative products to create, money to make, and children to provide for before he dies. After all, he has already shared his potentially flawed DNA with these “unknown” show more children, so he wants to get them tested. Wouldn’t they want to know?

The unique thing about DNA is that it tells a lot about people and their relationships, a whole lot. Marissa Pritkin sent her DNA to an online family history site as millions of others have done, and gets a surprising ¼ match. Her brother Jeremy, an eccentric billionaire, strongly objects. After all, he does not want obscure unknown relatives giving him grief and asking for money; he has enough problems as it is. Chloe was born via IVF into a wonderful family with two moms. She is making a video to fill the gaps in her family history. She also sent DNA to a family ancestry website and actually found a relative, a half-brother in fact, Todd Cox.

Step by step, tentacles reach out in all directions, and plans unfold. There are nine kids, nine names and addresses. Readers already know some of them and learn more, much more, about all of them as the story progresses. Miles is determined to find the children, and give them money --- or not, and the race is on. Is he foolish? When some of the nine go missing or turn up dead it seems that perhaps someone else has eyes on the money.

DNA chains are not the only things coiled and twisted in “Find You First.” The story is like several hundred jigsaw puzzle pieces dumped on a table that have to be put together. Nothing fits, but eventually a very clear picture emerges. The ending is unexpected, but the story is not really about the end; it is about the characters and the chase. “Find You First” is compelling, challenging, and filled with complex moral challenges from start to the spectacular finish. show less

Progeny Hunt
Review of the HarperAudio audiobook (2021) released simultaneously with the William Morrow hardcover (2021)

Find You First was the Audible Daily Deal on September 25, 2021 and after checking reviews and seeing prolific GR reviewer MarilynW's 4-star review, I snapped it up immediately.

The author Linwood Barclay was a popular humour columnist in my hometown's Toronto Star newspaper for the early part of his career until 2008. After the breakthrough success of his 5th novel No Time for Goodbye (2007) he became a full time novelist. I read several of his books in my pre-Goodreads days and remember him as somewhat like Harlan Coben, i.e. the books typically had an ordinary person protagonist who is thrust into the middle of a show more mysterious situation that they have to resolve. They were formulaic in that way, so although I enjoyed them, I wasn't compelled to read every single book.

Find You First still follows along those lines, although the lead protagonist isn't quite so ordinary. Tech billionaire Miles Cookson is leading a successful life until he discovers he has Huntington's Disease, an incurable neurological affliction that eventually causes death by paralysis. Huntington's is inheritable through a gene received through the parents and Cookson discovers that due to an early life donation to a fertility clinic he may be the biological father to 9 now grown-up children.

Cookson decides to will his estate to his biological progeny and sets out to find them in order to alert them to their possibly inherited genetic threat. Unfortunately someone else is also on the hunt and we are thrust into a cat and mouse game of Cookson & his allies versus a pair of cold-blooded contract killers. There are plenty of suspicious characters and actions along the way as Cookson's other family & in-laws and co-workers become suspects. You think you know what the motive is behind the killings but there is a major twist that comes along to change that.

Find You First was well constructed, even though the whole situation was quite unrealistic. The narration by George Newbern in all voices was excellent throughout. show less

Plot driven thriller by an experienced hand. Too many unlikely twists for me, too neat. The story never gets under your skin, with cliché type jokes and references to contemporary middle-class pre-occupations and of course several types who are filthy rich (both good and bad guys), rendering the story pretty unrealistic for your average readership. The lecherous Prince Andrew could have featured in this one, though. In that sense it was a realistic scenario.

The plot in short: a young tech millionaire hears he has Huntington’s disease and does not want to leave his heritage to his brother, because of his bro’s sicko wife. Rather he goes on a goose chase to find those kids (nine) who have been born of the seed he once donated to a show more sperm bank. His motives are altruistic: he wants to share his wealth with them, partly out of guilt that he may have passed on the deadly, hereditary disease. Meanwhile the nine names are taken out one after the other – they disappear, while their apartments are either cleaned out or burnt.

Add a filthy rich New York celebrity with a preference for underage sex and a self-perception of an ubermensch to the mix and we have a story worthy of a Hollywood B movie. Of course all loose ties are nicely wrapped up in an exciting climax (an undervalued PA who rips her boss off; a lawyer sister-in-law with her own lust filled, perverse scheme to get hold of the heritage by using her teenage daughter as bait; a corrupt doctor at the sperm bank who likes underage sex as well, etc.). All the bad guys and girls get punished and the streetwise foster daughter and dying millionaire tech guy end up with each other. Too vanilla, not for me. show less

3.75 stars

Miles is incredibly wealthy, but has just been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. He has never married, but years ago, he donated his sperm to a fertility clinic. Huntington’s is inherited and can be tested for early to know if one will develop it or not. Plus, except for his brother (who is married to a horrible, greedy woman), Miles has no one to inherit his wealth. He will dole out “smaller” amounts monthly to his brother so his wife can’t easily get her hands on a chunk of it, and he decides to seek out his biological children (adults now) to tell them about his health and that they can get tested, plus he plans to offer them much of his money when he dies. But as he connects with the first of nine biological show more children, some of them start disappearing.

Unlike (most of) Barclay’s other thrillers, this one starts a bit slower, but it builds. There are also a number of characters it either takes time for the reader to figure out who they are/how they are connected, or for a few, it really doesn’t come until the end. Because of so many characters, at least at the start, it’s hard to remember when returning to someone, who they are. I think most of Barclay’s books I’ve rated 4 stars (some higher) and towards the end, that is what I’d rate it. But it took some time to get there; overall, I’m rating it just below that. show less

The new "WORLD'S GREATEST STAIRCASE SCENE EVER"....I have read a few Linwood Barclay novels in the past, and have thoroughly enjoyed each one. He has always delivered great plots, interesting characters, excellent prose, and just the right degree of tension. Each time I’ve put one down, I resolve to read another, soon – and never do. Why? Whywhywhy? Well, generally I don’t usually enjoy stand-alone novels. I’m mostly into crime fiction series…Ian Rankin, William Shaw, Mark Billingham, Deon Meyer. And spy fiction series. So I go years sometimes before returning to Barclay and a few others. Maybe I won’t wait so long next time. Not after “Find You First” (FYF). I happened to read a plot summary. I can’t resist a list of show more targeted victims; I was hooked. I’m ashamed to admit I even liked the killers. Can’t wait to see who will play them in the movie.

I assume you know the plot. A millionaire exec is told he has a terminal disease, an especially debilitating one. Years ago he was a sperm donor, multiple times. He wants to connect with “the kids”. So does someone else.

I haven’t read many books this year that I was anxious to pick up and get back to. FYF is the big exception, not because of any big cliff-hangers, nor cheap thrills. Just very good writing. No stupid twists, just plausible surprises and misdirections, and lots of suspects. FYF made up for a lot of big name 2021 disappointments and some over-hyped yawners in the first half. I’m sure there’s another Barclay out there for me to do the same in the last six months of the year.

So, after you put FYF down for the last time, tell me you’re not going to see the movie, because as we both know, we just can’t miss that scene coming down the staircase….. show less

Barclay fans will have another good read to add to the long list that this author has given us. While this one may not be as riveting as some of his earlier work, it is still an enjoyable, taut thriller that never lets up on the intrigue as it races to tie everything together. You will sometimes have to suspend your belief and stretch your imagination but when it’s as good as this I don’t think that really matters. After all it is a work of fiction and not a documentary...so just sit back and enjoy