“And some agent’s coming by with an offer on this place at seven,” she said, coming up to the driver’s door of her car, facing me across the roof.

I opened the passenger door, leaned in, took out the keys, walked around the car, and handed them to her. “Here,” I said. No lecture, no smartass comment, no rolling of the eyes, no shaking of the head.

“Thanks,” Sarah said, pocketing the keys, and smiling with amusement at my restraint. “You keep acting this way, people will start wondering whether you’re such a big asshole after all.”

And she reached her hand out to mine and led me inside.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my agent, Helen Heller, who helped bring this book into focus before she found it a home, and pretends you’re not high maintenance even if you really are.

To all the folks at Bantam, and in particular Bill Massey and Andie Nicolay, my thanks for their confidence, attention to detail, and making the process so much fun.

Special credit goes to my wife, Neetha, whose practice of leaving her purse unwatched in grocery store shopping carts sparked the idea for this story. Why she sticks with a guy who’s more like Zack than I’d like to admit is beyond me.

About the Author

About the Author

linwood barclay is a staff columnist for the Toronto Star, where he has worked for more than twenty years. He’s the author of four books published in Canada, including his memoir, Last Resort: Coming of Age in Cottage Country, which was shortlisted for the 2001 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Bad Move is his first novel. He lives in Burlington, Ontario, with his wife and two children, where he is at work on the sequel to Bad Move.

Copyright Page

BAD MOVE
A Bantam Book / June 2004

Published by
Bantam Dell
a division of
Random House, Inc.
New York, New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2004 by Linwood Barclay

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Bantam Books® is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the rooster is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Barclay, Linwood.
   Bad move / Linwood Barclay.
     p. cm.
   1. Suburban life—Fiction. 2. Home ownership—Fiction. 3. Father and child—
  Fiction. I. Title.

  PR9199.3.B37135 B+
  813’.54—dc22

2003070889

eISBN: 978-0-553-90042-0
v3.0