BooksBarbecue
Back Whistle
Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Part IAnnie
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Part IIHarry
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Part IIIAnnie
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Part IVHarry
  40. Thirty-Three
  41. Thirty-Four
  42. Thirty-Five
  43. Thirty-Six
  44. Thirty-Seven
  45. Thirty-Eight
  46. Thirty-Nine
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Forty-Three
  51. Forty-Four
  52. Forty-Five
  53. Forty-Six
  54. Forty-Seven
  55. Forty-Eight
  56. Part VAnnie
  57. Forty-Nine
  58. Fifty
  59. Fifty-One
  60. Fifty-Two
  61. Fifty-Three
  62. Fifty-Four
  63. Fifty-Five
  64. Fifty-Six
  65. Fifty-Seven
  66. Fifty-Eight
  67. Fifty-Nine
  68. Sixty
  69. Sixty-One
  70. Acknowledgments
  71. About the Author
  72. Also by Linwood Barclay
  73. About the Publisher

“I’m so sorry,” she said, smiling awkwardly. “I don’t do usually do this. I really don’t. I was here one day and Al Pacino was sitting at that table and I was dying to say hello but I didn’t, but you’re Annie Blunt and I just had to tell you how much our family has enjoyed your books.”

Annie forced a smile onto her lips. “That’s kind of you to say.”

“We got your books when our daughter was little and read them to her every night and even though she’s older now we always get the new one and she has them all on the shelf in her room. I so wish I had one of them with me that you could sign for her. Her name is Emily.”

Annie continued to smile but said nothing, thinking that maybe if she didn’t speak, the woman would go away.

“We think Pierce would make a great animated series. Do you think they’ll ever do something like that?”

Finnegan stepped in. “There have been offers, of course, but, and I think I can speak for Ms. Blunt here, we think Pierce works best on the page and in the reader’s imagination. But rest assured, you’re not the only one who’s mentioned it.”

“Well, anyway, that’s all I wanted to say,” the woman said. “Enjoy your lunch!”

Annie heaved a quiet sigh of relief as their visitor returned to her table.

“Thank you,” she said quietly to her editor. “I’m just not up—”

The woman had stopped, as if forgetting something. She turned and came back to the table, looking directly at Annie.

“I just wanted to add—I didn’t know whether to bring it up a moment ago—but I just have to say that, of all your books, our favorite has to be Pierce Takes Flight. It’s simply wonderful, and I’m here to tell you, our Emily was certainly smart enough not to go jumping off a balcony.” She smiled broadly. “You have a wonderful day.”

Two

When John Traynor landed his first real live job at an animation studio in New York after graduating from art school, he decided to mark the occasion by getting himself a Mickey Mouse watch. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

“No, no,” said Annie. “Not Mickey. Too cliché. I’ll bet half the people who work there have a Mickey Mouse watch. Go for something a little different.”

They wandered in and out of shops in SoHo and Greenwich Village, including a stop at an animation gallery—not because it sold watches, but because it carried framed, original animation cels from early Warner Bros. cartoons and more recent shows, like The Simpsons, all out of their price range. As a couple in their mid-twenties, they squandered any money they had left over after paying the rent on pot and lattes.