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

He had dozed off, sitting in his chair in the living room. The whiff of something burning drifted up his nostrils and woke him. He got up, walked out the front door, and stared in wonder at the house across the street.

There were flames coming out the skylights on the roof. Just above the studio, he was thinking. The fire spread quickly, blowing out windows on the second floor, flames billowing out.

Daniel was wondering whether he should put in a call to the fire department, then decided against it. Something told him he should let it burn.

Within minutes, the entire structure was fully engulfed.

Daniel sensed someone coming up behind him, and when he looked down, there were Dolores’s hands, fingers laced together across his belly. He felt her head press up against his back.

He shifted around, put his arms around her, and his lips met hers as she tilted her head up to him.

“I love you,” he told her.

She smiled. “I’m back.”

They went inside, arm in arm, as the house across the street burned to the ground. They couldn’t say for certain, but they thought they heard a dying whistle.

Acknowledgments

First, I’d like to thank you, the reader, for following me down a different path with Whistle. I hope you enjoyed it, because this might not be my last time exploring an even darker world. A grateful nod to booksellers, too, for embracing Whistle.

In the UK, I am in debt to the team at HQ: Charlie Redmayne, Lisa Milton, Kate Mills, Claire Brett, Alvar Jover, Sophie Rosewell, Joanna Rose, Georgina Green, and Anna Derkacz.

At HarperCollins Canada, a big shout-out to Lauren Morocco, Cory Beatty, Neil Wadhwa, Brennan Francis, Shamin Alli, and Melissa Brooks.

At William Morrow in the US, thanks go out to Liate Stehlik, Tessa James, Jennifer Hart, Emily Krump, Christopher Connolly, Laura Brady, Jamie Csimbok, Kerry Rubenstein, and Dave Cole.

I am grateful to Steve Fisher at APA, the Marsh Agency, Jemma McDonagh, and, especially, Helen Heller for representing my interests.

For this and that, thank you Tien Le, Rose Rillo, Jean Debos, Charles Heller, Tom Straw, and Leonard Szymanski.

Finally, a special thank-you to Stephen King, who read the first draft of Whistle and was encouraging from the get-go.

About the Author

LINWOOD BARCLAY is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous previous novels and two thrillers for children. His books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. He wrote the screenplay adaptation for his novel Never Saw It Coming and his books The Accident and No Time for Goodbye have been made into TV series in France. No Time for Goodbye was a global bestseller. A native of Connecticut, he now lives in Toronto with his wife, Neetha.

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Also by Linwood Barclay