Thriller writer Linwood Barclay is inspired by these 5 books
Barclay will champion Wayne Johnston's Jennie's Boy on Canada Reads 2025
For thriller writer Linwood Barclay, his love for reading and writing have always been linked.
Growing up, he was obsessed with the spy television show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. — and as the show gained popularity, he couldn't get enough of the weekly episodes as well as the paperback companion novels that went with them.
"I credit that show not just for my getting an interest in reading, but for my writing because I was so obsessed with that program and loved it so much that an episode a week was not enough for me," said Barclay in an interview with CBC Books. "So I had to write more adventures using those characters — what we would call fan fiction."
Now, Barclay is a New York Times bestselling author who has written over 20 books, including thrillers I Will Ruin You, Find You First, Broken Promise and Elevator Pitch and the middle-grade novels Escape and Chase. Many of Barclay's books have been optioned for film and television, and he wrote the screenplay for the movie Never Saw It Coming, adapted from his novel of the same name.
He's also championing the memoir Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston on Canada Reads 2025. The debates will take place from March 17-20.
Barclay shared five books that inspire his writing — and shaped him into the writer he is today.
The Hardy Boys series by Franklin W. Dixon
The Hardy Boys series revolve around teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy who manage to solve mysteries that stump the adults.
"I would get one of the Hardy Boys books and read it and want another one," said Barclay. "I'd say, 'Dad, I want to get a book.' And he'd say, 'You already have a book.' He didn't understand how that worked."
Yet, his dad always let him buy a new one — which only further fuelled his love of reading.
The Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout
Barclay was also captivated by Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series, about an obese detective, Nero Wolfe, who never left his New York brownstone — but managed to solve case after case. Archie Goodwin, a detective who works for him, interviews all the suspects and relays his findings to Nero.
"Nero Wolfe would sit there and drink a beer and he would solve the crime," said Barclay. "The books were very funny too, because of the interplay between Archie and Nero — he was always needling him."
The Chill by Ross Macdonald
In The Chill, a young man hires a private investigator, Lew Archer, to find out where his runaway bride went. But as soon as Archer finds her, he becomes tangled up in solving two murders — one from 20 years ago and one very recent.
It's a real Swiss watch of a crime novel.- Linwood Barclay
"It's just beautifully complex. It's a real Swiss watch of a crime novel," said Barclay.
"Macdonald is just very good at red herrings. A lot of real mystery novels are kind of like a magician's act where we make you look over here while you're doing something else over there."
The Diviners by Margaret Laurence
When Barclay was a student at Trent University, Margaret Laurence was the writer-in-residence.
At the time, Barclay had already started writing and decided to bring some of his work to show her — but he hadn't read any of her books.
"She'd read some of my stuff in the spring. And so over the summer I read all her novels she had done to that time and so when I saw her again in the fall, went back to see her, she just thought I was the biggest jerk ever. I said, 'You were reading all my stuff in the spring and I hadn't even read any of yours. So I read all your books over the summer. They're pretty good.'"
The two ended up becoming good friends and Laurence was always supportive of Barclay's work.
"Even though none of my novels she read during my university days were ever published, and we can all be grateful for that, the fact that someone like her would show that kind of interest and support meant a lot."
While he's now read all of her work, the one that stands out the most is The Diviners which tells the story of Morag Gunn, a writer and single mother who grew up on the Canadian prairies and has no intention of leaving, but she struggles to understand the loneliness her teenage daughter feels.
"I think it was her masterpiece," said Barclay. "I haven't read it since she gave me a copy and signed it and so forth but I remember at the time just how amazing she was."
The Institute by Stephen King
"There's a guy who is really entitled to coast — he's in his late 70s — and I think some of the most amazing books he's done, he's done in the last 10 years."
The Institute follows a 12-year-old genius who is kidnapped and placed in a facility full of other stolen children with interesting powers. The first 60 pages, however, are about a man who works as a neighbourhood patrolman — who comes back later in the novel.
"The structure of it is wonderful. It's the kind of thing that as a first time writer, if you did it, probably an editor would say, 'Well, you can't do that. You just can't bring this guy and then leave him.' But when you're him, you can break the rules."
Linwood Barclay's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
