*** 3,5 stars ***

I was offered an ARC of this book through The Killer Crime Club (Harper Collins), and I jumped at the opportunity as Linwood Barclay has never let me down. Find You First was no exception. In his usual style, Linwood captured my attention from the first page, and it was very hard to put this one down. I find his writing style easy to read yet full of interesting characters and little twists and turns in the plot that keep me 100% engaged throughout. I also like how he tries to lead my mind in one direction, making me think I have it all figured out, and then it ends up being something totally different. I don't like to talk much about the plot or characters in my reviews, but I will say that I found the theme of "what really makes a parent" very thought provoking in the midst of the main mystery. True rating - 4.5 stars.

Miles has lead a successful life. He has just found out he has Huntington’s disease. He has never married but early in his career he donated his sperm to a fertility clinic. He needs to contact his heirs to warn them they may have the Huntington’s gene. He wants to leave them financially independent but it turns out to be very complicated.

I wanted so SO bad to give this 5 stars because the main plot was brilliant, a really properly good idea that even though is a little bonkers and 'out there' skirts the possible which makes it thrilling. However, a few of the B characters fell into tropes, some of the minor whodunits were too clearly guessable and it felt almost rushed? I wanted more about the weird Pritchard/Mr Grey character, I wanted more about sad, selfish Caroline, I wanted more about the entire DNA subject (what about the other kids?) I didn't need 2 pages on bridges... but hey, other than that it really was pretty great, a great idea with great twists. I crammed the last few chapters after midnight because I just had to get to that bittersweet ending I knew was waiting for me so for that, 4.5 stars.

I liked the first half of "Find You First" much better than the second one. Probably because the beginning of the book was so chillingly plausible that the horror of the situations described felt close enough to touch.
Then, after the Big Reveal (which I'm not going to spoil for those of you who haven't read it yet), the novel and any verisimilitude totally parted ways, and the story became just another over-the-top thriller. A very well-crafted, well-written over-the-top thriller--extremely entertaining, but nowhere near as engaging as it had been when it started off.
The villains, when their identity was revealed, were disappointingly cartoonish, and as such, they lost their edge way before the novel's end.

Sperm donors, murder, found family and money. There were a few too many coincidences for my liking, but still a fun read. A couple of surprising twists, too.