The Accident by Linwood Barclay

In three words:

Crash, lies, fraud

 

 

What I thought:

We all have those authors whose books we have enjoyed so much that we practically count the days down until the next one is out. Linwood Barclay is one of those authors. I had read three of his books previously and was so excited to receive this one too. While it was still up to it’s usual standards of in terms of pace and whodunnitness (hee hee) I have to admit that it is not my favourite of his books.

No surprises (form the title and the cover) that The Accident is based around a car accident in which Sheila Garber, young wife and mother, is found dead at the wheel of her car after a head-on collision with another car which killed two people. Grieving husband Glen can’t get his head around being told by the police that Sheila was found to be 7 times over the drink drive limit and also driving the wrong way up the off-ramp. In the days after Sheila’s death, Glen and Sheila’s 8 year old daughter, Kelly, goes to stay at her friends house for a sleepover but soon begs to come home in a hurry when she overhears her friends mum on the phone when she is hiding in her bedroom. Kelly has heard something that she shouldn’t and her friends mum wants her kept quiet. That night sparks a series of events that seem to involve Sheila (making him wonder if he knew his wife at all) and he starts to fear for his daughters safety…

As with all Barclay’s books, they race along at startling speed and rarely give you time to pause for breath; that’s what I love about them. He doesn’t write about serial killers or delve into the pyschology of a character, merely concentrates on plot and dishing out those twists when you least expect them. Being a huge crime and thriller fan I do find myself trying to work out (often successfully) “whodunnit” right from the off, and although I did guess something major that happened in this one very early on, I was also delivered another shocking surprise at the end that pleased me as I hadn’t seen that one coming.

Verdict: If you’re a fan of Barclay, you will love this. If you haven’t read his books yet, then you absolutely must but start with Too Close to Home or No Time for Goodbye.

  Have you read any Linwood Barclay yet? Which one is your favourite?

 

 

(Source: I received this book for review on my Kindle courtesy of Random House on NetGalley)