Friday, August 5, 2011

BOOK REVIEW: The Accident

Title: The Accident


Author: Linwood Barclay

Publisher: Orion

RRP: $29.99

ISBN: 978-752897462

Release Date: August 2011

Pages: 400



Description:



A drunk-driving accident hides more than one dark secret in bestseller Linwood Barclay's latest gripping thriller.

The recession has been bad for Glen s construction business, especially after a mysterious fire destroys one of his buildings. But everyone else in Milford seems to have problems too, as the financial pressures begin to pinch. Glen's troubles, however, are about to escalate to a whole new level.

His wife Sheila has plans for getting them out of their financial jam, but these come to an abrupt halt when her car is found at the scene of a drunk-driving accident that took three lives. Not only is she dead, but it appears she was the cause of the accident.

Suddenly Glen has to deal with a potent mixture of emotions: grief at the loss of his wife, along with anger at her reckless behaviour that leaves their young daughter motherless. But as he begins to realise just how many secrets lurk behind Milford's idyllic facade, he may have to face something much, much worse...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linwood Barclay is married with two children and lives near Toronto. He is the author of three acclaimed Zack Walker mysteries, a former columnist for the Toronto Star and is the author of the Richard and Judy 2008 Summer Read winner and number one besteller, NO TIME FOR GOODBYE.

Review:

In "The Accident" Glen and Sheila are a happily married couple. One evening, Sheila goes off, as usual, to a class she's taking on accounting. But she doesn't return.

Later, her body is found in the middle of a terrible car pileup on the freeway. And it's a crash caused by Sheila, who was so drunk she passed out at the wheel.

Which doesn't make sense to her husband. Sheila wasn't a drunk. And she most certainly never drank and drove. Yet the police report makes it very clear that she was, indeed, intoxicated.

The story is exactly what a thriller should be. It's complex, yet believable. It has humorous moments, mostly ironic. The story has emotional pull and it's intellectually fresh. This happens to be the best story I've read in years.

Glen Garber is an honest, intelligent man; his faith in his wife and his love for his daughter will put him right in the middle of danger. By focusing on investigating what really happened, he will have to go the extra mile to save himself and his daughter and to clear his wife's name.

A great story, this novel by Linwood Barclay is hard to put down. I enjoyed it very, very much and highly recommend it to anybody who wants to read a solid thriller.

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