Not one of Linwood Barclay's best books - usually you can rely on him for the slow unpeeling of character and motive, but here he abandons all that style and substance, and just goes for the manic plot option. All the characters here are equally shallow and equally horrid - with the noble exception of the dry-witted Inspector Wedmore - but goodness what a lot of plot happens to them.
At times, the speed of the story and the number of coincidences flung into the mix was sheer farce and utterly laughable, though I have to say I'm not sure the humour of the book was intended. I fear the worst ...
Anyway, the speed keeps those pages turning but I didn't much care about any of them. So something of a dud in the Barclay repertoire then. Oh well.
Verdict: manic and shallow. 2 stars
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