The Accident

There was a lot going on in this book, and I never guessed the conclusion at all. It was hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys much of the time.

Most of the characters in the story seemed to be average people caught up in situations that they were not prepared for. People living in hard times, trying to make a little extra money on the side, doing things like selling fake designer purses, cheap prescription drugs, knock-off building supplies, etc. What could go wrong? Seems innocuous enough, until people start dying all over. Some unusual accidents here, a shooting or two there, but are they connected? Hard to say.

There were not real super heroes in this story, and sometimes the characters seemed to be a little dumb and annoying, show more but all in all an enjoyable read and hard to put down after a while. show less

Wow! This is exactly what the doctor ordered for a long weekend at the cottage. In this book, contractor Glen Garber is confronted with an unthinkable tragedy: his wife, Sheila, is killed in a car accident involving impaired driving -- hers. But that's impossible to understand for anyone who knows Sheila. Glen is determined to find out the truth about his wife's death, and in the process discovers a seething underbelly of corruption in his community.

I burned through this book in about a day and a half; I could not stop turning the pages. Barclay writes very well, and the twists and new information just keep coming. My favourite character was probably his daughter, Kelly, who was a good mix of adorable little girl (being eight years old) show more and precocious young lady. The character of Glen was a very stolid, sympathetic narrator as well. He struck me as more of a serious type than some other Barclay protagonists; there were not as many wisecracks as one might expect. This was not a downside, however. Glen's story made me want to read on. The climax was also downright chilling; even though I was reading this in on a warm summer's day, I could not help but shiver.

If you're in the mood for a fast-paced thriller with a likeable protagonist and plenty of twists and turns, this would be a good choice. (I wish I had more to say about it! It was just really, really good.) show less

Comfy chair? Drinks? Snacks? Good lighting? Excellent! 'Cause you're not going to be getting up or stopping once you dive into Linwood Barclay's latest release - The Accident.

The opening prologue - a violent crime with a distinctly different setting caught my interest. But the foreshadowing in the first paragraph in chapter one clinched it:

"If I'd known this was our last morning, I'd have rolled over in bed and held her. But of course, if it had been possible to know something like that - if I could have somehow seen into the future - I wouldn't have let go. And then things would have been different."

Glen Carver inherited his building business from his father. He's a straight shooter and does right by his customers, staff and his wife show more Sheila and eight year old daughter Kelly.

Times are tough all over - the economy still hasn't fully recovered - the Carvers have money troubles like everyone else. And then the unthinkable happens - Sheila is killed in an accident that also kills a father and son. The cops say Sheila was drunk and was at fault. But Glen knows that Sheila didn't drink to excess...or did she and he just never knew?

As Glen struggles to deal with his wife's death and looking after Kelly, more seeming unrelated incidents transpire. A web is being woven around Glen, but he can't see it. We can though. I just wanted to shout at Glen - NO! Look out! Ask them why....! When he finally twigs that there is something really wrong going on with his friends and family, it's almost too late...

Barclay's characters are almost anti-heroes; everyday men thrust into situations completely outside the scope of their everyday lives with the need to protect their families. It makes them all the more believable and likable. Adding more reality to the story is the economic thread of the story - foreclosures, lay-offs, downsizing and desperately trying to make ends meet.

Barclay has the suspense/thriller genre in a choke hold with no signs of letting go (thank goodness!)
I've read and reviewed three of Barclay's previous thrillers - all five star reads, as is The Accident.

Like Harlan Coben? You're going to love Linwood Barclay! show less

THE ACCIDENT, another suspense thriller by Linwood Barclay, combined with my favorite male narrator, Peter Berkrot - What a combo! Would love for him to perform all Barclay's audiobooks.

After reading Broken Promise , (Top Books of 2015), Barclay has been added to my favorite author list, and immediately purchased all his backlist in audio format. I am slowly making my way through the list. This is one intense suspense thriller - glued to my iPod for hours!

Glen is a contractor and they barely are making ends meet, and his wife Shelia is attending night classes in order to help with the accounting needs of their small business. However, she does not return on time after her class, and Glen discovers she is dead. A car accident involving show more alcohol. His daughter Kelly is devastated, and kids at school begin making fun of her drunken mother. Glen cannot even imagine how this would have happened, as not like his wife.

When Kelly stays over at a friend’s home, the girls are playing hide and seek. Kelly happens to find herself hiding in the mother’s closet and overhears a disturbing phone conversation. Who was on the other end of the line?

She calls her dad to pick her up. Glen is now more concerned the more he digs into more accidents, and realizes his wife may have been innocent and caught up in the middle of illegal activities. As more suspicions surface, he now has to protect his daughter, not knowing who he can trust, while he attempts to avenge his wife’s reputation and protect his family.

From designer handbags, home parties, girls New York trip, to knock off Rolex watches, and illegal drugs—a string of conspiracy. A little scandalous Desperate Housewives' Wisteria Lane, suburbs, and hidden secrets. A fast- paced suspense crime mystery thriller fans will enjoy! Well-developed characters and non-stop twists and turns. Nicely done; look forward to more. show less

Cleanly written, The Accident is a light, fast read. The mystery portion is easily solvable in the first 100 pages and not particularly engaging. Ostensibly a thriller, there was very little tension or peril regarding the protagonist or his family.

The accident of the title occurs at the very beginning of the book. The wife (Sheila) of the main protagonist (Glen) is found dead in a car that is parked across an off-ramp. Another car had plowed into it and those occupants are also dead. It is quickly ruled by the police as a DUI, though we are not told any of the details. There is fallout from this accident for Glen’s business and his family life – there is one 8-year-old daughter (Kelly), and an in-law (Fiona).

Written mostly from the show more perspective of Glen, we are privy to his persistent confusion about his wife’s uncharacteristic behaviour, and his feelings of helplessness as a series of negative events unfold around him. Despite knowing his wife to be a responsible person when having a drink, Glen spends a lot of time angry at her, asking rhetorically why she did this stupid thing. At the same time a lot of time is also given to how out of character this is for her. Despite the fact that the reader has had no time to get to know and get vested in the life of either of these two, we smell a rat. Unfortunately, it takes over half the book for Glen to call the metaphorical exterminator.

The last half of the book is the better part. We know where it is going, and it takes us there at a fast clip. There is one twist that may surprise many readers, though its existence felt contrived. It is not a spoiler to reveal that all is well for Glen and Kelly by the end of the final chapter – much like the protagonists in a “cozy”.

Kelly, who looks early on to be an engaging character, never develops past tiresome stereotype. The same deficit can be said of the other players, all two-dimensional surfaces, with their one utilitarian characteristic necessary for the plot. We have an oversexed and lonely female next door neighbour used to little effect; a lazy, drug-taking construction worker; an overspending self-involved wife; happy-go-lucky man-child buddy-now-employee; and a corrupt cop with a history of excessive force. Even the mother-in-law is the standard issue: cold, disapproving, and scheming to take her granddaughter away from her son-in-law.

These stereotypes make this book a serviceable made-for-TV movie on the Hallmark channel, but a boring read.

The challenge for any writer of this genre is that so many mystery/thrillers have used the same basic plot elements it is hard to make it fresh. What distinguishes a book from the pack is some unique quality of the writing, a more nuanced take on the mundane, the ability to make the reader care for the characters, sometimes in spite of themselves.

This book does not do that. show less

I very much enjoyed my Canadian written thriller, The Accident by Linwood Barclay. It was a happy, escapist 4 star read for me. I discovered Linwood Barclay a few years ago, and I think I've read most or maybe all of his previous thrillers. They always have plenty of twists and turns and just when you think you've got the answer to the murder(s) - yet another possible clue turns up. While they are definitely thrillers, they are not the sort that will keep you awake with fear. They might keep you up all night turning the pages to see what happens next.

Like his previous books, Linwood Barclay has written a domestic thriller. By that I mean that he writes stories about ordinary people living in ordinary neighbourhoods with seemingly show more ordinary lives. Alas - but as usual there is a criminal underbelly. This time our protaganist and narrator,Glen Garber, loses his wife in what appears to be drunk driving accident .Glen's wife, Sheila seems to be the person who was drunk and is blamed for killing two other people from Glen Garber's small town in Connenicut. Glen and Shelia have a young eight year old daughter Kelly, who is saddened by her mother's death, and even worse, bullied at school by her fellow school mates who blame her mother for the death of one of their classmates who was killed in the accident.

Glen Garber, Sheila's husband has real doubts about his wife drinking and driving as she is known to be a responsible and careful person. But Sheila died in the accident, so he struggles with his anger towards Sheila and her seemingly out of character drunk driving.

As the story goes on, one of Shelia's friends is killed shortly after in what appears to be a rather inexplicable accident. From there, Glen Garber begins to investigate things in earnest and finds a surprising underbelly to his small town. Twist after twist and death after death, Glen begins to unravel the clues to his wife's death.

In many ways, this book is very timely , as it deals with the economic fallout in the US during the 2008. People are out of work, have subprime mortages and are losing their homes , which in part expains the corruption and illegal activity in this seemingly quiet town in Connecticut.

It was a fast paced and enjoyable read for me. I did have trouble with the fact that so quickly after Glen Garber's wife's death, he was so quickly able to start looking into who might be responsible for his wife's death. His daughter, an eight year old, seems to land pretty quickly on her feet ,despite the loss of her mother. However, this is an escapist thriller, so it did not bother me, but it might seem rather unbeliveable to others.

As I have read several of author Linwood Barker's previous thrillers, I have to comment that he is maturing in his writing and there is less quirkness and humour to his current thrillers. I rather enjoyed his quirky, humorous thrillers just as much, if not more. Even so, I very much enjoyed this read and I note that many of his previous books have been optioned to be made into movies.

Another great thriller by Linwood Barclay. As it says on the book cover, if you like Harlen Coben, you will love Linwood Barclay. As someone who has read Harlan Coben too, I have to agree.( Disclaimer- I do not like Harlan Coban's Mylon Bolitar series - I only enjoy his stand alone thrillers). show less

From Amazon:

Glen Garber, a contractor, has seen his business shaken by the housing crisis, and now his wife, Sheila, is taking a business course at night to increase her chances of landing a good-paying job. But she should have been home by now. With their eight-year-old daughter sleeping soundly, Glen soon finds his worst fears confirmed: Sheila and two others have been killed in a car accident. Grieving and in denial, Glen resolves to investigate the accident himself—and begins to uncover layers of lawlessness beneath the placid surface of their Connecticut suburb, secret after dangerous secret behind the closed doors. Propelled into a vortex of corruption and illegal activity, pursued by mysterious killers, and confronted by show more threats from neighbors he thought he knew, Glen must take his own desperate measures and go to terrifying new places in himself to avenge his wife and protect his child.

My Thoughts:

Barclay has written a riveting book about a man who demonstrates how one man, acting with conviction, can make a difference. This was an easy read but the reader should cancel all of their appointments before starting the story because once they begin, they won't be able to stop reading.

I enjoyed this book immensely. Barclay has exposed the world of knock-off merchandise and shown that the so called "victimless crime" is not so victimless after all. Not only is it morally wrong but some types can, and does, injure and kill. show less