Monday, August 5, 2013

Review: A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay

A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay is due out August 6th 2013 from NAL Hardcover.

Stopped at a red light in front of Patchet's bar, Cal Weaver hears a tap on the passenger side window. It's Claire, the mayor's daughter asking for a ride home. He's all set to say no, until she says the magic words. She mentions she knew Scott, his son. So he lets her into the car.

This one small act of being a good Samaritan takes his already off kilter life and throws it down the rabbit hole. Claire disappears before the night is over. And Cal feels as a private investigator and one of the last people to see her that he must look for her. Cal finds good and bad in the process. And he finds a lot of dirty secrets hidden in the small town. All the "dirt" seems to interplay to get the final results.

Cal is investigating 2 mysteries at one time. Where is Claire? And what happened with his son. Who sold him the drugs that made him jump off the roof of the furniture store? (Both mysteries are resolved by the end of the book.)

Pacing in the book is a little slow in places, but the story is still interesting. I did find that until it got close to the end that I had no trouble putting it down when I needed to do so. The closer it got to the end, the harder it got to put it down. There were red herrings enough and the main characters were developed enough while others provided more of a background function or to help flesh out the main characters. But, there was repetition in the interviews with the different suspects, things that could have been perhaps summarized rather than drawn out each time.

I liked the book. I enjoyed it for the most part, but the slow pacing problem and the repetition got to me. It got better towards the end, but still, I am giving it 3 out of 5 stars.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.



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