Review: The Accident

The Accident by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My first Linwood Barclay read, A Tap on the Window, earned a solid five-star rating, and I was eager to pick up more of his work. I worked my way through a few of his books, all earning four-star ratings from me, before reaching a book that left me a bit tentative. Everyone knows that feeling of giving a beloved author a three-star rating, how it can leave you worried about what else they can offer. Due to this, I found myself avoiding the other Linwood Barclay books I own. In the end, though, I finally decided to overcome my fear and jumped into The Accident.

I’ll be honest, The Accident is not a full four-star rating. It is a very strong three-point-five-star read, possibly even more than that and leaning even closer to four-stars, hence why I decided to round my rating up. In truth, I feared I would not be doing such a thing at the start of the story, but it did win me over in the end.

Linwood Barclay writes thrillers that are quite a bit slower than many of the big-name thriller writers out there. What is lacking in speedy action scenes, however, is made up for in twists. Once the story gets going, many elements are introduced in this one. Each time you believe all the details have come to light, something more is added to leave you guessing the future details that will come to light. It’s certainly one of those books where you need to hold out, to work through may details, to really appreciate how everything comes together so well.

Whilst The Accident may not be my favourite Linwood Barclay book, it has certainly removed the tentatively that was left following my prior three-star rating.

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