This time there is a triple murder next door... (Too Close to Home - Linwood Barclay)

Member Name: azana

Product:	Too Close to Home - Linwood Barclay
Date:	21/08/09 (89 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy read

Disadvantages: characters not likeable and a bit foul mouthed in an unconvincing way

It was with a sense of anticipation that I started reading "Too Close to Home" by Linwood Barclay, having thoroughly enjoyed "No Time for Goodbye", his best seller of last year. I often find when I have really enjoyed a book by an author another title can either be just as enjoyable, or a real letdown. Generally there is no middle ground, but with this book as I read it my emotions were mixed.

Continuing the theme of "Book with a snappy title which sums up the plot", this book is about a family, the Cutters, who live next to a the Langley family who are murdered. The story is set in Promise Falls in upstate New York. Derek Cutter, the son of the family, was actually hiding out in the house when the three murders happened as the book starts. Having planned to use his neighbour's house as a loveshack on their departure on holiday, and being good friends with Adam their son, Derek finds himself the only witness to the event. When Jim and Ellen Cutter, Derek's parents, start to ponder on the fact that the two houses share the same mailbox and could be easily confused, and Derek comes under suspicion, the scene is set for a story with plenty of twists, turns and thrills.

I found that on many levels the book did keep me enthralled and threw up a few suprises. I did struggle with the fact that Jim Cutter was essentially not a very likeable character in my mind - he seemed to be rather gung-ho and quick to use his fists, and at one point a watercan, in any confrontation. Wronged by other characters in the book mainly, and showing a softer side with his interaction with his son and also Drew, a man with a past who he takes on to help with his lawnmowing business, he was still hard to like.

I also found that in this book the female characters were a bit pigeonholed into stereotypes - and actually rather a lot of them seemed to be untrustworthy and with morals that left a lot to be desired. Whether this was to add to the story, or some strange latent misogyny I couldn't decide, women got a bit of a poor deal I felt, even the murdered neighbour, Mrs Langley came over as a seedy Mrs Robinson type, and the main character's wife was shown as very flawed. In actual fact many of the characters male or female alike weren't very nice for one reason or another, but the women seemed to get the roughest deal. The mayor, Cutter's former boss, the rather aptly named "Randy", was up to all kind of high jinks but was portrayed as a bit of a loveable rogue. Conrad, a professor, who is Ellen Cutter's boss also enters the story and we soon discover that he too is no saint - the world Barclay has painted here has a very dark underside that is riddled with deception.

As the cop assigned to the case, Barry, finally starts to get to the bottom of the murder cases, with more violence and horrible events being revealed along the way the plot did eventually have me gripped. Despite my issues with the main characters a good story does underly this book, and this kept me reading until the very end, the prose is an easy enough read, and the dialogue is mainly convincing, though a little too peppered with swear words that seemed just to have been put there to make the book seem more gritty for my liking.

Had I not read the other title by Barclay I think I would have been more won over by the book in general, but having been bowled over by his first book I was merely just satisfied by the last page. I did enjoy the book - if that is the right word for a book with this kind of plot, but it wasn't the absolute page turner that the first book was and the ending was a little less unpredictable.

I would still recommend this book if you like a good thriller, but if you haven't read any Linwood Barclay then "Too Close to Home" is a better bet, and if you have read that title you too may be torn twixt disappointment and enjoyment as I was.


Book currently available for £3.86 on Amazon, details below

Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Orion (23 Jul 2009)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1409102092
ISBN-13: 978-1409102090

Summary: It was ok, but "no time for goodbye" was better