Too close for comfort? (Too Close to Home - Linwood Barclay)

Member Name: emmachilcott

Product:	Too Close to Home - Linwood Barclay
Date:	22/08/09 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An absorbing storyline which is easy to read

Disadvantages: Over too quickly

Linwood Barclay has been writing for years, both as a journalist and an author, but recently his popularity has grown considerably mainly due to his best seller: No Time for Goodbye, which won Richard and Judy's Summer Read Competition. I thoroughly enjoyed reading that book, so I was automatically drawn to his latest novel: Too Close to Home.


Too Close to Home is the story of what seems on the face of it, an everyday American family. The Cutter family consists of a Mother (Ellen), a Father (Jim) and a teenage son (Derek), making a satisfied yet modest living, living in a comfortable home and generally getting on with life. This all falls apart in dramatic style very early on in the book when their neighbours (also Mother, Father and son) are all slaughtered. No spoilers here, it's on the back of the book. Questions soon arise as to whether their killers in fact went to the wrong house. Each member of the Cutter household may have a good reason as to why they may actually be the intended target, but each one is reluctant to share with the other until they absolutely have to.


The story opens with a prologue of Derek Cutter inadvertently witnessing the Langley family's demise, whilst sneakily trying to arrange to use the house for a love den whilst they are on vacation. I assumed that the story was going to be told from his point of view, as by the end of the prologue I was quite attached to him but come Chapter One, Jim Cutter (the Father) takes over the role, completely telling the story from his point of view from the day after the murders. The murder of a whole family next door would probably have a shock horror effect on me, but once Jim hears the news, he seems to take it fairly calmly in his stride, his main concern being his own family, indicating that he is a fairly balanced and calm man. His ex boss comes on the scene in the form of the Mayor, and it is immediately obvious that Jim loathes him, yet the mayor has a grudging respect for Jim. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear why Jim left his employment and set up on his own as a gardener where he is now content being his own boss, employing Derek during the holidays. I think that having Jim as a grass Cutter suggests to the reader that Jim yearns for a simple easy life, after coming through a fair amount of turmoil and frustration in his past.


Secrets and events from the past come out during the process of finding the Langleys killers which the Cutter family would probably have preferred to stay hidden and undiscussed. Barclay drops little hints every now and again which lead you to believe that there is a lot more than meets the eye to certain situations, and sure enough, as events start to unravel everything becomes increasingly clear as to why everyone is behaving the way that they are, and why there are some fairly uncomfortable relationships within the people surrounding the Cutter family. The main one being Jim's relationship with his Ellen's boss. There are also points in this book where I just wanted to scream "just tell him/her and stop beating about the bush" but this of course adds to the suspense, and makes you want to read on.


I liked Jim and I feel that he is a character that a lot of people could relate to. He is a simple man trying to keep his head down but caught in an unfortunate cascade of bad luck whilst trying his best to do good deeds and keep his family safe; unfortunately those around him keep doing stupid things to add to his troubles. I did not much care for Ellen and I found her difficult to relate to and understand; she is quite a complicated character with a lot of hidden issues, and I feel that Jim has taken the fall for a lot of her problems. There are several other characters in the book which are crucial to the story line, all of which add their own depths and generally speaking, bring another problem into the mix for Jim. I was kept guessing what the ending was going to be until it was spelled out for me, and once it was, it all seemed to be over very quickly. Everything is wrapped up nicely, and there are no loose ends where you are left wondering what will happen next, but it was all possibly a little too convenient.


This novel was extremely easy to read, and it is the most enjoyable book that I have read in a long while - you know that feeling when you have to keep reading, but really don't want to finish, and when you do finish, you don't want to start another book in case it isn't as good?! Well, that is how this book made me feel! Also the text size of my paperback copy is perfect, I wouldn't normally mention this, but I have recently put down a book after a couple of pages (a rare occurrence for me) because the text was so small; I lost interest and it made my eyes hurt!


Although I don't want to compare Too Close to Home with No time for Goodbye, it is impossible not to. The two books are very similar in style, and the way both stories have main characters that fall from one disaster to the next whilst trying to sort things out is almost identical, but both books are excellent in their own right. Some of the review lines in the book call Too Close to Home "Chilling" but whilst I didn't feel this, I definitely felt as though it was edge of your seat writing (especially during a scene which involved a hedge trimmer and fingers!) and I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next. This second book is possibly not quite as punchy as the first, but I enjoyed it immensely and I look forward to the third.


The paper bock version of this book is readily available in all good book shops and supermarkets, but it is currently on offer for £3.86 on Amazon.

ISBN 978-1-4091-0209-0

Summary: I enjoyed it, and I would recommend it.