A Tap on The Window by Linwood Barclay book review

The book blurb says: When Cal Weaver stops at a red light on a rainy night while driving home, he ignores the bedraggled-looking teenage girl trying to hitch a ride - even when she starts tapping on his window. But as soon as he realises she's one of his son's classmates, he knows he can't really leave her, alone, on the street.

But nothing prepares him for the consequences of trying to help her out. The next morning he's gone from Good Samaritan to Murder Suspect, and with one girl dead and another missing, he's suddenly at the centre of a deadly puzzle that reaches right to the heart of the town - from its bullying police force to its strangely furtive mayor - and finally to one family's shocking secret.


I have read a couple of Linwood Barclay books on holiday before, and I really enjoyed them, so I knew that the book would draw me in quickly and keep me hooked until the end.  Every time I read a Linwood Barclay novel I intend to buy more, then when I get back from holiday (as I usually read most of my crime on holiday) and go straight back to working my way through the large pile of unread books I have on my shelf once I get home (as my husband rightly says, I may have a new book obsession).

After the death of Hanna Rodomski, her friend Claire Sanders goes missing.  Not only is this the girl he gave a lift to, but she is also the daughter of the mayor.  It doesn't help that Cal's brother-in-law Augustus Perry is in a feud with the mayor and he is the Chief of Police, and Cal and he don't exactly get along.  All of a sudden, finding the person who supplied his son with the ecstasy that killed him, is not as important as finding Hanna's killer.  Knowing that the answer lies in finding Claire, he realises he must find her ex-boyfriend Dennis, a gardener who appears to have done a disappearing act too.

Not knowing who to trust any more as the Griffon police have been running their own rules for a while now, he has to use all his experience as an ex-cop and P. I. to get to them before the killer does.

Finding out who 'done it' is the main thrust of the story, but there is also a nice side story in that Cal and his wife are losing control of their marriage following the death of their son, and his anger/insanity/grief and their need to blame someone other than each other, means he is running the risk of losing more than his son.

Full of twists and turns, this is a compelling thriller.                                                            9/10

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