On a hot summer night, the Langley family is murdered in their home. There seems to be no motive for the crime, and the town where they live is shocked. Jim Cutter, their neighbor, is drawn into the investigation when his son is mistakenly arrested for the crime. Soon he discovers everyone has secrets, as they begin to bubble to the top. Jim has to find redemption, not only for his sins but also for those he loves most.

An entertaining read. Linwood Barclay's son is a good friend of my brother's. My brother and his apartment window even got a role in the trailer add for Linwood Barclay's newest book. Below is the link to the video. My brother is the man peering into an apartment peep hole and his apartment window is the large window that looks like it has a creepy face peering out. The other man in the video (sitting at computer) is Linwood Barclay's son (looks like a younger version of Linwood). The street near the beginning of the video is where my brother lives on Dundas St. W in Toronto.
Linwood Barclay book trailer

I forgot to release this. Sent out to the winner of the International Canadian Literature Sweeps.

Wow, I am already tensed up just from watching the video in the first JE. I suspect this book is going to be one of those that keeps me up at night. I'd better be careful when I schedule the reading of this one!

Thanks Kally93 for sending me a book by an author I have not read before. I have heard of him but never got my hands on one of his books. I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into this one.

This is a thriller that builds slowly but, as I predicted in my first entry, it kept me up at night. I'm a little disappointed that Barclay chose to situate this book in New York State rather than Canada but it does make some sense given how the story develops.

Derek Cutter is your typical teenage boy. That is he thinks about sex all the time and especially how he and his girlfriend can have some place where they can have sex. When his next door neighbours, the Langleys, decide to go away for a week he figures he has hit the jackpot. All he has to do is slip into the basement after he has said goodbye to them and wait until they have left. Then he can call his girlfriend and she can come over to their love nest. Unfortunately his girlfriend has been grounded and won't be able to get out of her house until much later. Derek hangs around the house hoping she will be able to get over. He is thus quite shocked when the Langleys unexpectedly come home. That shock is only intensified when, while he is hiding out in the basement, someone comes to their home and shoots Mr. and Mrs. Langley and his best friend, Adam.

Who has committed this horrible crime? Derek didn't see the person and just heard a few words one of which was "Shame". Derek can't face telling anyone he was in the house and so he lies about his whereabouts that evening. When forensic evidence proves he was there and he is charged with the murders his father, Jim, decides to follow another line of investigation. This line involves his wife's boss (and former lover) and a book that he plagiarized from a former student. Everyone has a secret they don't want exposed but did this secret lead to murder?

It's a taut and well-written book. On the cover Peter Robinson is quoted as saying "If you like Harlan Coben, you'll love Linwood Barclay." I didn't really care for the one Harlan Coben book that I have read but I do like Peter Robinson so I guess I could say "If you like Peter Robinson you will like Linwood Barclay.

I'll keep this book for the 2013 Canada Days release challenge.

I left this book at one of the kiosks next to the Tall Grass Prairie. This release is for the 2013 Canada Days release challenge which seeks to get Canadian books into the wild. This release is also for the 2013 52 Towns in 52 Weeks and is release #11 for that challenge.