Book Review: "The Accident' is compelling thriller

"The Accident" (Bantam Books), by Linwood Barclay

A husband is forced to confront his wife's secret life in "The Accident," Linwood Barclay's best thriller to date.

When Glen Garber's wife, Sheila, doesn't arrive at home on time, he starts to panic. She doesn't answer her cellphone, and she never arrived for a visit with her best friend. So he decides to look for her.

Glen and his 8-year-old daughter follow the route that Sheila should have taken. They soon find a crash site with two demolished vehicles. Police say Sheila was drunk when she parked at the edge of an offramp. Another car hit her vehicle, killing her and all but one of the passengers in the other automobile.

As he struggles to rebuild his life, Glen realizes the questions about what happened that night will not leave his mind.

His daughter becomes the target of bullying and wants to move or switch schools, and his friends begin acting strangely around him. Glen starts digging for the truth. What he begins to uncover will reveal an unexpected side of his wife and that their life together was a lie.

Barclay channels the best of Harlan Coben and Lisa Gardner in stories of families in suburbia dealing with tragic circumstances. Readers will quickly become emotionally involved with Glen and his daughter and will flip the pages of "The Accident" to figure out the puzzle.

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Online:

http://linwoodbarclay.com/