Monday, August 5, 2013

A TAP ON THE WINDOW: A THRILLER (LINWOOD BARCLAY)

 
 
Story Description:
DoubleDay Canada|August 6, 2013|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-385-66959-7
It’s been two months since private investigator, Cal Weaver’s teenage son, Scott died in a tragic drug-related accident.  Ever since, he and his wife have drifted apart, fracturing a once-normal life.  Cal is mired in grief he can’t move past.  And maybe that has clouded his judgment because he made a grave mistake driving home on a very rainy night.  A drenched young girl tapped on his window as he sat at a stoplight and asked for a ride.  And even though he knew a forty-something man picking up a teenage hitchhiker is a fool, he let her in the car – she was the same age as Scott and maybe she could help find the dealer who sold his son the drugs that killed him.  However, after a brief stop at a roadside diner, Cal senses that something’s not right with the girl or the situation.  But it’s too late.  He’s already involved. 
Soon Cal finds himself mired in a nightmare of pain and suspicion.  Something is horribly wrong in small town of Griffon in Upstate New York.  There are too many secrets, too many lies.  And Cal decides to expose those secrets one by one. 
That’s his second big mistake.
My Review:
Cal and Donna Weaver’s teenage son, Scott, committed suicide two months ago by jumping off Griffon’s furniture roof.  It has been said that he was high on drugs, ecstasy at the time.  Cal, a private investigator has vowed to never give up trying to find the person responsible for giving Scott that fatal dose.  His wife, Donna, who worked at the local police station and whose brother, Augie was the Chief of Police, spent her spare-time sketching head shots of their son, Scott.  Donna had a file folder full of them and said she wouldn’t stop sketching until she felt she had drawn the best one, the one that caught the true essence of their beloved son. 
As a couple, their marriage had obviously suffered a great deal.  You don’t go through something like this and not have if affect you.  With, Cal out every single day working as a private eye and Donna with her work at the police station, it seems like the two of them are ships passing in the night.  Cal knows that when he tip-toes to bed each night that, Donna is really awake but pretends to be asleep to avoid having to talk.  Cal just goes along with it because he doesn’t know anymore what to say to her. 
Cal has been making a bad name for himself around their small town of Griffon.  He is relentless in his search of the person who sold, Scott his fatal dose of ecstasy and in the process has roughed up a few people.  Folks are very leery of him and avoid him when they can.  He is so mired in a grief for his son that he can’t move past that he makes his first huge mistake. 
Driving home one night in the pounding rain, a girl soaked to the bone ‘taps on his window’ and asks for a ride as he sits at a stoplight.  Cal thinks about the fact that he is some forty odd years old and picking up a young, female, teenage hitchhiker alone may not be in his best interest.  But when she taps on his window she says: “You’re Mr. Weaver, Scott’s Dad.”  With that he lets her into his car thinking that maybe he could help him find the dealer who sold, Scott the drugs that killed him.
As they’re driving, the girl, Claire, asks Cal to pull over to a roadside diner as she feels sick to her stomach and doesn’t want to vomit in his car.  After she is back in the vehicle, Cal notices that something just isn’t right with this girl or the whole situation, but it’s too late for Cal, he’s already involved. 
After driving a bit, the girl demands to be let out of his car in the middle of nowhere.  Cal pleads with her to let him drop her off at the safety of her house but she adamantly refuses and tries to jump out of the car while it’s still moving.  Cal has no choice but to pull over to the curb and let her out.  Claire hops out into the pouring rain and begins to run.  Later that day she is found murdered not far from where Cal had let her out of his car – he was the last person to see her alive. This isn’t going to be good for him.   
 Cal decides something is horribly, horribly wrong in this small town of Griffon – too many secrets, too many lies, and too many cover-ups.  He decides he’s going to investigate on his own leaving no stone unturned.  What he doesn’t realize is just how much he is going to uncover and whether or not he’ll make it out alive!
A Tap on the Window was a heart-pounding, rollercoaster ride of suspense like I’ve never read.  The thrills, the suspense, and the mystery kept building and building and building until I felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t soon read the answer to what I wanted to know.  At 500 pages, I still read it in two days and just couldn’t put it down.  There were parts in the book were I actually felt afraid and sort of kept looking around the room for a minute to get my mind off the feeling.  Mr. Barclay has outdone himself with this one.  Please don’t miss out on this thrilling thriller, you won’t be sorry!!
 


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