Review by Booklist Review
Going right back to his first mystery, 2004's Bad Move, Barclay has written one good novel after another. It is therefore no surprise that Barclay's new book is a well-written and suspenseful thriller. Yet, it's more than that: it is, mostly due to a single, mind-blowing revelation, probably the best book he's ever written. It's got a typically compelling story: in a variant of a live-shooter situation, teacher Richard Boyle saves dozens of lives, is hailed a hero, and yet, somehow, he becomes the target of an anonymous individual determined to destroy his life. Barclay has always excelled at making us believe something while hiding the truth, but here he outdoes himself, taking a big risk that pays off spectacularly. In addition to the story, which is pure gold, the author also gives us some of his most irresistible characters, including not just his protagonist, but also the supporting players, some of whom are keeping some interesting secrets. A standout novel from a writer who, like Harlan Coben, always delivers the goods.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A Connecticut high school teacher stops a mass murder only to be targeted by a blackmailer in this hair-raising standalone from bestseller Barclay (The Lie Maker). Richard Boyle looks out his classroom window one afternoon just in time to spot Mark LeDrew, a "benign fuckup" of a former student, approaching the building while wearing a vest loaded with dynamite. Boyle tells his class to call 911 and lock themselves in, then goes to confront Mark. He convinces the 20-something to leave--but then Mark trips and sets off the explosives, killing himself and wounding Boyle. The fallout is swift. First, Mark's parents, who blame Boyle for their son's death, slap him with a lawsuit. Then Billy Finster, whom Boyle coached on the wrestling team, claims the news about Mark dug up memories that Boyle sexually abused him, and that he won't go to the cops if the teacher comes up with an unspecified sum of cash. As Boyle scrambles to pay off Billy and hire a lawyer, he discovers links between Billy's threat and a local crime network. Barclay makes his protagonist's plight devastatingly immediate, and keeps readers on tenterhooks throughout. This is difficult to put down. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An 11th-grade teacher declared a national hero for saving his Connecticut school from an armed invader is knocked down several pegs by an unexpected lawsuit and a blackmail scheme. The instructor, Richard Boyle, successfully talks a former student in a dynamite vest out of carrying out his planned grudge killings only to see him trip over a shoelace as he turns to go and blow himself up. The attacker's parents sue Richard, charging he didn't do enough to save their son. Richard is not on the greatest terms with parents, who are already unhappy with him for teaching their kids about cannibalism via Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road. But this turns out to be the least of Richard's worries after another one-time student, a misfit drug dealer looking to capitalize on Richard's celebrity, demands $10,000 not to tell everyone that the teacher fondled him as coach of the wrestling team. Richard's desperate efforts to avoid the false charge only draw him in deeper, eventually linking him to a murder and threatening his marriage. "I think the only thing we can accuse Richard of is being an idiot," says his sister-in-law, a police officer. Though the book has one glaring red herring and one saw-that-coming plot twist, Barclay makes up for those missteps with his perfectly pitched treatment of topical subjects including school violence, book censorship, and the gun violence epidemic. When the drug dealer's girlfriend asks him where he got his gun, "He rolled his eyes. 'Lucy, this is America.'" It's not clear why Richard's narration is in the first person and everyone else's is in the third. But Barclay, one of crime fiction's most reliable stars, makes that approach, and much more in this page-turner, work. A first-rate addition to the subgenre of Threatened Men Acting Stupidly. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
