Story Description:
Critically acclaimed and bestselling author Linwood Barclay brings terror closer than ever before in a stunning thriller in which murder strikes in the place we should feel safest of all….
In a quiet neighbourhood, in the house next door, a family is brutally murdered for no apparent reason. You can't help thinking, It could have been us. And you start to wonder: What if we're next?
Promise Falls isn't the kind of community where families are shot to death in their own homes. But how well did Jim and Ellen Cutter really know their neighbours-or the darker secrets of their small town? They don't have to look further than their own marriage to know that things aren't always what they seem. Now the Cutters and their son, Derek, must face the unthinkable: that a murderer isn't just stalking too close to home…but is inside it already.
My Review:
As the Langley family was busy packing up the car for a trip, seventeen-year-old Derek Cutter snuck into the crawlspace when the family thought he’d left. Albert and Donna Langley had a son, Adam, who has been friends with Derek since childhood. The only person who knew Derek had hidden in the Langley’s crawlspace was, Penny Tucker, Derek’s girlfriend. The two teenagers planned to use the Langley home as a sex get-away for the week.
Derek was so excited to have the Langley’s home all to himself for an entire week. He could go home at night after Penny left and return during the day anytime he wanted. He not only looked forward to the uninterrupted sex with Penny, but also talking to her for long stretches of time without anyone telling him what to do. While waiting for Penny to come over, he took a walk through the Langley home. After seeing the huge bathtub in Albert and Donna’s bedroom, he wondered if Penny would consent to taking a relaxing bath with him, “bubbles” and all! Derek left the bedroom and went back down to the basement to watch some t.v. while waiting. After watching a show, playing a video game, and taking a short nap, his cell phone rang. It was Penny and she wasn’t coming over after all. She’d been grounded by her Dad for putting a dent in the family car and hoped she could somehow make it over the following day or later in the week. Derek was totally disappointed and decided he might as well leave and go home for the night. He turned off the television then heard a noise that sounded like tires on gravel. Peeking through the window he sees that the Langley family has returned, but can’t run up the stairs, disengage the security alarm, then get back down to the basement to crawl through the window. He heard the front door open, a conversation taking place between Albert and Donna, and discovered they’d returned home because Donna was sick. Just then the basement light clicked on, Derek barely made it back into the crawlspace before his best friend, Adam, reached the bottom of the stairs to return the ice packs from their cooler to the downstairs freezer. No big deal, Derek thought, he’d just wait until the family of three went to bed. Once everyone was asleep for the night, he’d sneak upstairs, turn off the security alarm and beat it out the back door.
Suddenly, Derek heard Mr. Langley say: “Who the hell is that?” Derek thought he was talking to him until he heard car tires in the gravel outside and thought it was company dropping in on the Langley’s. He heard the front door open, heard snippets of conversation and then…?
Sorry, this is where my review ends. This book is much too good to reveal anything else. I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat AND stayed up all night to finish it!! This is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in a long time. Linwood Barclay’s writing incites terror in the reader and you feel as though you are transported into the story. There are many characters in this novel and each one is so well developed, you understand their personalities well. If you’re looking for a great thriller, then this is the one to read. However, don’t make the same mistake I did and begin the novel before bedtime as you’ll end up staying awake all night!!
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