A Tap on the Window - Linwood Barclay

A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


'It’s been two months since private investigator Cal Weaver’s teenage son Scott died in a tragic accident. Ever since, he and his wife have drifted apart, fracturing a once normal life. Cal is mired in grief, a grief he can’t move past. And maybe his grief has clouded his judgment. Because driving home one night, he makes his first big mistake.

A girl drenched in rain taps on his car window and asks for a ride as he sits at a stoplight. Even though he knows a fortysomething man picking up a teenage hitchhiker is a fool, he lets her in. She’s the same age as Scott, and maybe she can help Cal find the dealer who sold his son the drugs that killed him. 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.

Now Cal is drawn into a nightmare of pain and suspicion. Something is horribly wrong in the small town of Griffon in upstate New York. There are too many secrets there, too many lies and cover-ups. And Cal has decided to expose those secrets one by one.

That’s his second big mistake'



This was sent this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first Linwood Barclay novel I have read, it interested me as it was a thriller and I enjoy these types of books.

The story had me hooked from the start, and as it turned out, I found it very hard to put down at all. Although to novel is long and nearly 500 pages I found I whizzed through the book and wanted more!

So on one rainy night Cal Weaver a private investigator is driving home. He stops at some traffic lights, when he hears a tapping on his window. Cal has made up his mind, it not be a smart move to give a teenage girl a lift in the middle of the night. But when she asks if he is Scott’s dad, he feels he needs to help her and she may know something about his son. Cal’s son, Scott recently died, suspected suicide from taking drugs, Cal wants to find out who sold them to him.

As Cal gives the girl (Claire) a lift, she begins talking to him asks to stop at a fast food place to use the washroom. When she gets there she is a long time in the bathroom, so Cal decides to go and check on her, he doesn’t find her, when he returns to his car he notices the girl sitting in the passenger seat waiting for her ride. Cal suspects something is not right and it turns out the girl now next to him, is not the same girl as he picked up, she doesn’t have wet hair, wet clothes and the cut on her hand is now gone. He decides to confront the girl on this and she asks him to pull over as she wants to get out of the car.

This is a mystery that is puzzling Cal and he finds out the next day from the police that Claire has gone missing, Cal was the last person to have seen her, Cal feels responsible for giving her a lift and takes it upon himself to find her and opens an investigation, he is not working with the police, and they turn on him during the process.

Linwood Barclay has produced an excellent thriller full of suspense. This is a dark novel, where no one is trusted and it seems everyone is hiding something. There are many red herrings dropped throughout the novel, which keeps it fresh and entertaining. As I said previously at 500 pages this is a long novel, however when your reading it you don’t notice this and I still read it in two sittings. This was my first Linwood Barclay book but will certainly not be my last, due to the suspense of the book I have already purchased another of his books and hope I am going to get the same thrill as this.

This is going to be on the best sellers list soon, it has to be! Try it for yourself!

A Tap on the Window – Linwood Barclay is out in October, be sure to grab yourself a copy!