Too Close to Home [Hardcover]

 

 

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Okay fellow readers - learn from my mistake! I started Linwood Barclay's newly released suspense novel Too Close to Home too close to bedtime. I couldn't put it down! ( And I was very tired at work the next day.)

Seventeen year old Adam Langley and his parents are headed out on a week's vacation. Adam's best friend Derek Cutter decides to hide out in their basement until they're gone. He has plans to use the Langley house as a meeting place for him and his girlfriend Penny. He's just settled in, waiting for Penny when the Langley's SUV pulls in. He hides again. Mrs. Langley is sick and they've cancelled the holiday. While Derek is figuring out how he's going to get out and get back home, shots ring out. Someone else is in the house and has killed the entire family. And Derek's still hiding..

Okay, that was just the prologue!! And the opening line? From Derek's father Jim....

"The night they killed our neighbours we never heard a thing."

Derek does escape and runs home. From there things get crazy. Could the killings have something to do with some data Adam and Derek found on an old computer? Will the cops believe Derek's story? Does this killing have something to do with two other recent murders in town? The past has unexpectedly come back to haunt the present and Jim Cutter is determined to protect his family at all costs.

Just when you think the story is headed one way, it takes a sharp left turn and heads in a new direction. There's great foreshadowing at the end of many chapters, which kept me reading even later. Although I did figure out one thread ahead of the ending, there were many twists and turns I didn't see coming.

I discovered Barclay when I read his first novel, Bad Move, a darkly humourous mystery. Since then Barclay has just gotten better and better, heading more into suspense. If you've enjoyed Harlen Coben, you will love Linwood Barclay!

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!!

I just finished reading this book yesterday, and it only took me 3 days to read. The book starts off (Prologue) with "The Langely" family being murdered in their house, while Derek hides in their basement after he gets a surprise that the Langely's turn back home because the wife falls ill. Derek hears all of them being shot but, never sees who it is. Because it is not fun ruining a msytery, I won't give anymore of the book away, but will say that it takes a whole bunch of emotional and suspenseful twists and turns as it goes along. If you are considering this book for purchasing, I will give you a language warning, the books has MANY swears in it, and their is come crude content in their, so a mature reading audience is much more appropriate for this book, other than that, if you love mysteries, this book will not disappoint!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Shame...
I read a couple of the reviews that people left. I bought the book but I just didn't read it before a couple of months later....I re-read the two top comments.... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Debbie Venton

2.0 out of 5 stars Review: Too Close to Home
I will forgo a synopsis of the book as its provided by the publisher or other reviewers. While the book has an interesting plot, good suspense and is a fairly successful page... Read more

Published on May 8 2010 by Darryl J. Carpenter

4.0 out of 5 stars It's a good thriller, and that's what it's supposed to be
There are things about Barclay's writing that don't necessarily leave me in awe. But he wasn't interested in those aspects I'm guessing. Read more

Published on Mar 17 2010 by Rodge

3.0 out of 5 stars Close to a Thriller, But...
I've read plenty of praise out there for Linwood Barclay's Too Close to Home and I haven't agreed with much of it. Read more

Published on Nov 15 2009 by R. Hansen

5.0 out of 5 stars A real page turner!
I was hooked from the first page of this book. It's a definite page turner. I especially liked the dialogue that's written how "real" people talk. Read more

Published on Sep 22 2009 by K. Stumpf

4.0 out of 5 stars Language
The book has a good plot and keeps one interested.
Far too many uses of the f word and other profanities which are not necessary to the story. Otherwise makes good reading

Published on July 7 2009 by cleanreader

5.0 out of 5 stars THE NIGHT THEY KILLED OUR NEIGHBORS, WE NEVER HEARD A THING
Experienced and excellent best describes narrator Christopher Lane. He has read more than 150 audio books - thus, you name the genre and he can personify it. Read more

Published on Dec 2 2008 by Gail Cooke

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