Cleanly written, The Accident is a light, fast read. The mystery portion is easily solvable in the first 100 pages and not particularly engaging. Ostensibly a thriller, there was very little tension or peril regarding the protagonist or his family.

The accident of the title occurs at the very beginning of the book. The wife (Sheila) of the main protagonist (Glen) is found dead in a car that is parked across an off-ramp. Another car had plowed into it and those occupants are also dead. It is quickly ruled by the police as a DUI, though we are not told any of the details. There is fallout from this accident for Glen’s business and his family life – there is one 8-year-old daughter (Kelly), and an in-law (Fiona).

Written mostly from the perspective of Glen, we are privy to his persistent confusion about his wife’s uncharacteristic behaviour, and his feelings of helplessness as a series of negative events unfold around him. Despite knowing his wife to be a responsible person when having a drink, Glen spends a lot of time angry at her, asking rhetorically why she did this stupid thing. At the same time a lot of time is also given to how out of character this is for her. Despite the fact that the reader has had no time to get to know and get vested in the life of either of these two, we smell a rat. Unfortunately, it takes over half the book for Glen to call the metaphorical exterminator.

The last half of the book is the better part. We know where it is going, and it takes us there at a fast clip. There is one twist that may surprise many readers, though its existence felt contrived. It is not a spoiler to reveal that all is well for Glen and Kelly by the end of the final chapter – much like the protagonists in a “cozy”.

Kelly, who looks early on to be an engaging character, never develops past tiresome stereotype. The same deficit can be said of the other players, all two-dimensional surfaces, with their one utilitarian characteristic necessary for the plot. We have an oversexed and lonely female next door neighbour used to little effect; a lazy, drug-taking construction worker; an overspending self-involved wife; happy-go-lucky man-child buddy-now-employee; and a corrupt cop with a history of excessive force. Even the mother-in-law is the standard issue: cold, disapproving, and scheming to take her granddaughter away from her son-in-law.

These stereotypes make this book a serviceable made-for-TV movie on the Hallmark channel, but a boring read.

The challenge for any writer of this genre is that so many mystery/thrillers have used the same basic plot elements it is hard to make it fresh. What distinguishes a book from the pack is some unique quality of the writing, a more nuanced take on the mundane, the ability to make the reader care for the characters, sometimes in spite of themselves.

This book does not do that. ( )

I like Linwood Barclay's books, but this one causes me to ask: is he writing the same book over and over?

I really like his writing sale but the truth is the end of his books leave a lot to be desired. The plot just sort of unravels and honestly it is just too hard to buy into the multiple solutions, it was a fun book to read all the way up to the last 15% ( )

Another great book from Mister Barclay - The Accident is full of all the twists and turns you have probably come to expect from him. Can't wait to get onto the next one! ( )

There was a lot going on in this book, and I never guessed the conclusion at all. It was hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys much of the time.

Most of the characters in the story seemed to be average people caught up in situations that they were not prepared for. People living in hard times, trying to make a little extra money on the side, doing things like selling fake designer purses, cheap prescription drugs, knock-off building supplies, etc. What could go wrong? Seems innocuous enough, until people start dying all over. Some unusual accidents here, a shooting or two there, but are they connected? Hard to say.

There were not real super heroes in this story, and sometimes the characters seemed to be a little dumb and annoying, but all in all an enjoyable read and hard to put down after a while. ( )