Look Both Ways

Linwood Barclay is a fantastic writer. He’s known for his tremendous characters, intricate plotting and brilliant twists. He’s earned the respect of readers, reviewers and other authors, and several of his books have been optioned for TV and film.
This book was clearly a project close to his heart. He grew up surrounded by car imagery courtesy of his late father, a skilled artist from the days when adverts featured drawings of vehicles, rather than photographs. He makes no secret of his love of cars and his sadness that transport of the future may be more soulless.
In the foreword to this book, he warns the reader that the premise of Look Both Ways is something of a departure for him, perhaps a little different to the thrillers that he usually writes.
Well, I for one didn’t care. Because all the essential Barclay ingredients are present.

The book is set primarily on a small island off the coast of the US. The residents have agreed to take part in an experiment designed to showcase the future of transport; fully autonomous electric vehicles. All traditional fossil fuel cars have been removed from the island for one month and replaced with a fleet of self-driving electric vehicles called Arrivals. The cars communicate with one another, thus ensuring that accidents should be a thing of the past.
The story is largely told through the eyes of single mother Sandra Montrose and her two children. Her husband died after falling asleep at the wheel, and so she has more reason than most to push for a driverless future. Therefore, her small, local PR firm is delighted to land the contract for the press launch of the project.
The eyes of the world are on the island, but not everything is going to plan. A member of the press vanishes, and then there are the rumours of industrial sabotage…
Pretty soon the vehicles stop taking orders, and start to organise. The residents of the island are soon in their sights.

This is another perfectly-crafted Barclay novel. By focusing primarily on Sandra and her family, the reader is given some skin in the game, as carnage ensues. We also know very early on who the mastermind of the dastardly plot is and spend time with that character. But of course Barclay is a master of the plot twist, so there are red herrings and switchbacks and more mysteries come to the fore as the story unfolds.
The result is an exciting and thought-provoking novel. And whilst Barclay is a lover of traditional petrol cars, it isn’t some middle-aged rant against a changing world. I can see it transferring very successfully to the screen.

​Definitely a recommended read.