To make matters one hundred times worse, the cars aren’t just going berserk, they’re deliberately seeking out as many people to kill as possible.

Inspired by his decades-long love of cars, internationally bestselling author Linwood Barclay envisions a world in which automotive technology outpaces our wildest dreams—and our darkest nightmares— in a gripping new novel of action and suspense

Find a Book

Always eager to read Linwood Barlcay’s novels, I made some time in my schedule for this one. Combining his well-established talent with a life-long obsession of cars, Barclay entertains the reader while forcing them to think on just how technology could turn against us. With his stellar writing style leading the way, Barclay shows us a different side to his craft, which is equally as enthralling as his usual publications. Garret Island, off the coast of Massachusetts, is the venue for a publicity campaign for the Arrival self driving car. All the islanders have been encouraged to give up their regular cars for a month in return for driving one of the brand new autonomous vehicles. Although driving is a misnomer as they don’t even have steering wheels. Touted as being the safest form of transport, they are programmed to protect life and obey all road rules. Sandra Montrose, an islander and PR expert, has been engaged to organise a bells and whistles launch function for the media. Sandra Montrose, a recent widow and resident of Garrett Island, an isolated community surrounded by water with only a ferry as the means to arrive and depart unless you owned a yacht, was preparing for the biggest day of her career. An executive in public relations, the residents of the island had all been "given" an Arrivals vehicle while surrendering their own to the mainland, and the day had arrived when the CEO of the Arrivals company would be on the island to spruik the benefits of a completely autonomous vehicle which would take its passengers wherever they wished to go. Programmed to obey their owner, the cars were deemed 100% safe. Sandra was nervous about the day, never realising what was about to happen. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA, via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Linwood Barclay has taken every fear I had about self-driving cars and magnified them. I love it! But it's safe to say that I will be firmly hanging on to my traditional gas-guzzling car, thank you very much.

Look Both Ways is a novel by best-selling Canadian author, Linwood Barclay. Arrival Inc. has taken the innovative and expensive step of swapping all the vehicles on Garrett Island, Massachusetts, with their self-drive cars for a one-month trial. This also necessitates paying disgruntled car dealerships, gas stations and the police to cover their projected income lost. It’s Press Day, and the media have swarmed to the Island for a Press Conference to showcase the Arrivals various benefits and features. But it's not only the cars who are nasty. There are some very nasty characters. Not saying who . . . that you can discover for yourself. There are also some lovely characters. Sandra for one. A widow with two teenage children whom she loves more than anything. Bruce, the man across the road, who Archie is convinced is a serial killer, is a surprisingly wonderful character. As is Katie, Sandra's daughter. As Miles begins to search for the children he’s never known, aspiring film documentarian Chloe Swanson embarks on a quest to find her biological father, armed with the knowledge that twenty-two years ago, her mother used a New York sperm bank to become pregnant. A wild plot right!? But WOW! Once I started I could not put this down! There are parts that at times were a bit hokey and OTT. But it was fun! What a great imagination Linwood Barclay has!Arrival Inc has arranged a huge press event to showcase their cars which is being managed by Sandra Montrose, a PR executive, resident of Garrett Island, single mum and recent widower. This project could turn her life around as it’s so high profile, but being a Barclay thriller, you know that something is about to go terribly wrong. If "Jurassic Park but with autonomous automobiles" sounds like a very cool concept, that's because it is' FINANCIAL TIMES

They’ve swapped their usual cars for brand spanking new Arrivals (named after the company that manufactured them) – autonomous, electronic, affordable, with a state-of-the-art onboard computer system, where comfort, safety, and efficiency are paramount. We follow the disaster through the lives of four heroic people — Sandra Montrose, the local PR person hired by the car company, her teenage daughter, her twelve-year-old son, and their secretive seventy-something neighbor who has a classic Caddy hidden away in his garage. THE AUTHOR: After spending his formative years helping run a cottage resort and trailer park after his father died when he was 16, Barclay got his first newspaper job at the Peterborough Examiner, a small Ontario daily. In 1981, he joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper. But the Arrival Company's CEO is less than pleased with how the press conference played-out. Guess what…that’s soon to be the least of her problems. The Arrival Company has chosen a small island community off the coast of Massachusetts for the official launch of their driverless vehicles. And how unfortunate…their competition is out of the market after a few mishaps that shuttered their doors.😉

They think as one. They act as one. They kill as one.

Is this all just a tragic accident, a technological malfunction with deadly consequences? Or were the vehicles programmed to act this way in a cruel act of corporate sabotage? Or could it be that the Arrivals have a mind of their own? As I said there is nothing wrong with the premise of the writing of Linwood Barclay it was just not to my taste. There is plenty of suspense, decent characters and the premise is intriguing but sorry not my thing.