Customer Reviews

A real thriller - By: Dr. Robert A. Josey, 17 Jul 2008
Charles MacLean seems to write one novel per decade. The first was 'The Watcher'in 1984. It is one of my all time favourite books - one which I have read quite a few times since then. A remarkably original, genuinely scary thriller which has a plot that will knock you sideways. (I don't understand why 'The Watcher' has never been filmed - though the opening chapters, involving the death of domestic pets - gruesome but integral to the logic of the story - might have been deemed too much for viewers.)

'The Vanished'in the 1990's was a good, well crafted thriller - with some really nasty events from World War II seguing into a modern tale of kidnapping & Slavic crime gangs.

So I bought 'Home Before Dark' as soon as I saw itin Waterstones. Another Charles MacLean? Great!! Just what I needed for summer holiday reading.

But it was strange to find oneselfin the midst of a clever, twisty, cyber-thriller this time. From both previous novels there were the exotic locales/the European & American settings; a main protagonist who is not what he purports to be; & the slow, creepy unravelling of a very distinct & disturbing plot.

MacLean handles the thriller writing/suspense elementsin a way that leaves most of the current thriller hacksin the dust. Why can't people write thrillers as good as this these days? (Maybe it takes ten years to do so - not being on a conveyor belt?) MacLean takes his time; building interesting characters; tightening the screws on their predicaments, switching perspectives but keeping focused. You are straight into the momentum of the story from page one - no dreary filler & padding.

The main character, Lister, one very quickly begins to distrust as a narrator - entangled amidst the machinations of arch-manipulator & psychotic web-master 'Ward'. MacLean sets up ploy after ploy, & really takes the reader on a (thrill) ride.

If I was to give this book some reference points they'd be - Thomas Harris' 'Hannibal', for the the Florentian background; Roeg's 'Don't Look Back'; Michael Dibdin; Jeffrey Deaver's cunning; & a style of writing which is truly MacLean's own.

I hope this book is a huge success. And that we don't have to wait until the next decade for another one.