Book Review: Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay

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The media have descended on Garrett Island, a small, isolated community that is the setting for a visionary experiment. All the residents' cars were sent to the mainland and for the past month the islanders have been "driving" the Arrival, a revolutionary autonomous vehicle. With a simple voice command, an Arrival will take you wherever you want to go and, because the fleet is networked and aware of one another, car travel is now 100% safe. The future, it seems, has arrived. As the excitement reaches a fever pitch, Sandra Montrose - islander, single mom, and public relations executive - prepares for Arrival Inc.'s flashy press event. Sandra is more than ready for this new world. Her husband died after falling asleep at the wheel and she's relieved that her two teens, Archie and Katie, will never need driver's licenses. But as the celebratory day gets underway, disaster strikes. A visiting journalist has vanished, possibly murdered. Before long, the Arrivals run amok, no longer taking orders from their passengers. They're starting to organize. They're beginning to hunt. And they seem hell-bent on killing any human they encounter. 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? ~~~~ I saw other reviews that indicated that this book was more of a sci-fi thriller as opposed to Linwood Barclay's usual psychological thrillers. I, personally, am not a sci-fi fan. I did not find this book too much sci-fi. I mean, auto driving cars are a current thing, not too futuristic. I loved this book. The set-up was a little slow as we learned of each character's participation in the novel - which is necessary to have the reader invested in certain characters in the story. But once the auto drive cars took control, they took me on a wild ride. It is cliche to say it is an "unputdownable" read, but it really was. Made easier by short chapters. Linwood Barclay is a masterful writer who manages to take current events and twist them into a whole new mindset. Outrageous and outstanding. If you're looking for an exciting read, this is it.