Review: LOOK BOTH WAYS, Linwood Barclay

• 
  This edition an e-book on Kindle from Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09Y1MD35K
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HQ (August 3, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 420 pages

Synopsis (Amazon) 

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

These headlights are watching you…

The media have descended on Garrett Island, a small, isolated community that is the setting of 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?

Fasten your seatbelts—it’s going to be a bumpy ride

My Take

Very topical. Experiments with driverless vehicles are worldwide. I have been in one in Abu Dhabi many years ago but they ran on a track, so things have changed a lot since then.

The residents in Garrett Island in Massachusetts have agreed to take part in a trial where the only cars on the island will driverless cars called Arrivals. Their own cars have been taken to the ferry car park on the mainland. Sandra Montrose is coordinating a media event promoting what has been happening on the island for the last month as the residents' only transport are the Arrivals.

But then, at the media event, things begin to go wrong.

A fascinating tale, well worth the read. Linwood Barclay is an author to follow.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

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4.5, FEAR THE WORST
4.6, NEVER LOOK AWAY
5.0, TRUST YOUR EYES
4.7, NEVER SAW IT COMING
4.4, BROKEN PROMISE
4.4, A NOISE DOWNSTAIRS