Customer Reviews

Bad Move

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Bad Move is a damn good read. Intricately plotted?fast-paced?and wickedly funny throughout. In Zach Walker, author Linwood Barclay has fashioned an everyman hero, aided and abetted by an utterly believable family of characters, in a story that smoothly escalates from situation comedy to gripping thriller in just over 300 pages. Without revealing too much, the book offers not one but two big payoffs?one that will have you laughing out loud and the other that neatly ties together all the loose ends?both highly satisfying in their way Let the booksellers decide whether to file Bad Move under Humor or Mystery ? fans of both genres will enjoy it immensely. Read it now before Hollywood options the film rights?and before the inevitable sequel arrives. it won't be soon enough.

I enjoyed this book. Sure, the circumstances which occur are fairly far-fetched and yes, often I wondered why the protagonist couldn't keep himself from doing things which clearly would have disastrous outcomes. But I also think that everyone knows someone who can't see what the obvious consequences of their actions are; actually, I'm sure we've all done this once in awhile. The protagonist in this novel compulsively brings this type of behavior to an art form unto itself which at times is amusing, at times pathetic and, sure, sometimes you'd like to reach into the book and shake him by his neck. For me, though, this was part of the entertainment factor of the book. There was something compelling me to watch this guy founder, flouder and fail.

This is light reading but it is entertaining; just remember, it isn't Proust or Sartre so if you're looking for something serious or particularly meaningful, take a pass. However, if you're in the mood for some silly escapism with a shot of schadenfreude, "Bad Move" is a book you should read.

Linwood Barclay is well known to Canadian readers by virtue of his Toronto Star newspaper column, as well as a number of nonfiction books he has published. BAD MOVE is his first work of fiction. It is a quirky yet appealing work with which a number of readers will identify, undoubtedly making Barclay a well-known commodity on this side of the border as well.

BAD MOVE defies easy categorization, and bless Barclay for that. It is a mystery, yes, but there is a vein of humor that runs wide and deep through it. I was put in the mind of Donald Westlake in more than a couple of spots, although Barclay seems to have wanted to write a gently cautionary tale as well; if he did, he has succeeded.

The Walker family is living in the big city and finds that their comfortable neighborhood is falling, falling down before their eyes. Drug dealers plying their trade, punks on the street corners, hookers on the streets ... things are simply not as they were.

Zack Walker, husband and father to his ungrateful and unappreciative family, is a science fiction writer of some minor renown who seems to spend more time off of the keyboard than on it. Walker is a bit of a safety and security freak, in a family of devil-may cares. He has some insight into his extremes. I was somewhat unsettled to discover him playing tricks on his family to make them observe some basic security rules (locking the door, keeping objects off of the stairs) that I have done with my own family.

Walker, fed up with the deterioration of his neighborhood, gets the idea to move to the suburbs. His wife is initially against it, but after a trip to Valley Forest Estates in the town of Oakwood she is eventually won over (the item that tips her over favoring the move had me howling and is all too true). The Walkers pack up and move. Everything seems to be placid and quiet (and, to the children, maybe a little too quiet), the perfect balm for the afflictions that caused the Walkers to leave in the first place. Except that ... it's not. The builder does not seem interested in complying with the warranty, the family can't eat those great cannolis they used to get in their own neighborhood --- and then, there's the dead body.

Walker, while out for a morning walk, discovers a local tree-hugging activist dead under very suspicious circumstances, made all the more suspicious due to the fact that he and the local developer were often literally at each other's throats. When yet another safety trick of Walker's backfires very dramatically on him, he finds that in the short course of an afternoon and evening he has placed his family in greater danger than they faced in their former urban environs. The law of unintended consequences is in full bore here, as Walker races against time and the bad guys to save his family from a danger he has unleashed upon himself and them.

While parts of BAD MOVE are hilarious, it is by turns very grim and graphic as well. Not every reader is going to be able to make the jump back and forth. It would be worth your while to try, however. Barclay has a keen grasp of the life in the subdivisions, as is demonstrated by the cast of characters he has created and presented in BAD MOVE. Barclay also very neatly saves a plot twist for the near end of the book; I never saw it coming and was delighted when it did. Barclay additionally does a fine job of laying on the irony, making for a most satisfactory novel.

While BAD MOVE may be Barclay's first foray into fiction, it hopefully will not be his last. Barclay demonstrates a fine and steady hand, as well as keen insight into and a canny knowledge of his subject matter, combining those elements with an extremely readable writing style and a highly imaginative yet credible plot. You can't ask for any more than that.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

The Walker family used to live downtown. However, when used condoms and needles were found on the street and a five year old girl was killed and cut up and put in the refrigerator, Zack decided it was time to move to the suburbs, where his family would be safe. Zack obsesses over his family?s safety and he goes to extraordinary lengths to teach his loved one how to remain out of harm's way, which usually ends up making them furious at him.

One day when Zack and his wife are at the supermarket, he notices his spouse left her purse in the cart. To teach her a lesson he takes the bag and puts it in the trunk of the car so she will think it is stolen. When his wife comes back to the car, he realizes she is wearing a fanny pack and he stole someone else?s purse. By the time he tracks the owner down, he finds her murdered in her home and realizes he has stumbled into a dangerous situation that puts him and his family in harm?s way.

BAD MOVE is one of the most exciting crime thrillers of the year as the troubles the protagonist finds himself in borders on the slapstick. His obsessive need for safety lands him in trouble with businessmen, politicians and a cold blooded killer who wants nothing more than to murder the hero and read his latest science fiction manuscript. Making all the right moves, Linwood Barclay has a refreshingly original voice that this reviewer believes will turn him into a superstar in the crime thriller sub-genre.

Harriet Klausner

The cover states "If Dave Barry wrote mystery, it would be something like Barclay's Bad Move." Which is true, because as I read it I was reminded of Dave Barry's mysteries, which apparently the writers of the blurb didn't realize Barry wrote - though I'd call both this one and Barry's books "criminal capers." However, as a Dad with (so my kids say) a little bit of the central character's tendencies in me, I found Barclay's Bad Move even better than Barry's work. This is a very funny book, enough so that when I read this back in April, '06, I ordered the hardback of the second novel, Bad Guys, without waiting for it's soon-released paperback version. The story centers around Zack Walker, a married father of two, whose attempts at life's lessons to his family tend to . . . go awry. Throw in a few fellows of criminal intent, and you have a great story.

Zack Walker is a security conscious husband and father of two who moves his family to the suburbs, a cookie cutter house in a new subdivision, to escape the crime and drugs that were becoming more prevalent in their old neighborhood. There are some trade-offs to the move: Zack's wife now has a longer commute, and his daughter has some trouble adjusting, but the increased safety and peace of mind seem worth the price. Problem is, as Zack comes to find out when he runs across his first dead body, the suburbs aren't always the milky white, crime-free zones they're made out to be.

The initial chapters of Linwood Barclay's Bad Move are more about character than action. Barclay takes the time to flesh out Zack's personality so that his quirks are thoroughly believable by the time they land him in trouble. Once Zack makes that initial mistake--so well prepared for in the early part of the book--he compounds it by not immediately coming clean. And once the decision to keep quiet is made, the hole Zack's digging for himself just gets deeper by the hour. It's a thorough pleasure watching his situation worsen with every plot twist.

Bad Move is a great read. The plot is very tight. It's a lighter book, but reminiscent in some respects of Scott Smith's A Simple Plan. I read Barclay's No Time For Goodbye about a year and a half ago and loved it. I think it's time to troll Amazon and find out what else the author has on offer.

-- Debra Hamel

Moving from the city to the suburbs should have been great. Science Fiction author Zack Walker doesn't have to worry about his children stumbling over the disposable needles he'd found outside their urban home and his wife gets a first floor laundry room. Sure there aren't the great delis, but that is a small sacrifice, isn't it. Although the suburbs are supposed to be safer, Zack doesn't let up on his perpetual quest to teach his children, and wife, to be more careful. When his wife leaves her keys in the door, he hides her car so it looks like it was stolen. When his children leave their backpacks at the top of the stairs, he pretends to have tripped and broken his neck. These 'lessons' result in him being labeled a 'jerk,' but he can't help himself. And when he sees that purse in the shopping cart, unattended, he has to teach one more lesson.

Author Linwood Barclay does an excellent job planting clues for eventual payoff. Watch the little anecdotes carefully because they just might turn up again--in a much more important context. I thought Barclay's writing started a bit slowly, with excessive introspection, but once he gets going (around the end of the first chapter), the story and characters drew me in.

The story would have been stronger if Zack's actions had been better motivated--especially his reaction to the misguided lesson with the purse. Surely the path he selected would have been among the least likely of actual choices. And the final wrap-up, while adding a nice mystery twist, seemed a bit too cute to me.

Still, BAD MOVE is Barclay's first novel. The enjoyable writing and clever use of clues, plants, and payoffs make him a promising author to watch.

I've only recently discovered Linwood Barclay. I've read all of his most recent books and thought I would read his first books about Zack Walker. I have to admit that "Bad Move" was a little slow to get into in the beginning but I just stuck with it because I knew as I read that it was going to start getting better. Sure enough it did. Parts of it were pretty funny. Everything explains itself at the end. So all in all a very good read.

a tight, complex plot. Barclay is an excellent writer. This book had me gasping for breath because I laughed so hard. One of the best books I've ever read!

WOW! This book is thoroughly entertaining. Love this guy Zach. I have read other books by Mr. Barclay, but none with this main character. Hoping he has more. Highly recommend it. Had me laughing out loud!