With thanks to the author, publishers HQ/HarperCollins UK Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this work in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Terminator in car form!

This was the first book by Linwood Barclay that I have read, and I really enjoyed it. The introduction, read by the author himself before the start of the book, provides some context by explaining how his love of cars was inherited from his father from an early age.

Anyone with any level of interest in artificial intelligence, while appreciating the many benefits it can bring, will no doubt also have considered what might happen if the AI developed such a level off intelligence that humans could no longer control it. This book takes that idea, puts it in a car form, and takes it to the max!

The way the Arrival cars portrayed in the story transformed in an instant from apparently obedient and servile objects to killing machines was scary! Particularly frightening was how they then began to work in tandem with each other to unleash their trail of destruction.

The character development was excellent, with all the main characters really well fleshed out, flaws and all. I particularly enjoyed the character of Bruce, and his relationship and adventures with Katie. Special mention also for the narrator Ako Mitchell, whose portrayal of the characters really brought the story to life.

Don’t hesitate to take this one for a test drive … you won’t regret it!

The residents of Garrett Island are part of an exclusive trial run for self-driving vehicles called Arrivals. The vehicles are all connected to each other and the information superhighway in a way that ensures road safety and no accidents. The residents have all given up their own cars as part of this experiment.

Sandra Marston is a single mother who is in charge of the big media event set to open the experiment. Her own husband died after falling asleep at the wheel, so she's a proponent of these vehicles. Her grief at her husband's death means she won't let 16 year old daughter Katie get her driver's licence. However, Sandra has started a relationship with local police chief, Joe Bridgeman.

Little known to Sandra or anyone else, Brandon Kyle, a rival to Arrival (he's convinced they destroyed him), has snuck into the media event as a fake reporter, and installs a virus in the Arrival in the software. The cars are no longer safe. They have become self-aware and are dead-set intent on killing every human in sight!

This was a rollicking, fun palate refresher after too many too similar thrillers. The plot is on the go from the start and never lets up. Once the cars have been infected with the virus, it's one close call after another, with plenty of exciting confrontations and scenarios!

If you're after deep characterisation, look elsewhere. This is summer blockbuster material, with action from start to finish, designed to keep you so entertained that you don't really think about how silly it all is. The virus that gets the cars to start killing, and how it works, is completely glossed over. The dialogue is cheesy and downright terrible at times.

However, it was thrilling and entertaining. I was never bored. Unlike a lot of horror novels, this one kept with a core group of characters, instead of introducing a new one every chapter. Although none of them are all that deep, it meant my attention wasn't dragged into too many directions at once. It enabled the plot to be lean and focused, and never wears out its welcome.

Be aware, it's not like Linwood Barclay's usual output. It's about sentient driverless cars zooming around an island neighbourhood and killing people! That concept alone is something I find fun, and Look Both Ways managed to deliver on it.