"Totally engaging suspense."

Zack Walker is a loving husband, father and a published science fiction writer. Much to the distress of his wife and children, Zack moves his family to the suburbs to protect them from crime and violence in the big city. However, Zack soon learns that crime and violence aren't confined to the city, but bad things can happen anywhere. And when you're just a bit paranoid about the little things in life and visualize danger evolving from every forgetful act like Zack does, people can start thinking you're more than just a bit odd. More so when you discover a dead person, as Zack does.

When Zack fakes accidents to prove a point to his family, I'm thinking, boy, is this guy ridiculous or what! But when Zack touches the dead man and alters the crime scene, I'm laughing out loud that he really doesn't have a clue. Nevertheless, when his world starts spiraling around him, I'm hoping that nothing bad is going to happen to him. Heaven forbid anything happen to his family because of his paranoid, protect-the-family instincts. It's then that I realize I'm turning the pages faster and faster, and the action is happening faster and faster, and I'm really enjoying this story.

BAD MOVE, written in first person, made me really feel like Zack was telling a story in the normal way a person tells a story, straying from the main point to defend his actions, yet coming back to the points with energy and determination. I found myself hoping he'd be coaxed back to the matter at hand, yet anxious to "hear" every word he had to say. Barclay entertained me with Zack's crazy antics and his bravery. This book is boisterously engaging.

Reviewed by Sabrina Marino
Posted May 12, 2004

Summary

In the too-quiet town of Oakwood, only the lucky die of boredom and new homeowner Zack Walker isn't feeling lucky. Whoever said the burbs were boring will think twice after reading Linwood Barclay's hilarious debut mystery, in which Dad learns the hard way that he doesn't always know best. Zack wouldn't blame you for thinking he's safety-obsessed. True, he masterminded a plot to trade his family's exciting city lifestyle for one of suburban tranquillity. True, even after this strategic move, Zack still has issues with family members who forget their keys in the front door, leave their cars unlocked, or park their backpacks at the top of the stairs where you could kill yourself tripping over them. Just ask his wife, Sarah, or his teenage kids, Paul and Angie, who endure their share of lectures. Zack knows that he needs to chill out and assume the best for once but we know what happens to those who assume. When Zack realizes their two-faced developer sent a petty thief to fix their leaky shower, he starts fighting hard to ignore the fact that Oakwood isn't the crime-free paradise he was hoping for. But his brief state of denial comes to an abrupt end when, during a walk by the creek, he stumbles across a dead body. Even more shocking, Zack actually knows who the victim is and who might want him dead. With a killer roaming around their neighborhood and Zack's overactive imagination in overdrive, he's sure things can't get any worse. But then another local is murdered and Zack's paranoid tendencies get him implicated in the crime. While his wife is trying to remember why she married him in the first place, and his kids are considering whether it's time to have him committed, Zack decides there's only one thing he can do. To protect his family and avoid being busted for a crime he didn't commit he's going to have to override his safety-first instincts, tap into his delusions of machismo, and track down the killer himself.