Jenn Writes

If suspense is your thing, then Linwood Barclay’s Elevator Pitch might be just what you’re looking for.

It starts with an actual elevator pitch by a scriptwriter, which ends way worse than the expected “no” from the executive he’s been stalking. By the end of Monday, five people are dead – four in what seems to be an industrial accident in a New York high-rise, and one bludgeoned to death and left with no way of being identified.

One elevator crash can be explained away, but three in the space of 72 hours in a city known for its of skyscrapers starts to take on more ominous tones. Throw in a far right extremist group placing bombs around the coastal cities of the United States, and a Russian biological weapons expert looking for an out from her country and you’re right in the centre of a city of more than 70 000 elevators locked down by fear.

Trying to figure out just who is behind all this makes for a cracking, intricate plot as Mayor Richard Headley has to deal with the crisis while Detectives Jerry Bourque and Lois Delgado search for answers and journalist Barbara Matheson continues to draw attention to the mayor’s unethical and inadequate behaviour.

My one quibble with this book is that Barclay has introduced such interesting characters, I would have liked to know more about them.

The action in Elevator Pitch is ceaseless and just when I’d figured it all out, Barclay throws in something completely unexpected, leaving me thinking “I did not see that coming” more than once.

So, if you’re a fan of thrillers, grab a cup of something warm to drink and settle down with this relatively light but thrilling rollercoaster of a read.