Onyx reviews: A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay

Reviewed by Bev Vincent, 06/09/2018

Stephen King's most recent novel, The Outsider, is a crime thriller that embraces the potential for a supernatural explanation for certain stymieing events. That's not unheard of in the genre, but it relies on the fact that most adults in the real world (or in realistic fiction) are reluctant to entertain the possibility that ghosts or other supernatural entities exist.

A Noise Downstairs, Linwood Barclay's latest suspense novel, invites readers to make the same leap. The focal character, Paul Davis, stumbled upon Kenneth Hoffman, a friend and colleague at West Haven College, trying to dispose of the victims of a double homicide. Hoffman hits Paul in the head with a shovel and leaves him for dead, but is subsequently caught, and confesses to the crimes.

Eight months later, Paul is still on a leave of absence from work and having difficulty recovering from his injuries. His memory been impaired, he suffers from headaches, and often cannot account for large chunks of time. He sends texts he can't recall and often has no memory of things he tells his wife or that she tells him. He sees Hoffman in his dreams, but also imagines him when he's awake. He decides to write about the experience, exploring whether or not Hoffman is evil, although he's unsure if he wants to write a non-fiction account or a novel.

To help motivate him, his second wife, Charlotte, picks up an old typewriter at a yard sale. The machine strongly resembles one the killer forced his victims to use to write apology letters, and Paul becomes convinced it is the actual typewriter he saw Hoffman throw into a dumpster. Wouldn't that be a huge coincidence, his wife and his therapist, Anna White, who is treating him for PTSD, both ask. When he—and he alone—starts hearing the typewriter clacking away in his office in the middle of the night and believes it is sending him messages from the murder victims, no one else is inclined to believe it might be haunted. It's more likely that Paul is imagining things in his post-traumatic state, they argue. He must be writing the suspicious notes himself, even if he has no memory of doing so.

Paul's therapist has issues of her own: Anne's father is suffering from dementia and she has a court-ordered client who enjoys tormenting people. When his cruel acts involve some of her other patients, she wonders if he might be responsible for what's going on with Paul. Paul is willing to listen to alternate theories of what he is experiencing, but there doesn't seem to be any credible way for a third party to gain access to his home, which has a robust security system and well-locked doors.

As he becomes more certain something is wrong with the typewriter, he goes on a quest to interview people affected by Hoffman's crimes. He even considers a trip to the prison to interrogate his former friend and to find out more about the typewriter. To everyone else, it looks like Paul is losing his marbles...but thanks to Barclay's strong characterization, readers may be inclined to believe him.

Just when it might seem obvious what is going on, Barclay starts ripping the rug out from under readers. He doesn't stop there; he pulls up the floorboards, the foundation and anything else he can get his hands on. The twists come fast and furious in the final third of the book, until it seems like there can't be any more...except there are. This is a refreshing and exceptionally well-crafted thriller that bends the "rules" of traditional suspense novels in ways that open up many more possibilities for the outcome.