No good deed goes unpunished. Never was this platitude truer than in the case of high-school teacher Richard Boyle, whose is turned upside down after he performs a courageous act. He’s lecturing his students on The Road by Cormac McCarthy when he sees a former student heading for a side entrance wearing what appears to be a bomb vest. He heads the student off, preventing him from entering the building, and talks him out of his planned assault on the school.
He is lauded as a hero for his quick-witted and selfless actions. However, everyone isn’t happy in the aftermath, including a fellow teacher whose reputation was besmirched and Richard’s wife, Bonnie, with whom he already has a rocky relationship, who criticizes him for risking his life instead of following protocol. The bomber’s parents sue Richard and another former student levels the kind of accusation at Richard that is hard for a teacher to successfully defend against, especially since a previous incident might lead people to believe there’s fire under all that smoke. While the truth may be on his side, he will be tried in the court of public opinion, where facts are irrelevant. Richard makes the sort of decision that launches many thrillers: he tells no one of the blackmail attempt and tries to handle the problem by himself.
Richard also finds himself confronted by a group of angry and frightened parents who challenge his decision to teach The Road and other controversial material. This subplot is one of the most interesting, as Barclay doesn’t paint the upset parents as ignorant book banners. They are given the opportunity to present their case to Richard, and he understands and sympathizes with their concerns.
Richard isn’t the only one in trouble. Billy Finster, his accuser, is in a hole with the people for whom he sells drugs. His latest payment was short and it looks like either he or someone close to him has been stealing from his supply. The people sent to sort Billy out aren’t the kind to take no for an answer. He needs to come up with a lot of cash, and fast. His wife Lucy is in her own corner because she sold some of the pilfered drugs to a colleague who refuses to believe she can’t get any more.
Rounding out the cast is Bonnie’s sister, a cop who had a violent run-in with one of the hardcases that Billy is dealing with. She’s a good cop and knows when someone is lying to her, which makes Richard’s situation all the more complicated. His only real ally is the school principle, who backed him up during his earlier troubles. But at every turn, Richard only makes things worse and eventually has to come clean to his wife, who has her own ideas about how to handle the situation.
These facts alone are enough to fuel a thriller. However, Barclay isn’t content to stop there. Nothing is as it seems, and the reversals and surprise revelations come thick and fast during the last section of the book. These aren’t arbitrary plot machinations created to surprise or shock; they’re all earned and logical, especially in hindsight. The book has an explosive beginning and never lets up for a moment from that point on. This is one of Barclay’s best.
