WITHOUT WARNING
Carol Smith, Time Warner Books, US$15
The author of the 1995 bestseller Vanishing Point is back with yet another thriller that is filled with suspense and bound to keep you at the edge of your seat right until the very end. A veteran writer, Carol Smith grew up in a London suburb and attended the North London Collegiate School, where her talent and flair for writing was discovered and developed. Since then, she has written more than 14 books over the past 10 years, including other critically acclaimed works such as Home from Home, Hidden Agenda, Unfinished Business and Double Exposure.
Set in central London in the summer of 2005, Without Warning tells the story of a serial killer lurking around the city’s underground “Tube” system. The victims? A random set of women with no apparent connection, all of whom have been viciously stabbed to death.
The first is a woman, who is believed to have fallen to her death in front of a train during rush hour. Investigators soon discover that the tragedy was anything but an accident. Within days, a second murder occurs and panic soon ensues.
Ex-SAS officer Andy Brewster, on medical leave after suffering injuries in Iraq, now works for the Metropolitan Police. Together with his bomb expert partner Burgess, he embarks on a race against time to find the murderer before he decides to strike again.
On the surface, the killer’s targets might appear to have been chosen simply by chance. However, as one progresses deeper into the novel, he soon realises that there is more than meets the eye and all of the characters are indeed linked in some way.
In this recent work, Smith focuses less on the technicalities of solving the crime, and more on character and personality building, much to the benefit of her readers who are then able to better understand and relate to the story.
Furthermore, the events take place in a tense and heightened environment, with real-life incidents such as the suicide bombings in Iraq and the hunt for members of al-Qaeda serving as the backdrop. This combination of factors can only result in a truly exhilarating read. The end, when all mysteries are revealed, provides an unexpected but clever twist to the ending . Smith’s Without Warning makes you wish for her next novel to come out sooner than later.
Kenneth Yap
