Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay

They think as one. They act as one. They kill as one.

The residents of Garrett Island are part of a visionary experiment. Their cars have been sent to the mainland and for one month, they've got self-driving vehicles called Arrivals. With just a voice command, an Arrival will take you where you want to go, and as the cars are all aware of each other, road accidents should be a thing of the past.

As the world's press arrives for a glimpse of this driverless future, islander and single mom Sandra Montrose preps for the huge media event. She's ready for this new world. Her husband died when he fell asleep at the wheel, and she's relieved her two teens, Archie and Katie, may never need driver's licenses.

But as the day gets underway, there are signs all is not well. A member of the press has vanished. There are rumours of industrial sabotage.

Before long, the sleek driverless cars are no longer taking orders. They're starting to organize. They're starting to hunt. And they've got the residents of Garrett Island in their sights.

---

I'm not a big fan of driving. It's really useful, but I don't enjoy it the way some people do. I've been following news of autonomous cars with some interest - it's clear that they won't be much use until the vast majority of cars on the road are autonomous, so that they can talk to each other and form a network. Linwood was clearly thinking along the same lines when he wrote this book.

An isolated island community is the perfect place for this kind of experiment, when you think about it. The number of vehicles can be controlled, nothing unexpected can infect the cars and upset things. It even seems to be working! ...until it isn't.

There are several characters to keep track of here, and the story itself takes a while to establish what's going on. However, once things start happening - about 25% in - they really start happening. I love a good zombie movie, and this feels like the best kind, with zombies that can think and reason. Honestly, some of the plans the cars come up with are unbelievable! (in a good way.)

I've said this about several books recently, but I would love to see this onscreen. It'll never happen, because no car company would let their designs be used like this, but it would be amazing to watch. I am slightly more worried about autonomous cars now - I'll just have to put up with continuing to drive!

Fantastic, high speed read that will do well.

Look Both Ways publishes on the 2nd of February, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.