LONE WOLF is the third of Linwood Barclay's Zack Walker novels, a
series that with each new entry has become incrementally darker and
exponentially better. It sets a high-water mark, not only for
Barclay professionally but also for the mystery genre. Informed
with a quiet excellence of execution, LONE WOLF is one of the best
written mystery novels of 2006, no mean feat in a year marked by
the blessing of a plurality of wondrous, well-crafted works.

Zack Walker, Barclay's Everyman protagonist, is a reporter, a
well-intended worrywart whose heroism is confined primarily to
doing the right thing for his family at all times, as it should be.
While this admirable quality is hardly the stuff of adventurous
derring-do, it causes Walker to function, more often than not, as a
foible for or an observer of the dangerous and the intriguing while
remaining a fish out of water with respect to the proceedings.
Indeed, as Sarah, Walker's long-suffering wife, reminds him near
the end of LONE WOLF, "This isn't our life." Just so; this quality
makes Walker an identifiable character with the great majority of
the readership, even as he stumbles into mysteries and dangers both
great and small.

LONE WOLF begins with Walker receiving the bad news that his
father, the owner and year-long resident of a fishing camp, may
have been eaten by a bear. Walker, with understanding trepidation,
leaves for the site, feeling somewhat remorseful about his
relationship with his father while dreading what he will find upon
his arrival at journey's end. However, Walker discovers that there
is much more, and less, going on at the camp than he had
anticipated. When a second body is discovered, and a supply of
fertilizer is stolen, it becomes apparent that the quiet,
heretofore idyllic, setting of the fishing camp is about to be
changed forever.

Walker erroneously appears to be a somewhat limited character who
would require an improbable jump of the shark to keep things
interesting. But in the course of three novels Barclay has managed
to invoke a subtle change of background in each --- from urban to
suburban to, in LONE WOLF, a rural setting that is extremely true
to life. The backdrop and circumstances permit Walker to find out
some things about his father, and about himself. They haven't been
close, in part because they are so much alike. As Walker begins,
with some reluctance, to investigate the circumstances surrounding
the mysterious goings-on around the camp, once again he turns to
Lawrence Jones, his quietly capable and engaging friend, for
assistance --- and as LONE WOLF speeds toward its cataclysmic
conclusion, Walker finds that he will need all the help he can
get.

LONE WOLF has it all --- three mysteries for the price of one;
engaging, believable characters; a compelling story; and an excerpt
from STONE RAIN, the next Zack Walker novel. If this advance
preview is any indication, 2007 will be an even better year for
Barclay than 2006. For now, however, LONE WOLF gives us much to
enjoy. Highly recommended.