Book Review: NO EXIT by Taylor Adams *** and a 1\2 out of *****

 

An effective, fast-paced thriller, No Exit by Taylor Adams is a highly readable suspense novel with a likeable heroine and twists aplenty.

The plot: A young woman taking refuge from a snow storm in a rest stop, discovers that one of the four strangers with her is a psychopath who has a seven year old girl trapped in a cage in his car. Author Taylor Adams takes this high concept and runs with it, creating one intense situation after another, building the tension to a fever pitch.

But the novel does have its flaws. Aside from the heroine and the little girl, all the characters are barely memorable, especially the villains, who get less and less believable as the story progresses. But the novel's biggest misstep is the climax, which reads like the finale of a blockbuster Hollywood thriller: contrived and over-the-top, and with a clichéd epilogue.

Faults aside, No Exit is an immensely enjoyable, tense, and energetic thriller, with just enough style to make it memorable.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2020.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer