It is often hard to read Linwood Barclay's books, because his characters are so universal. The dad you know, the brother you have, the son you worry about, the mom you are, the neighbor who you wonder about...all of his books center on very human characters.
Sometimes the grief and issues the characters are dealing with are so intense, so real, you have to put the book down for a bit. For the most part his resolutions are realistic, and worthwhile. Sometimes they are heartbreaking, like life is. So...you can't truly be dealing with whatever aspect the character is dealing with, when you read his books, or it would be in my opinion too overwhelming.
His latest, A Tap on the Window, is quite good. I liked the characters, the plot was interesting, the dad in this case was trying to find out who gave his late son drugs. He discovers there is more to the story than he thought, and in the process encounters a few other mysteries.
The pacing was fine, the character development was believable, and all in all I was very satisfied. I did have a couple of quibbles with the main bad characters, in terms of their logic and decisions, but putting that aside, all was very believable.
