I became a fan of Taylor Adams for life after reading 2019’s NO EXIT. It wasn’t only because I do all my travel by driving and have seen a lot of strange things at highway rest stops, as does that worthy novel’s protagonist. It’s the plotting, pacing and characterizations that won me over. So I was expecting a lot from Adams and his new novel, HAIRPIN BRIDGE. I am happy to report that I was not disappointed.

"The twists and turns of the plot lob hand grenades into the mix every few pages, and the suspense will cause you to leave finger indentations on your print copy or e-reader."

The book takes place over a very long and tense few hours 60 miles from Missoula, Montana, near a major fire that serves as the backdrop for an encounter that is up close and personal. Lena Nguyen is a young woman who has driven several hours to this middle-of-nowhere location to meet Corporal Raymond Raycevic, a Montana Highway patrolman. It was Raycevic who notified Lena and her family of the death of her twin sister, Cambry, three months earlier and reported it as an apparent suicide as the result of her jumping from Hairpin Bridge. However, Lena believes that Raycevic is lying to her and travels to her destination in Cambry’s automobile. It is clear that she is placing herself in terrible danger.

Adams is in no particular hurry to let us in on what is going on from either Lena’s or Raycevic’s point of view, but we learn a great deal about Lena and Cambry, who had been estranged for several years. Lena is on a crusade of sorts to posthumously make things right, or at least atone for some things. There is a lot of one-upmanship between Lena and Raycevic, even as Adams ever so skillfully gives us bits and pieces of what one character knows that the other doesn’t, while not revealing all until the end of this wonderful, suspenseful and violent book.

I was compelled to read HAIRPIN BRIDGE in one sitting. The twists and turns of the plot lob hand grenades into the mix every few pages, and the suspense will cause you to leave finger indentations on your print copy or e-reader. I am confident that you will be a fan of Adams for life as well.