TELL NO ONE - Harlan Coben

TELL NO ONE (2001) is Harlan Coben's first standalone novel and deviation from the Myron Bolitar series. Dr. David Beck is practically still a newlywed when he loses his wife, Elizabeth, to a brutal murder by a serial killer. Eight years later two men are found dead in the same area where Elizabeth had been abducted. It is determined that the two men had been dead for approximately...eight years. Then the craziness begins. David Beck begins to receive cryptic messages leading him to believe his wife is alive. And at the same time the police begin investigating Beck as his wife's murderer, even though her murder was attributed to the serial killer and closed eight years ago. What is the truth and can Beck uncover it before the police close in on him?

I listened to TELL NO ONE on audio book. Recorded Books published this audio book and it was read by Ed Sala. While I think Sala did a very nice job with the reading, emphasizing appropriately to enhance the thrill effect, the one objection I had was that he sounded too old for the character of David Beck. I had a hard time getting past that as I listened.

The plot of this book is outstanding, and I believe that a large reason for that is the theme of the novel. The overall idea that a person could love and miss someone so much that they would be willing to give their own life to have that person back is not a foreign emotion to most people. So, while 99.9% of the world would never encounter a situation anywhere near David Beck's situation, they can still identify with this character, share an understanding of his grief. That understanding is what heightens the tension of this novel. And of course Coben's twists add a degree of excitement to the plot as well.

Coben is a character genius. Deviating from his tried and true cast from the Bolitar mysteries he creates a new ensemble equally as rich. David Beck is far from your Superman hero. After all the man failed to save his wife from being abducted. But Beck's strengths lie in his intelligence, his devotion and his humanity. One of the most poignant scenes in the book for me was when Beck assaults a police officer and is absolutely mortified and repulsed by his behavior. He acted instinctively and could not believe it was he who was behaving in such a manner. That characteristic is far more attractive to me as a reader than the character who throws violence around without a second thought. Coben leaves that to the masochistic villain Eric Wu.

But another element of Coben's character genius is his diverse cast of character. All the heroes are not lily-white. As he does with Win in the Bolitar mysteries, Coben adds a character who makes the reader check his/her beliefs. A character who for all intents and purposes does bad things. But his character is simple enough to label as bad. Tyrese fills this role in TELL NO ONE. And it would not be a signature Coben novel without humor. Shauna provides a great deal of this humor. The reader knows right off the bat that fun has walked in when Beck's assistant intercoms him to say that, "you're...uh...um...Shauna is here."

TELL NO ONE was an exciting thriller that had me gripping my steering wheel a little tighter than usual, laughing out loud, and declaring "ah ha!" Now I can finally rent the movie!

TELL NO ONE was published by Delacorte Press in hardcover (ISBN 978-0385335553 ) in 2001, by Dell in mass market paperback (ISBN 978-0440236702) in 2002, and by Recorded Books as an unabridged audio recording (ISBN 1-4025-3486-8) in 2002.

Odd Tidbits

Holy Moly! Is it the end of March already? Where have the first three months of this year gone? I'm starting to grow antsy because my Southern California trip for fun is coming up soon - I leave in less than three weeks. I've been chatting with my friend Michael out in SoCal who's been incredibly awesome to me, giving me all the lowdown on the LA Times Festival of Books. The authors and panels have been posted on their website and I've already picked out the three I want to attend. They're all on Saturday. First I'm going to see CRAIG JOHNSON! Woo hoo! Yes, it is so! Then in the afternoon, Michael Koryta. Kinda funny going to the other side of the country to see an author who lives a few hours from me! And after Michael's panel then...oh yeah! The man himself! I will FINALLY get to see RC! Takin' extra batteries for the camera.

Anyway! I still have to wait more than two weeks to leave, and the FOB isn't until the end of my stay in SoCal, so I have to try to keep the excitement contained a bit. So, I'm focusing on what's exciting here on the blog. April will finally bring about a new batch of interviews. We'll be giving the ladies some love in April. I have three exciting interviews lined up with the first to be this Friday. I'll also be hosting another guest blogger in April. But, the fun isn't going to stop in April. There are a few fun things lined up for May already and hopefully we'll find a few more before May finds it way here.

Today I came home to find a copy of THE PROSECUTION RESTS from the fine folks at Hachette. This is a collection of short stories, edited by Linda Fairstein, and as the title indicates, they are courtroom-related stories. This is the third collection like this. Last year Michael Connelly edited THE BLUE RELIGION, which is a fantastic collection of police procedural short stories. I loved that collection, so I'm definitely looking forward to THE PROSECUTION RESTS.

Today was the release date for Harlan Coben's long awaited new Myron Bolitar novel, Long Lost. Harlan was interviewed by Al Roker on the Today show this morning. You can see the interview here. Coben's a funny guy! I love to read his tweets on Twitter. I get a chuckle out of every one.

Alrighty kids. I want to get some extra reading time in with Libby Hellmann's EASY INNOCENCE because by golly, I'm lovin' this book. Can't wait to tell you all about it. Until then...I'm still looking for more comments on what you like in a book review, be sure to share your two cents in my previous post. And happy reading!!

They're Back?

So by now you may have heard that some crime fighting favorites are returning soon. Despite his previous insistence otherwise, Dennis Lehane has revealed that he is writing a new Patrick Kenzie novel. And at the end of March Harlan Coben is releasing his new novel that brings back Myron Bolitar.

I know many people have loved these series (and I count myself among those folks) and they have clamored for their returns; however, I can't help but wonder if there will be some negative fall out. Here's why I wonder this: both Lehane and Coben are different writers now. They are both extremely wonderful writers and I'm sure that whatever they produce will be good, but will it be what people are expecting?

With someone like Robert Crais or Michael Connelly who have written the same character very consistently over the years, you've watched the character change and evolve with the writer. Elvis in CHASING DARKNESS is not the same Elvis from THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT. If you read those two books back to back, you definitely see that difference. But if you read the series, you see MONKEY'S Elvis become DARKNESS Elvis. And that is part of the beauty of those kinds of characters.

Dennis Lehane, himself, has admitted that he's a different writer now. Anyone who's read one of his early Patrick Kenzie novels and something like MYSTIC RIVER, SHUTTER ISLAND, or THE GIVEN DAY can see that. And when I listen to people who "really want" a new Patrick Kenzie novel, I wonder if they'll actually want the Patrick Kenzie that comes from today's Dennis Lehane or are they actually clamoring for the past?

Hold Tight - Harlan Coben

In Harlan Coben's latest thriller, Hold Tight, Mike and Tia Baye experience a chilling couple of days because of a decision to put spyware on their son's computer.

When Mike and Tia learn through an e-mail that Adam is going to attend a party with drinking and drugs, they set out to intercept him and prevent him from going without letting on to the fact that they know, and even more importantly HOW they know. But something goes awry when there is no party. But where is Adam? That's when Mike starts following him via the GPS in Adam's cell phone. This plan leads Mike to a shady neighborhood where HE is attacked, and he still hasn't found Adam.

As if Mike Baye doesn't have enough to worry about, his medical partner, Ilene Goldfarb is treating Lucas Loriman, the son of his next door neighbors Susan and Dante Loriman. Through blood testing to find a kidney donor, they learn that Dante is not Lucas's father. The young boy doesn't have much hope unless they can locate his actual father or a paternal relative.

AND the plot continues to layer with the abductions and murders of two women connected to this same neighborhood. Those murders tie into a whole separate element of the novel - or so it seems to be separate.

Coben juggles a lot of characters and plot lines in this novel. He does bring them together at the end of the book, but you may want to have a small chart to keep track of everyone in the book. I found myself asking, "now which character is this again?" quite often throughout the book.

If you're a parent, this book might just scare the bejeebers out of you. The obvious question threaded throughout the entire book is "should you spy on your children?" And Coben doesn't give you his opinion one way or the other. That's the point of the multi-dimensional plot. He gives you a look at the evils of both options.

Coben has this knack for slowly giving you clues that you don't know you're getting. So you feel like you're in the dark with no idea where you're headed - and with the twists and turns in this novel, that just intensifies the feeling of being completely lost. But then he starts to bring all the pieces together and they make sense. I found myself saying, "of course!" more times than once as the book was drawing to a close. I will admit that there was one element I found too convenient in the end, but you can have that with fiction, I guess.

I think I've said this before about Coben, but every time I pick up one of his books I think it should be locked in a time capsule. He defines the statement "art imitates life." This book deals with present-day technology and the ethics surrounding that technology, but it also imitates the language and values of the present. While I do hope the events of this book aren't happening (or haven't happened) anywhere in the world, it isn't hard to imagine them happening because of the realism in all other elements of the book.

One of the other heavy topics that comes up in this book is teenage suicide. One of the characters commits suicide before the story begins. Coben gives the reader a glimpse of the effects this event has on both parents as well as the character's best friend. I've not had a child commit suicide, but I could definitely connect with Betsy Hill after this insight:

The house was dead.

That was how Betsy Hill would describe it. Dead. It wasn't merely quiet or still. The house was hollow, gone, deceased - its heart had stopped beating, the blood had stopped flowing, the innards had begun to decay.

Dead. Dead as a doornail, whatever the hell that meant.

Dead as her son, Spencer.

Don't look for a lot of character development in this novel. The focus is more on the ethical question of spying and on the plot development. Of course at 415 pages, if Coben had put in more character development, I might have been reading for another week. But I think the lack of character development was intentional. This approach made the scenario open to anyone. This isn't something that could happen to only a select, specific group of people, but rather it could happen to the family down the street...or even the family right there in your own home. And that is the scariest part of all.

Two Smooth Operators

Did you check out Harlan Coben's trailer video for his book, Hold Tight, coming out April 15th? Looks like a pretty time-appropriate thriller, doesn't it? I keep saying that we need to throw his books in a time capsule because they truly are imitations of life as we know it now. I mean, come on, his first seven books are Myron the sports agent, and this culture is definitely obsessed with professional sports! In Back Spin, my latest read by Coben, Myron and Esperanza are watching Wheel of Fortune. And Myron ponders the question, "why do people who obviously know the answer to a puzzle buy a vowel?" I've always wondered that myself. I had to laugh and cheer during that part because when I use to watch the show I'd yell at the TV when people did that! Definitely imitating life!

So, in Back Spin, Myron is making the rounds on the golf course this time. If nothing else, he's a well sports-rounded agent, isn't he? He's at the U.S. Open when the leader's son is kidnapped. Now of course, the leader is NOT Tiger Woods. The leader is Jack Coldren, who happens to be married to a cousin of Win, a cousin Win will have nothing to do with. So, while Myron agrees to try to help find the boy, Win refuses to be involved.

Back Spin is the fourth installment of the Myron Bolitar series, and again here we see a focus on family relationships. These relationships revolve more around Win's family this time, and some interesting background on his character is revealed. This just adds to the depth and dynamics of Win. Despite all the dysfunction throughout the various family links, those links count for something in the end.

As is par for the course (pardon the pun), Coben leads you in circles before the mystery is solved. He always give you just enough to start making hypotheses, and then a new detail throws a hitch in the whole guess. You often find yourself coming back to possible culprits only to question your theory yet again. It's so much fun. And it's a load of laughs.

I wasn't laughing quite as much in the fifth Spenser novel, The Judas Goat. Which is not to say it wasn't good. It was excellent, but Parker changed the tone of the novel a bit this time. It's nice to see an author throwing some changes in and not becoming formulaic.

In The Judas Goat, Spenser travels to London to track down the people who killed a wealthy businessman's family. When the heat is turned up, Spenser calls on Hawk to join him and the two of them track down the vigilante group.

Besides having a change of scenery, as I previously mentioned, there seems to be a change of tone in this novel. It's a more solemn, more introspective novel. I really enjoyed this novel because it reflected the sincerity of Spenser. I appreciate that he battles with his use of violence in his job. It isn't an "easy answer" for him and he doesn't easily resort to it. The Spenser vs. himself conflict is often the more intriguing plot to follow in Parker's books.

The interaction of Hawk and Spenser continues to add depth and dimension to both characters. They seem to be complements to one another, and at the same time function as each other's foil as well. The use of the character Kathie created some questions for me about Hawk. I look forward to seeing how his character develops and if I'm able to answer those questions about Hawk...or is he just meant to be an enigma?

The one criticism I had with Judas Goat was that I didn't feel the whole plot was resolved for me. I wanted to know WHO they were trying to assassinate and WHY. Was it just an arbitrary person? If not, how did they know the person would be a medal winner? And what was the ultimate point? Just to cause chaos? Why? I needed some strings tied together on that one. But overall, it was another great caper with Spenser.

Drop Shot - Harlan Coben

Myron Bolitar returns in Harlan Coben's Drop Shot. This time around Myron has a client who is playing in the U.S. Open when a possible future client is gunned down. When Myron starts to investigate he is sure there is a connection between these two tennis greats, but he can't quite pinpoint what it is.

Once again, Coben had me laughing every day. The interaction between Myron and Win is priceless. They are so different, but as Win states, that's why they work. If they were more alike they wouldn't be able to get along. Win is a truly unique character. I've not encountered another character like him. He fits into stereotypes on the surface but at the same time he's breaking those suckers wide open. He isn't necessarily a likable character except for that fact that he's always protecting Myron. His assassinations are those of disdainful characters, but his joy in killing is a bit on the creepy side. And he often comes across as not caring. Maybe Coben changed that a tad bit in this novel, though, with the ending.

The family theme comes out a lot more in this novel, I thought. I especially liked the episode when the young boy comes over to play basketball with Myron and soon all the neighborhood kids are playing. Myron seems to thrive in this atmosphere, and an affinity for children is presented. And of course there is the strong times between Curtis and his mother. A stark contradiction to that is the family dynamics of Valerie's family.

I did figure out a little of the ending early in the novel. Since I was listening on audio book, I found myself yelling at Myron a few times telling him what he was missing. However, Myron trumped me in the end by figuring out the whole mystery! :)

This novel was definitely a "drop shot"!