Reviews with content warning for Murder - Nikom ni reči

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Nikom ni reči by Harlan Coben

12 reviews

beate251's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Eight years ago, Dr Beck 's wife was murdered by a serial killer, he himself left for dead. Since then, his life has been suspended in animation - he works and he grieves, that's all. One day he gets an email that seems to be coming from Elizabeth, with info only she could know - could she still be alive? But how?

What follows is a roller-coaster thriller in which we get introduced to quite a few seemingly unrelated people who find together in the end, but not before the plot has twisted like a pretzel several times. Nothing is as it seems and no one is as innocent as they first look in this fast-paced, far-fetched and very entertaining page-turner. Read it in one sitting.

One of the review excerpts from the blurb says: "This book will keep you up until 2 a.m." After I'd finished reading and written this review, I looked at my watch and it was exactly 2am! Can someone de-bug my house please?

Content Warnings

starbuck1210's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I don't normally go for suspense novels so this is a new genre for me. I was very invested in the story at first but the ending really left me feeling like the author had rushed it.

Content Warnings

xabbeylongx's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Spoilers Ahead:

This is the first book of Coben’s I’ve ever read, although admittedly not the first one I’ve bought. This was the one which enticed me in, grabbed my attention, and I read it super quickly. And, can I say, I’m very sorry to ever put off reading any of his books.

We follow David Beck, a respected doctor in the community, throughout this book. His wife, Elisabeth, died eight years ago, and although it was quite a long time ago, he never got over her. They were childhood sweethearts, and inseparable. She was kidnapped when they were on vacation in the mountains, and her body was found a few days later. Dr Beck had suffered a blow to the head, so he couldn’t save her, either. So when he receives a weird email from someone anonymous, with intimate details about his relationship with his former wife, he’s confused. And, dare I say it, he had a little bit of hope that she would actually be alive. He told his confidant, Shauna, who was with Linda, his sister (yay, queer representation!) and she wasn’t as convinced, but that did nothing to extinguish his hope. The email was very vague, and told him to keep his eyes open, as he was being watched.

When Dr Beck is investigated to do with his wife’s murder eight years later, he knows there is something not right. And, when two bodies are found in connection to his wife’s murder (they were the ones who allegedly kidnapped her) and the police come after him, blaming him, he does the only thing he can think of. The emails, of which he assumes are from his wife, state for him to meet the sender later. He knows it’s Elisabeth, and so desperately wants to see her. His plans are stunted when the police tries to arrest him, so he runs.

Elisabeth doesn’t show, and he is hunted down. Tyreese - the father of one of his regular patients - is a drug dealer, and helps him out, keeping him safe until they gather the evidence to know that he is actually not part of the murder (first time I’ve ever had that in a crime book!) and Elisabeth’s father had everything to do with it. He hid the autopsy report pictures, and it turns out, they ID’ed someone as their Elisabeth, as she was being hunted for killing someone high up, very important, in regards to her charity work. However, Hoit - Elisabeth’s father - goes to hand Dr Beck over to the father of the boy that Elisabeth killed, and he admits to the murder. He shoots the father, and then himself, to the shock of Beck. He and Elisabeth are then reunited, and they live happily ever after with each other. However, it is then revealed that Dr Beck is the one who actually killed the son, and Elisabeth was just protecting him.

Honestly, such a lot more goes on in this book that my summary doesn’t even do it justice. Please read it! If you’re into psychological thrills and crime and endearing relationships, then please read it! Dr Beck (it’s weird calling him David) and his relationship with his wife is so beautiful, and pure. The fact he was loyal to her all this time - pretty much, save for a few dates that don’t really count - is so sweet, and I love that. All of the characters (apart from Linda - I can’t stand her!) are so realistic and well-planned and I loved reading about them. Tyreese is my favourite though, I need to know what happened to him and his son! The best character in the book, I can’t lie. Oh, and I thought Elisabeth was very selfish for the longest of times, but that changed very suddenly when the ending revealed she was just covering up Dr Beck’s murder (he was doing it in self-defence, okay?). I owe her the biggest apology.

I loved this book, but I can’t lie, the ending was very long. The book is so drawn out, and every part of it is so exciting, that the ending felt slightly a bit ant-climactic. Only slightly though, because that ending knocked me for six, I can’t lie. It felt like there was a double ending, with the actual ending being used to actually open up a whole new set of questions. Whilst I do find it insanely infuriating, I also thought it worked so well. However, not telling us about Shauna and Linda’s fate, and what happened to Tyreese and his son, is cruel, and cannot be forgiven. But oh well, what can you do?

Content Warnings

lindsayvale's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

hannahsbookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

This plot kept me guessing. Lots of reveals throughout this fast paced novel, but Coben managed to still pull out a couple of big twists right at the end. Lots of different components come together to tell the story of Elizabeth & Beck.

A thriller with a crime edge even though the protagonist is not a detective, Beck has to try to figure out what happened 8 years ago to work out what is happening now so needs to think like a detective. Is his beloved wife, his childhood sweetheart, still alive?, and if so why was her death faked all those years ago?

Content Warnings

lex24's review against another edition

Go to review page

The racial stereotyping made it an uncomfortable read, and the plot became so ridiculous I couldn't suspend disbelief.

Content Warnings

astoriareader's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

SYNOPSIS

David Beck married his childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth. While at the lake together, Elizabeth was attacked and murdered. It’s been 8 years, and David still hasn’t gotten over it or felt closure.
Suddenly, David starts receiving cryptic messages that are things only Elizabeth would know. What is going on? What happened on the lake? Is Elizabeth dead?

MY THOUGHTS

I read this one in about 24 hours. A definite page-turner. Lots of suspense. Fast-paced. Hard to put down.
I enjoyed Coban’s writing style, and I found it easy to read.
Satisfying ending. Coban ties everything up well, and it’s a very well plotted book.
Most characters are developed well.
Here’s my only gripe: albeit the book was published in 2001 (aka 23 years ago), I thought the Black & Asian characters were written without any depth & in a negative way. I am curious if Coban would write these characters in the same way if he wrote this book in 2024.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️fast-paced thriller. finished in a day. easy to read with satisfying ending.

Content Warnings

elskabee's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A really solid mystery thriller. Intriguing and keeps you guessing, with vibrant and interesting characters. In some ways this is a pretty straightforward thriller and not normally a story I'd reach for, but I blazed through the audiobook in only a couple of days and really enjoyed it!

Content Warnings

leebeeloves's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

mariacorfias4's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

More...