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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Endless twist and turns, they just kept coming. Non stop suspense. I look forward to the movie adaption, though I'm not sure how they're going to pull it off.
Contrived and formulaic. Uninteresting characters. Very skimmable.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Outstanding! As always. Harlan is one of my very favs. Love all of his stuff...
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
I don't think I've read a book where I wanted the main character to be murdered more than in this book. Unlikeable, kind of pathetic character
Like Coben's work but this one didn't do it for me. To predictable and far fetched.
Don't get me wrong I loved the concept of this book and the chase to find Natalie was fun. But it just felt so flat, boring, and lacking. There were so many issues I had and all in all the author came off pompous and trying too hard. I felt like he was reaching a target audience of "someone who can't think for themselves and needs me to hold their hand.. blah blah"
Jake is such a weird character. So he was a bouncer before becoming a college professor okay sure? But then he has all these contradicting thoughts. He hates breaking the law then does. He loves to play madden but hates that our society is so sports based. Jake also for being a professor is very lacking in street smarts and basic problem solving skills there were many times when it took him way to long to get a very basic piece of information. And so on. Jake isn't the only weird character though. All the professors don't fit. You expect me to believe that all these top notch, former FBI for example, professors work at a small college that doesn't get much attention. I doubt that.
Everything was stereotypical and unrealistic. A Library Bar? A hippie retreat? It just all felt like what the author thought dumb college students wanted to read.
All in all Jake is chasing after "the love of his life" in this retelling of his adventure that sounds like something he might have written down in his diary. A girl he has obsessed over for 6 years after a brief summer where she shared barley anything with him and not only dumped him but got married to another guy. And yet Jake can't let her go. Weird but I guess some people are like that I can get on board with that. I also get how the whole story ties together in all honesty it was one of my first guesses before I read one page. And the fact that I could guess it with that little information (and I'm not talking I knew all the things that lead to this but I knew the big one) is pretty sad.
I don't regret reading this but I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.
Jake is such a weird character. So he was a bouncer before becoming a college professor okay sure? But then he has all these contradicting thoughts. He hates breaking the law then does. He loves to play madden but hates that our society is so sports based. Jake also for being a professor is very lacking in street smarts and basic problem solving skills there were many times when it took him way to long to get a very basic piece of information. And so on. Jake isn't the only weird character though. All the professors don't fit. You expect me to believe that all these top notch, former FBI for example, professors work at a small college that doesn't get much attention. I doubt that.
Everything was stereotypical and unrealistic. A Library Bar? A hippie retreat? It just all felt like what the author thought dumb college students wanted to read.
All in all Jake is chasing after "the love of his life" in this retelling of his adventure that sounds like something he might have written down in his diary. A girl he has obsessed over for 6 years after a brief summer where she shared barley anything with him and not only dumped him but got married to another guy. And yet Jake can't let her go. Weird but I guess some people are like that I can get on board with that. I also get how the whole story ties together in all honesty it was one of my first guesses before I read one page. And the fact that I could guess it with that little information (and I'm not talking I knew all the things that lead to this but I knew the big one) is pretty sad.
I don't regret reading this but I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.
Oh Harlan, Harlan, Harlan. After reading 3 of your books this year, I feel that we can be on a first-name basis. Please don't be alarmed by the 3-star rating, 3.5 is really more accurate. You really hit a very specific niche: a page-turning twisted mystery with a guaranteed plot twist at the end. Characters that are likable enough but not so much that when their lives are inevitably on the line multiple times in a few days after they make a series of questionable choices, you are not too torn. This one fit the formula and fell in the middle of the 3 books of yours I have read so far. Not as jaw-dropping as Runaway but infinitely better than Fool Me Once, although I note that the back-of-the-van fight and subsequent fall down the hill at the side of the highway scene appeared in both this book and Fool Me Once (minus one star). But, you delivered fast page turns and a great distraction from coronavirus and my inbox for enough time for me to get a great break, and for that, I will keep returning to your books during times of quarantine or on airplane flights without my children after a long work trip. The end of this one fizzled out quite a bit for me, which is how the other half star got lost, the big reveal was like "yeah, we get it." But that's OK. I understand you are a book-writing machine, and that comes with the territory.
No real romance in this book, that's more of a puzzle solver than a thriller. Not his best.
What an thrilling book. Harlan Coben does not disappoint! Loved all the twists and turns this mystery had. I loved how he kept you guessing through the book and things you would not even expect to happen....happen! Such a fast and enjoyable read. My mind is still trying to make all the connections.