Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - I Will Find You

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I Will Find You by Harlan Coben

14 reviews

ramseyreadsbooks's review against another edition

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tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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xabbeylongx's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Spoilers Ahead:

This book of Coben’s is a little different to the other ones of his I’ve read, and honestly, it wasn’t what I was expecting but I’m not necessarily mad about it.

We follow David as he’s in prison for killing his child, Matthew. His son was three years old when he was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat in his Marvel pyjamas. Having suffered from deep sleeping and blackouts and sleepwalking all his life, it was said that he killed him without knowing it, and then there was a witness who saw him bury the baseball bat. David, being a convicted ‘child killer’, was beaten up badly in prison, and, because his son was dead, he completely gave up on life.

Until his ex sister-in-law, Rachel, visited him - his first visitor in five years! - and shows him a very grainy photograph. One that leads them to the suspicion that Matthew is actually still alive, and David has been framed.

David and Phil Mackenzie, the warden of the hotel, plan to get him out. Phil and David’s dad go way back, and so Phil plans to help him escape, making it look as if it was him being coerced with a gun by an escaping inmate.

David is on the run, and Max and his partner Sarah are finding lots of holes in his plan, and the people helping him’s plans too. Max starts to figure out that there might be more at stake, so he looks into it (without Sarah’s knowledge, as she would not want to help to clear David’s name, only put him away).

David goes from witness to witness, trying to uncover what happened to Matthew, all from this photograph. Rachel enlists the help of Hayden, an old friend who saved her from getting raped, and then they find out that he was actually the person behind the kidnapping of Matthew.

Matthew now goes by Theodore. Hayden took a child from an orphanage that no one would miss, gave him a good quality of life, and then when the time came, he swapped the child with Matthew, and he was the child that was bludgeoned to death. Hayden was jealous of Rachel’s relationship with David, and when David and Cheryl (his ex-wife) struggled to have children, she want behind his back to a sperm donor, but under Rachel’s, her sister’s, name, and Hayden was jealous because he wanted to have that with her.

This book was a little far-fetched, in my opinion. Reality is so different from how the story could have actually happened in real life, it’s kind of mental. The escape from prison, it does happen, but it’s kind of nutty how the events happened. There were so many holes in the plans throughout, even I could see them, although to be fair, I’ve been reading so many crime novels I think I almost qualify as a police officer. Also, how did he literally assault a police officer, escape prison and hold someone at gunpoint and still be allowed outside of a prison cell? And how did this child, Theo or Matthew, know that David was telling the truth after five years? And how did their relationship fix so quickly? There’s a lot that doesn’t add up. And I want to know what happened to Ted! The bastard got away with everything.

David is a very odd individual, as the power of freedom goes to his head. He has no qualms in assaulting a young police officer, or even holding people at gunpoint to get what he wants. Because of that, I don’t think I was able to bond with him as much as I would have liked to. And I want Sarah gone. In the beginning, both Max and Sarah were fucking me off, because their ‘humour’ was actually just grinding on my goddamn nerves. I’d argue that Sarah and Neil (if you’re read my review for K. L. Slater’s ‘The Spare Bedroom’, you’ll know who I’m talking about) are both as annoying as each other, and if I never read another book with them in it in my life, I’ll be the happiest woman alive. Max only just got away with it because of his redemption arc at the end of the book. Sarah? Count your days, because I’m not happy with you.

All of this aside, I think the ending is really sweet. How David and Rachel got together, and David and Cheryl mutually got along and shared custody with their son. Also, I love how Hayden got justice, from Nikos, because there was no evidence against him. How was there no evidence?? Anyway, it was a good book, but not one of his best, I must admit.

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adcoleman's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

My first Harlan Coben, don’t know why I’ve waited so long to dig into his thrillers, and it didn’t disappoint!

I’m familiar with his stories from many Netflix series, and this one fit right into the same pattern. His writing style, can very much play out in your head as a TV show.

Super easy to read, fast paced & once the story kicked off I was kept interested enough to keep going & going to find out what was happening.

It wasn’t super high stakes, which is what I usually like, but nonetheless a solid grounded story.

My only reason for not having a higher rating is due to the fact that the twist was kind of alluded to earlier in the story, therefore the reveal was kind of just having the characters figuring it out & solidifying the little details. I personally prefer when the twist catches me totally off guard.

Nonetheless an easy, enjoyable & digestible thriller!

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amgruber's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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patches7o9's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

A fast-paced but middle of the road, colour-by-numbers thriller/mystery played in the style of The Fugitive, but with poorly developed characters and twists that are not interesting enough to justify the narrative decisions.

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my_a's review

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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jennabeck13's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5/5)

Genre: Thriller

About 325 pages

David has spent the past five years in prison after being convicted of killing his son, Matthew. He didn’t do it…. But during the weeks after his son passed, David lost all hope and purpose in life, so he let the conviction happen. Five years later, his former sister-in-law, Rachel, comes to visit. She shows David a photo that has a little boy who looks a lot like Matthew in the background. This changes everything for David. He goes from hopeless to determined as he escapes prison on a journey to find his son.

Tell No One was one of my favorite books when I read it years ago, so I’ve been wanting to read another Harlan Coben book for a while. Coben is great at writing high-intensity, page-turning thrillers. This book is a game of cat and mouse that kept me engaged from beginning to end. I enjoyed how every character Coben introduced provided some sort of value to the story, as I feel like so many authors drop in a character for one scene and then make them irrelevant going forward. The only qualm with this one is that some parts of the story weren’t the most believable/realistic, but if you can put that aside, this story is a terrific one!

Favorite Quote: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

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chronicloser's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

i love a good story that emphasizes bonds and support systems, but i wasn’t super impressed, nor would i say this is an unbelievable, life-changing book. i think if you’re a parent, you could feel an emotional connection on a surreal level, maybe? but, in the book’s defense, not everything has to be grand. not to mention, it was written in a super digestible way— not my favorite style in the world, but i admire it greatly anyway, because time and time again, it’s reminded me that i truly do enjoy reading during every slump i’ve had. my biggest complaint/compliment, depending on the intention? max and sarah, although play a smaller part, were (effectively) the most nails-on-a-chalkboard duo i’ve had the absolute non-pleasure of experiencing lately

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czoltak's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

My first Harlan Coben, and I’m pleasantly surprised. I was worried his work would be similar to James Patterson, David Baldacci, Stuart Woods, etc. Thankfully, I actually really enjoyed this and was hooked the entire way through. This was quite intense at times and I found the twists surprising. The only downsides were that the FBI Agents Sophie and Max were some of the most annoying characters I’ve ever read. Also, the ending was rushed and started to get a little over the top after having to suspend your disbelief already at other major plot points. Overall, a solid thriller that kept me guessing until the end. I’m definitely open to picking up more of Coben’s work in the future.

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mamawantsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

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