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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Thirty years ago, Wilde came out of the woods surprising the little town. A feral little boy, with no memory of how he ended up in the woods in the first place. Wilde is now an adult, and he still doesn’t know where he came from, still trying to adjust to a life surrounded by others.
A little girl has gone missing and Matthew, a fellow classmate, asks for help from the person that has never failed him, his powerhouse of a lawyer, Grandma Hester Crimstein.
Hester youngest son, and Matthew’s father, used to play in the backyard with Wilde when they were kids. When Wilde was anything but a legend in town. Matthew’s father, now deceased, made Wilde Matthew’s godfather. I hope this is not too confusing. There is a lot to unpack in this book. So many storylines and so many plot twists, it just keeps you engrossed in the pages until you’re done.
Hester is willing to listen to her grandson’s story and is willing to help. She asks for Wilde’s help since he once was a lost boy and there’s no person in that town that knows those woods better than him.
It turns out that everything was much more complicated than it appeared to be. No one is taking Naomi’s disappearance seriously. She is the ghost of the school. The girl that has done nothing wrong but that everyone hates. The ultimate outcast, being severely bullied by almost every classmate. The ones that don’t participate, let it happen just because they do not want to be targeted by the cool kids.
That leaves Wilde and Hester to take desperate measures to find the girl, going publicly against the father’s wishes, just so later she can be found in her house basement, playing a sick online game just to impress everyone at school. The bullying turns dead and Naomi decides to leave again and this time no one really knows where she went.
If this story was only about that, it would be interesting alright, but everything turns sideways when in the plot a senator running for presidency gets involved, a family with so much money that is stupid, who happens to be the family of the maximum bully in school is also now looking for him. A finger is found in the forest and they cannot figure out where did he go or who took them. The ransom is not even money. They want the very compromising tapes of the said senator, so he can be removed from the presidential picture.
Let me stop here before I spoil it for you. When I tell you that Coben delivers an action/mystery-filled plot with the feeling of a blockbuster movie, I’m not even exaggerating. I have yet to be disappointed by this man. I can honestly say that it is one of my favorites so far. I have The Match waiting for me and I cannot wait where Wilde’s story goes from here.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this for a book club and tbh didn’t like it that much. Idk. It was fine but I feel like it had potential to be better.
When the bullied Naomi Pine goes missing, concerned classmate Matthew Crimstein involves his grandmother Hester, an attorney who has her own NYC political talk show, and Wilde, his godfather who grew up in the woods by himself as an abandoned child.
Fairly typical mystery/thriller read—not groundbreaking material, but engaging and entertaining.
I really enjoyed reading this but it was very unrealistic.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Some years ago, a boy was found in the woods. To this day it isn't clear where he came from and who he is. And now, this unsolved mystery is solving mysteries himself, together with the mother of his best friend, the badass lawyer Hester.
This book was great. It pulled me in and kept me hooked in that 'just one more chapter' kind of way. I like that the main characters aren't traditional, in the sense that one of them is an older lady, who also gets a romantic story arch. Bonus points from me! (Except for the part where she refers to her 'crush' as 'Big Yum'.... I mean... what 60+ woman thinks or talks like that?)
The story is solid, and the ending made my heart jump in a good way.
It reads like a movie... I absolutely recommend you read it.
This book was great. It pulled me in and kept me hooked in that 'just one more chapter' kind of way. I like that the main characters aren't traditional, in the sense that one of them is an older lady, who also gets a romantic story arch. Bonus points from me! (Except for the part where she refers to her 'crush' as 'Big Yum'.... I mean... what 60+ woman thinks or talks like that?)
The story is solid, and the ending made my heart jump in a good way.
It reads like a movie... I absolutely recommend you read it.
Wow…what an amazing book! This is the first of Coben’s books that I physically read and not just listened to. I will definitely be reading his books from now on because the suspense and thrill is something you can’t get with audio books! My gosh this was such a good book! I can’t wait to read more from him!