Reviews with content warning for Violence - Tell No One

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Tell No One by Harlan Coben

12 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

I decided to read this book because I brought a poster with 100 books to read in your lifetime. This is the twenty-first book on the life. As with most classics, I thought I was going to struggle reading this book, but holy mother, I loved it.

This book is based on David Beck, and the loss he experienced eight years ago was shattering, and every day he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake, the pale moonlight, the piercing screams. The night that his wife was taken and the last night he saw her alive. Everyone keeps telling him that it’s time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible – that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive. Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn’t. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope. But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secret – and someone intends to stop him before he gets there.

This novel is great because it grips you from the very first chapter. The storyline is intriguing. The characters are easy to love with a lot of development and the plot twist is amazing. My favourite chapters in any type of these books are when the main characters figures everything out and has a game plan. You feel hype for the main character and want him to succeed especially when they realise, they aren’t crazy. I think the author was a genius and the mystery and the suspense was brilliantly written. The only thing that I would say that is a weakness, for me personally, is the short chapters. I just prefer bigger chapters. However, in this book, it did fit well with Harlan Coben’s writing style where it usually doesn’t work for me. I was hooked that after a while the short chapters didn’t both me as they usually would with other authors.

I bloody loved this book and it managed to keep me hooked from the beginning and I am intrigued for the next book. I gave this book 5 stars as I loved the storyline and the plot twists. I know this film has been done in French, but I would love for this to be a series or a TV movie with Netflix. I will definitely be reading more of Harlan Coben’s work in the future.

Content Warnings

beate251's review against another edition

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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?

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hannahsbookshelf's review against another edition

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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?

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cinzia_2509's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

2.5

Content Warnings

ripxw's review against another edition

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book suffers from “did the author write a convincing racist or is the author racist” and I cannot tell, wasn’t hooked enough to subject myself to more anti-black and Asian caricatures/statements

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astoriareader's review against another edition

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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.

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okayucookie's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted 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? N/A

1.5

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w0nderland4's review against another edition

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After a random chapter, that for me, made zero sense, I put the book down and couldn't bring myself to pick it back up. I'm sure it had some relevance to the story further along the line, but for me it felt out of place.

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mariacorfias4's review against another edition

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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

bethanyearle's review

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mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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