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justinsdrown 's review for:
Tell No One
by Harlan Coben
Too Much Frosting. Not enough cake.
This is my first novel by Harlan Coben. Everything here starts off well enough. The dialogue is brisk. The plot lean and mean. Coben has a strong , confident authorial voice. There's a moment early on that had me wide eyed and flipping pages. The issues begin shortly after the 50-page mark.
First: A detour. The use of African American English(or ebonics) is brutal here. Every black character introduced uses phonetic African American English. Every one. And there is a decent number of PoC character in this book. To make things uncomfortable is that none of the other PoC characters speak in a phonetic style. This creates a feeling where the Black character speak "Black" and other characters speak "Normal". It's gross and tasteless. Still, the book is old enough to drink so I'm willing to move past this outdated trend.
What I'm not willing to forgive is the story presented here. The plot begins to buckle under the weight of the many, many twists. There are too many "big" moments and not enough little moments. Characters get introduced but never develop. Thus making the twists harder to handle. The big moments feeling unearned. I could sit here and rattle off the many twists and turns. The issue is that they. never. stop.
The twists are numerous enough that every character introduced is connected to the grand conspiracy at the center of the plot. If you take a moment to stop and think about anything happening it's laughable. Example: Our main character is a doctor for people of low income(because of course he is). At the beginning we're introduced to a drug dealer because the MC helps his son. Like, it's one of the only detours in the book. At the time I thought this was character development for our MC. No. The drug dealer is introduced so the MC can have someone to call for illegal "favors" throughout the book. And by the end? The dealer is directly tied into the ending.
Now, here's the thing. EVERYONE is tied into the ending of the book. The MC's dad murdered in the last twenty pages even though he hasn't said a word. Why? Because he was introduced in Tell No One and in Tell No One if you exist you exist to move the plot forward with a TWIST.
By the end I was worn out and over it. Any you know what? There is a twist on the very last page. The second to last paragraph. And by then? I laughed as a closed the book.
This is my first novel by Harlan Coben. Everything here starts off well enough. The dialogue is brisk. The plot lean and mean. Coben has a strong , confident authorial voice. There's a moment early on that had me wide eyed and flipping pages. The issues begin shortly after the 50-page mark.
First: A detour. The use of African American English(or ebonics) is brutal here. Every black character introduced uses phonetic African American English. Every one. And there is a decent number of PoC character in this book. To make things uncomfortable is that none of the other PoC characters speak in a phonetic style. This creates a feeling where the Black character speak "Black" and other characters speak "Normal". It's gross and tasteless. Still, the book is old enough to drink so I'm willing to move past this outdated trend.
What I'm not willing to forgive is the story presented here. The plot begins to buckle under the weight of the many, many twists. There are too many "big" moments and not enough little moments. Characters get introduced but never develop. Thus making the twists harder to handle. The big moments feeling unearned. I could sit here and rattle off the many twists and turns. The issue is that they. never. stop.
The twists are numerous enough that every character introduced is connected to the grand conspiracy at the center of the plot. If you take a moment to stop and think about anything happening it's laughable. Example: Our main character is a doctor for people of low income(because of course he is). At the beginning we're introduced to a drug dealer because the MC helps his son. Like, it's one of the only detours in the book. At the time I thought this was character development for our MC. No. The drug dealer is introduced so the MC can have someone to call for illegal "favors" throughout the book. And by the end? The dealer is directly tied into the ending.
Now, here's the thing. EVERYONE is tied into the ending of the book. The MC's dad murdered in the last twenty pages even though he hasn't said a word. Why? Because he was introduced in Tell No One and in Tell No One if you exist you exist to move the plot forward with a TWIST.
By the end I was worn out and over it. Any you know what? There is a twist on the very last page. The second to last paragraph. And by then? I laughed as a closed the book.