The Woods

Title: The Woods

Author: Harlan Coben

Pages: 404

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Grade: A

Synopsis: 4 teenagers were killed by a serial killer after they snuck out from the camp they were in.  The person that was supposed to be on patrol that evening (Paul Copeland) had also snuck out into the woods for a bit of hanky panky with his girlfriend.  He and his girlfriend lived while the other four campers didn't.  Paul is now a county prosecutor and is in the midst of a rape case eerily similar to the Duke Lacrosse team case from a few years ago.  Somebody is trying to keep what really happened in the woods 20 years ago a secret from Paul.

My Review: The Woods has all of the elements that you would expect in a Harlan Coben mystery thriller. The twisted plot with unexpected turns and revelations and multiple storylines.  I enjoy books like these because I read them so quickly.  Even when I'm not reading the book I'm thinking about what's going to happen, what could happen and trying to decipher and figure out exactly what is going on.  Satisfyingly, all loose ends have been wrapped up by the end of the book.

From the Book: "(p. 76) I ordered a cheeseburger and a beer from a waitress who looked as though she wanted to be in one of those want-to-get-away? commercials. She called me hon. I love when a waitress calls me hon."

"(p.107) Her voice was polished with a hint of a New England-boarding-school accent that shouted refinement over geographic locale. I was trying not to stare. She saw that and smiled a little. I don't want to sound like some kind of pervert because it wasn't like that. Femal beauty gets to me. I don't think I'm alone in that. It gets to me like a work of art gets to me. It gets to me like a Rembrandt or Michelangelo. It gets to me like night views of Paris or when the sun rises on the Grand Canyon or sets in the turquoise Arizona sky. My thoughts were not illicit. Ther were, I self-rationalized, rather artistic."

Just One Look

Title: Just One Look

Author: Harlan Coben

Pages: 370

Genre: Thriller

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Grace Lawson leaves the local Photomat with her newly developed pictures. When she finally gets a chance to look at them, she finds a photograph that causes her life to unravel. When she shows the picture to her husband, he denies knowing anybody in the picture and then disappears later that same evening. Somebody is trying very hard to keep that photograph from ever surfacing while Grace is just trying to find her husband.

My Review: It's books like this one that made it impossible for me to read while I was in school. Action-packed thrillers such as this one are so hard for me to put down and I end up ignoring everything else going on in my life. Pretty much, I'm a sucker for the genre. This one had a plot that was all over the place, but the ending was more satisfying than most books of this type. It was engaging, interesting and always kept you guessing.