Gone for Good

Gone for Good
by Harlan Coben

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Book Summary Information

Author: Harlan Coben
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-03-04
ISBN: 0440236738
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Dell

Book Reviews of Gone for Good

Book Review: One of the best storytellers on the planet
Summary: 5 Stars

I have been avidly following the writing career of Harlan Coben since the early days of the Myron Bolitar paperback originals in the early to mid 90s. It is interesting to note the progression of this writer's developing talent. The early books were relatively lighthearted and, at times, downright hysterical romps around the northern New Jersey and Manhatten area. They were quite evidently reflections of the author's milieu where he grew up. They are filled with much Jewish angst and, overall, they create a very human portrait of Myron Bolitar. As the books progress, they become much darker with deeper meaning . In fact, from lighthearted humor tragedy rears its ugly head. Now, Harlan has left Myron to write stand-alone thrillers that pierce the human psyche. He also is being well compensated for these new books which I hereby entitle "The return of the dead?" in that both TELL NO ONE, as well as, our current consideration, GONE FOR GOOD, have as their central focus a character believed to be dead yet true doubts exist.
Will Klein is told by his mother, on her deathbed, that his brother, Ken, is still alive. Ken disappeared years before after he was accused of raping and murdering a neighbor's daughter. It was assumed that Ken had to be dead in that he would never have had the resources to remain alive. Will currently works for Covenant House in Manhatten with his close friend, Squares, a reformed white supremist. They help abused and runaway children. Unfortunately for Will, soon after his mother's death, his girlfriend, Sheila, the love of his life mysteriously leaves him. He pursues her and looks into his brother's disappearance. He begins to find answers to difficult questions. The answers might very well prove there is much he needs to know about Sheila and Ken. With the new knowledge comes danger.
As a long-time reader of Harlan Coben, it is gratifying to see some brief episodes of humor in the Bolitar vein. Squares very much reminds this reader of a much more human Win, Bolitar's partner and sidekick. Yet there are long passages that exude the true power and beauty of Harlan's writing. The type of writing that forces the eyes backward to fully experience those words again. I almost never quote but this is just one striking example:
"Morty played in Las Vegas, Las Vegas-the real Las Vegas, the city itself, no strip-strolling tourist trade in psuedo-suede and sneakers, no whistling and hollering or squeals of joy, no faux Statue of Liberty or Eiffel Tower, no Cirque de Soleil, no roller coasters, no 3-D movie rides or gladiator costumes or dancing water fountains or bogus volcanoes or kid appeal arcades. This was downtown Las Vegas. This was where grimy men with barely a mouth of teeth per table, the dust of their pickups still coming off them with each shoulder slump, lost their meager paychecks. The players here were bleary-eyed, exhausted, their faces lined, their hard times baked on by the sun."
Without the constraint of a series, Harlan can feel free enough to take his stories' characters wherever he wants them to go. They explore the very dark faces of society and do so in the confines of a truly gripping thriller where things are never as they seem until the very last page. Harlan Coben today-bestselling author, Edgar winner, writer of rare talent and one of the best storytellers on the planet.

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Summary of Gone for Good

As a boy, Will Klein had a hero: his older brother, Ken. Then, on a warm suburban night in the Kleins? affluent New Jersey neighborhood, a young woman?a girl Will had once loved?was found brutally murdered in her family?s basement. The prime suspect: Ken Klein. With the evidence against him overwhelming, Ken simply vanished. And when his shattered family never heard from Ken again, they were sure he was gone for good.

Now eleven years have passed. Will has found proof that Ken is alive. And this is just the first in a series of stunning revelations as Will is forced to confront startling truths about his brother, and even himself. As a violent mystery unwinds around him, Will knows he must press his search all the way to the end. Because the most powerful surprises are yet to come.

"The ugliest truth, in the end, was still better than the prettiest of lies." So says Will Klein, whose search for his missing and allegedly murderous brother, Ken, leaves him doubting the actions of everybody he's ever loved.

Eleven years ago, Ken fled his family's suburban New Jersey neighborhood after Will's ex-girlfriend, Julie Miller, was raped and strangled. The Kleins eventually convinced themselves that Ken perished on the lam. But as Will discovers, the facts are not so simple. On her deathbed, his mother tells him that Ken is still alive. Then Will's girlfriend and "soul mate" disappears too, only to have her fingerprints turn up at a New Mexico homicide scene. How are these tragedies connected? And what's their relationship to the recent appearance of a contract killer known as the Ghost? With help from an abused ex-hooker, a former white supremacist turned yoga guru, and Julie's younger sister, Will finds himself in a tightly twisted plot that turns on double identities and misplaced trust and that forces him to dig for the courage he was always sure he lacked.

Although the premise sounds much like that of Harlan Coben's last book, the acclaimed Tell No One, and the books' ingenuous protagonists are nearly interchangeable, Gone for Good quickly establishes its separate but equally suspenseful identity. This is a tale of manifold deceptions guaranteed to show its readers up as suckers, and to make them love every moment of the experience. --J. Kingston Pierce

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