The Woods by Harlan Coben
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Book Reviews of The Woods
Book Review: Another great read by Coben
Summary: 5 Stars
I couldn't wait to finish my day and curl up with this thriller. Another great book by Coben. LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!Book Review: Captivating
Summary: 5 Stars
My first Harlan Coben read, but definitely not my last. Wonderful. Captivating. Well written. Suspenseful.Book Review: Another winner!
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't put Harlan Coben books down! There's always a twist which is what makes them so exciting.Book Review: My first Coben
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the first book of Coben's that I've read, but it won't be the last because I really enjoyed it. I understand he's written many books, some of them part of a series, others as stand-alones. This is a stand-alone, and although I've read mixed reviews, I thought it was good.
Paul "Cope" Copeland is a fairly recent widow trying to care for his young daughter alone when his past comes back to haunt him: twenty years or so before, his sister had been murdered at a summer camp they were both attending - she as a regular camper, he as a counselor. At least, the assumption is that she was murdered, along with three others. Two teenage couples had gone into the woods one night and never returned. One couple was found butchered, and the other - Paul's sister and her boyfriend - were never found but presumed dead after their torn, bloody clothes were found and another counselor at the camp went on to murder several other campers at different locations over the years.
Paul, wracked with guilt over his own role that fateful night (when he should have been doing bed checks but was instead fooling around with his own girlfriend) has done his best to put it behind him. One evening while attending his daughter's school recital, however, he's approached by two police detectives and taken to a morgue to look at a body. That body blows the past open in a way no one could have anticipated, especially Paul, and he finds himself having to go back to the very beginning and relive that night all over again, because what he and everyone else thought happened may have been very, very different from the reality.
I thought the pacing was excellent, and the method of using one character to speak in the first person and others in the 3rd was very effective (this tactic seems to be becoming more and more popular). I thought the writing was exceptionally clean and smooth, and emotionally jarring in an electrifying way, yet not sentimental or sappy at all. I was impressed and will look for more books by Coben.
Book Review: 3.5 stars. Nicely wrapped up twists - after a pleasant roller coaster ride
Summary: 4 Stars
It's been a Coben couple of weeks. Last week I read Hold Tight. I debated if this one was better or worse. In the end, I decided unlike most critics that it's different, but that's not bad. And it's as good orbetter than the last.
While some other reviewers thought it shallow - I found that somehow in Coben's unique way he managed to keep me hooked with multiples story lines throughout (Who killed the people in the woods really? Were any of them alive? Would he win the case against the college kids? Would he get back with his old love? What was his Dad involved in? What was the camp director involved in?...) All of which were organized enough to stay up with them and tied up beautifully into a couple of nice, pleasant roller coaster twists and turns and a surprise ending. (Gratifyingly, one that didn't end up with some maniac doing the ever-so-popular over-the-top action scene to drive the story to a conclusion.
And for all the talk of shallowness - this one shared a common Coben theme about the lengths parents will go to to protect their kids (something that must be weighing on him lately - but makes it a tad more thoughtful, all the same). Maybe because it was less action-oriented and more about the story - it's less a page-turner than some of his (I confess I did put it down in favor of another book I was reading at the time for a bit) - but I was hooked to find out the answers to my questions.
I've always found Cobens characters to be less developed than Koontz - who can create the delightful odd ball, but with rarely the roller-coaster thrills that Coben manages. This one is no exception - but I still cared about them ---- through all it's twists and turns.