Harlan Coben is a huge name in the world of contemporary fiction, particularly if you are a lover of mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers. Well, that sums me up rather nicely, especially during lockdown, where I will happily while away an afternoon turning the pages and racing through to the end of my latest book. My first foray into his work was a slight let-down, as I wasn't at all impressed with the ending of Fool Me Once, even if I had loved the rest of the book, but I gave him another chance in Long Lost and could finally understand why he is so popular. (Click through to read those reviews.)
The Woods is, therefore, the third of his books that I have read and this time, it's a stand-alone thriller. This is refreshing if you like to pick your latest read without obsessing over whether it fits into a series and worrying about lacking vital information that you may have missed in previous episodes (something which happens way too often to my liking).
The central character Paul Copeland is balancing being a dad with fulfilling his professional role as a prosecutor. His wife passed away a few years earlier and, luckily for him, he can count on his sister-in-law and her husband to help look after his daughter. That's not the only tough thing he's had to deal with in his life though. When he was a teenager camp counsellor at a summer camp, enjoying some one-on-one time with his girlfriend in the woods, their moment of intimacy was destroyed by a scream - a scream highlighting a murderous spree that left two people dead and two, including Paul's sister, missing.
As Paul is watching his daughter doing a gymnastics show at school, he is pulled aside by two policemen - they have a murder victim on their hands, who had various documents about Paul and the camp in his pockets. When Paul clears his name, proving he isn't a suspect, he looks at the body and is shocked to see a scar, revealing that the corpse belongs to one of the missing victims of that night. If this is indeed Gil Perez, as he believes, how could he have still been alive and does this mean that his sister survived that night too? Gil's parents refuse to identify the body as that of their son, but he is sure.
In the meantime, a college professor, Lucy Gold - the daughter of the camp's owner and Paul's girlfriend all that time ago - is shocked when one of her students hands in an anonymous piece of work, detailing what went on that night. Why is this being brought up again? Is she in danger?
Eventually, Paul gets in touch with her and the pair come together again, desperate to work out what really went on that night and why it is all coming back to haunt them. Paul becomes convinced that his sister is still out there somewhere and is obsessed with finding out the truth, whatever it takes.
It's a fast-paced, exciting read with more than a few twists and surprises up its sleeve. While this is the main storyline, there is also the current case that Paul is working on, featuring a young stripper accusing two college boys at a frat party of rape. Watching the scenes play out in court is equally tense and the consequences are far-reaching for all concerned. This is just the kind of compelling, gripping work that explains why Harlan Coben is such a big hit.
star rating : 4.5/5
- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Orion (19 Jun. 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9781409150565
- ISBN-13: 978-1409150565
- ASIN: 1409150569
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