Download PDF Missing You Harlan Coben Books

Product details Paperback 470 pages Publisher Signet Books (February 10, 2015) Language English ISBN-10 0451414128

Missing You Harlan Coben Books Reviews

• Harlan Coben stands atop the heap as one of the best known mystery and suspense writers in the business. His latest book, Missing You, is a gritty cop drama set against the backdrop of current headlines. Online dating has become all the rage, but it is just too easy to take the hopes and dreams of lonely people and turn them into a scam which ends up in murder. This is a hard-nosed, riveting story with so many twists and turns the reader might need a road map. Coben astounds with his parallel story lines and ties everything up in neat package in the end. Mystery and suspense at it's best!
  
  What I liked
  
  Harlan Coben is a big name in mainstream mystery and thriller writing. His titles have seen a lot of attention and justifiably so. He writes with a kind of inner radar that hones in on the issues that readers already have on their minds. Current headlines and little things that just make you wonder are the themes of his books. His books feel real and they don't sugar coat the facts or the fiction about the subject.
  
  Let's face it, the dating game has changed. Meeting someone online is no longer an unusual thing. It's common. And with it comes a lot of problems that dater's never had to think about before. "Is that picture really what he/she looks like?" "Does this person really have that job and live in that town?" "Is he or she married?" and unfortunately, "Could this guy/gal be after something more sinister than true love?" The online dating theme was spot on in this novel. Coben treats it like what it is... and everyday occurrence that could be fraught with a whole lot of danger. I thought his portrayal of the landscape of online dating was masterful. He pulls the reader into this world of conspiracy and murder and he doesn't let go. Amazing!
  
  Kat Donovan is a woman after my own heart. She's been knocked around a little bit when it comes to love and she isn't sure she wants to get it right. She's tough, a little intimidating and set in her ways. Is is worth it, to lose her independence to some guy? But she still wishes she had someone to come home to. Those are the people that scammers prey on. The ones who have almost lost hope, but that little glimmer they can latch on to exists. I loved the way Coben wrote this no-nonsense character who was tough on the outside, but had a gentle heart within.
  
  The twists and turns in this book were one right after the other. There were several parallel stories running at one time and reader is sifting back and fought between them wondering how they tie in throughout the book. But everything from an 18 year old murder case involving Kat's father, to a wayward ex-fiancee, to a teenagers worry about his mother's activities, ties in, in a big way. Coben has a way with working it all out and letting the puzzle pieces fall into place when the he nears the conclusion. I never feel disappointed and most of the time even if I have figured out what's going on, it's all about the journey. This was a great one, by a real master in the genre.
  
  What I didn't like
  
  Big conspiracies and murder plots can be so convoluted and drawn out so far that they become impossible scenarios. I think this one may have gotten a little close to the line, but it didn't quite go over. It was plausible, if just so. But that didn't change the fact that it was an exciting and engrossing novel.
  
  Bottom Line
  
  If you've never read a Harlan Coben I suggest you fix that as soon as possible. If you like the kind of book that makes your heart beat speed up and your palms sweat, this is it. Great ready, because it's a real thrill ride.
• Was this really a Harlan Coben book? I hated it. It was totally predictable. It earned a star because there was a twist in the end I didn't see comming, but I didn't like the ending too. It was sloppy. For instance, what happened to Titus? And Aqua? It was like "I'm tired of writing, let the readers imagine what happened."
  The characters were not believable, specially that Reynaldo dude. " UH, look at me, I'm scary and evil, I only love my dog".
  Also, what about that BS about Win? What if this was my first Harlan Coben book, I'd be like "Huh? Who is this? What is he doing here? And why he isn't mentioned again? Was he important?"
  What if I hadn't read the Bolitar series? I like to read my books over and over, but I am not going to read this one again.
• Sadly, I cannot recommend this Harlan Coben novel. I've read just about all of his previous books, and they have been excellent, but I am at a loss as to why this one has his name on it. Truly, it is so dreary and silly, so boring, so very dull that I am having a very hard time believing he wrote it. It's not even close to the quality of his previous writing. Perhaps he didn't; many bestselling authors (James Patterson comes to mind) are getting teams of people to write for them and put their own name to it because it will usually result in sales regardless of how bad it is.
  
  Kat, the female police officer hangs out at a bar her dead father, also a policeman, used to frequent and sits on the stool he used. Her best friend, voluptuous and seductive, is a private investigator - but we don't really see her investigating anything. She is too busy flirting with men and when they approach her, rejecting them as unworthy. She is a caricature. A teenage boy's fantasy. Brandon, a precocious teenager seeks Kat out to help him find his missing mother and this is the basic plot of the tedious, plodding and lifeless story.
  
  It has a sprinkle of everything The aforementioned well-endowed friend; a black homosexual cross-dresser (the only character even remotely interesting and fleshed out) a chain-smoking gravel-voiced mother in denial of her husband's other life, a boss with suspicious actions around her father's death, a vapid ex-lover who dumped her and -wait for it- she still loves and pursues. Then there are the evil monsters responsible for the kidnappings of many people. There are even zombie overtones with people in coffin-like boxes. The mafia don was a mere sketch and so vapid I couldn't believe why Coben didn't flesh him out at least a bit. None of these characters are engaging. They are like stick-people. The plot is improbable, the ending ridiculous and the entire book a failure that had so much potential.
  
  By the time I got to the predictable end, I couldn't care less what happened to any of them.
  
  Honestly, I have no ax to grind with one of my all-time favourite authors, but where the heck did this silly romance posturing as a thriller come from. Not from the pen of Coben unless he was channeling a teenager. I suppose this may have been an attempt to market the book to a YA audience while keeping his loyal readers in the process. It just didn't work. I paid nearly $20 for this and I regret not researching it since the sample seemed as if it might be ok. It wasn't. Two thumbs down.
• One of those rare books that I found myself picking up at times other then my typical reading time. Tight, suspenseful and downright creepy. The final act alternates between 3 different action scenes with a perfect cadence that keeps you tearing through pages. I kept checking my to see how much was left so that I could slow down and savor it, but I couldn't--I burned through it very quickly, and am now going to check out some more of this author's work. Great book, very enjoyable.