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63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Winner!, June 1, 2002
Harlan Coben makes his second departure from the Bolitar series (please, Harlan, don't forget Myron Bolitar entirely!) to skillfully plot another great thriller about a missing person! Coben's newest is set in surburban New Jersey and NYC, and his hero is a social worker, Will Klein, whose life is a series of
tragedies. His old girlfriend was brutally murdered, his brother accused and disappeared for the last 11 years, his mother succumbs to cancer, and his girl, Sheila Rogers, disappears and is feared dead. Will enlists the help of his friend, Squares and Katy Miller, his first love's young sister.
He feels compelled to try to unravel what is happening, because the FBI and local law enforcement appear to be involved in a cover-up regarding his brother, Ken.
Squares is an enormously entertaining "yoga master" with a checkered past, and real devotion to his friendship with Will.
Another great character that Coben explores is John Asselta, a sociopathic acquaintance of Will's brother, known as "The Ghost". All in all, Will encounters a lot of evil events in his search for Ken, a search that ends in a group encounter in the last chapter that has more plot twists and turns than I've ever seen. Gone for Good is engrossing, well-written, and makes you care about Coben's main characters. The women in the book, unlike many suspense novels, are well-defined, and you care what happens to them. Coben succeeds, where others fail, at defining relationships while he builds suspense. Don't miss Coben's latest, it looks like it will top the charts for a good long while, and the only thing to criticize is the neon yellow dustjacket....although it is an improvement from "Tell No One's" deer hunter orange jacket! Get it, and get into it, as soon as you can!
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Secrets, Lies, Betrayal, and Love....., May 28, 2002
Three days before her death, my mother told me-these weren't her last words, but they were pretty close-that my brother was still alive..." So begins Harlan Coben's powerful and harrowing page-turner, Gone For Good. Narrated by Will Klein, the youngest son of a middle class New Jersey family, now working as the Director of Covenant House for runaway teens, he recounts the story of his popular and charismatic brother Ken, who eleven years ago vanished after being charged with the rape and murder of a neighborhood college girl. The Kleins always believed in his innocence, and after so much time passed without a word or clue, had come to the conclusion that Ken must be dead. This all changes when his mother's declaration sends Will on a search of the house where he finds a current picture of his brother hidden in his mother's bedroom. Now with the help of his girlfriend, Sheila, the love of his life, he's determined to find Ken, bring him back home, and clear his name. But his plan soon begins to unravel when Sheila disappears, and her fingerprints are found at a grisly murder scene two thousand miles away in New Mexico. With the help of Covenant House street friends, Will begins to connect the ghosts of the past with the puzzling events of the present, and uncovers secrets, lies, and betrayals that shake the very foundation of his family, and what they thought to be the truth..... Harlan Coben has done it again, written a suspenseful and compelling thriller that grabs you from page one and never lets go. This is a novel that has it all...an intricate story line full of twists, turns, and more than a few unexpected surprises; smart, clever, and eloquent writing with a real ear for dialogue; and intense, riveting, vivid scenes that set you on the edge of your seat and keep you there. But it's Mr Coben's original and marvelously well drawn cast of characters that makes this novel sparkle, and he is able to breathe life into even the most minor figures, and bring them to life on the page. With a stunning climax and very satisfying ending that ties up all the loose ends, Gone For Good is a roller coaster ride of a thriller that doesn't disappoint, and should definitely find its place at the top of mystery/thriller lovers "must read" lists.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Same plot, different characters, September 24, 2002
By A Customer
This is exactly the same premise and plot as "Tell No One", complete with the ueber-psycho hit man, a girlfriend who works with the homeless (really!), and a totally benevolent, gotta-love-him main character. Both of them were reasonably enjoyable page turners, but it was hard to enjoy what was essentially the same story. My best advice would be to pick one or the other (and they're both equally implausible, so flip a coin) and then don't read the other one.
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