Book Review: Caught by Harlan Coben

Caught by Harlan Coben

Publisher: Dutton

Publish Date: January 1, 2010

Hardcover, 400 pages

My Review:
Tell No One was my first Harlan Coben novel and I read it 2-3 years ago.  I found it at a yard sale and had no clue who Harlan Coben was.  Needless to say I fell in love with that book.  I read it in one sitting and have read each of his stand-alone new releases since then.  So of course I grabbed Caught when it came out (I was third on the library list).

Caught did not disappoint. This is one of those great stories that shows how things and people that are seemingly very different can be linked to each other.  It was a non-stop thrill ride and if I didn't have two kids now and a busy spring season I would have read this in one season.  Coben does not disappoint. 

Caught has a great plot and interesting characters.  I didn't like Wendy to begin with, but she fully redeemed herself in my eyes and became a very likable character.  I also loved the fact that I never could quite figure out where the book was going.  I would think I had it figured out and then Mr. Coben threw another twist at me.  If you like fast-paced suspense with lots of twists and turns then Harlan Coben's Caught is for you. 


My Rating: 4.25/5.0
About the Book:
Wendy is a reporter on a mission: She's chasing down the lowest of the low-sexual predators-and exposing them on national television. Her big break comes when she nails a child advocate who works with abused and underserved children. She's there, cameras rolling, when the cops cuff him and the guy realizes his life is well and truly over.

Three months later, the perp is off the grid, missing and presumed dead after the father of a victim claims to have killed him. Wendy, proud to have taken the man down in front of a shocked television audience, has moved on to the story of a missing girl, Erin, in a nearby suburb. The whole country is obsessed with finding this child, and Wendy should be well on her way to journalistic superstardom.

Then is all comes unhinged: Wendy gets a phone call that changes everything. A group of local fathers, out of work and not above vigilante justice, begins to take matters into their own hands on Erin's behalf. Secrets long-buried rise to the surface and Wendy begins to wonder if her assumptions that fateful night three months ago were based on solid investigative journalism-or if she has unwittingly been part of a grand manipulation aiming to destroy an innocent man.

About the Author (from Goodreads.com):
International bestselling author Harlan Coben's last seven novels, The Woods, Promise Me, The Innocent, Just One Look, No Second Chance, Gone for Good, and Tell No One have appeared at the top of all the major bestseller lists, including The New York Times, Book Sense, The Times (London), Le Monde, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as many others throughout the United States and the world. His most recent book The Woods (2007) was a bestseller on lists across the country including USA Today, Publishers Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Nielsen Bookscan and Entertainment Weekly. Promise Me and The Woods were both named one of the best thrillers of the year by Library Journal. Coben's books are published in 38 languages and have 40 million copies in print world wide. His new novel, Hold Tight, will be published in the U.S. on April 15, 2008.
In his first books, Coben immersed himself in the exploits of sports agent Myron Bolitar. Critics loved the series, saying, "You race to turn pages...both suspenseful and often surprisingly funny" (People). After seven whodunit books Coben moved away from Myron Bolitar. "I came up with a great idea that simply would not work for Myron," says Coben. The result was the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller Tell No One, which has been credited by many as reinventing the thriller and which became the most decorated thriller of 2001 Ð nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, a Macavity, a Nero, and a Barry; winner of the Audie award for Best Audio Mystery/Suspense Book; and a #1 hardcover book on the Book Sense 76 list. Coben followed the success of Tell No One with the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers Gone For Good (2002), No Second Chance (2003), Just One Look (2004) , The Innocent (2005), Promise Me (2006) and The Woods (2007).

Coben's unique take on the American dream has struck an international chord. Bookspan, recognizing his broad appeal, named No Second Chance its first ever International Book of the Month in 2003.

Since 1995, Harlan Coben has won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, the Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus Award, and the Anthony Award Ð the first writer to win all three. In 2004 he was shortlisted for the Author of the Year Award for the British Book Awards, dubbed "The Oscars of the Book Trade." He was the first American to make the list.

Tell No One, Coben's first stand alone novel, was released as a film in France in 2006. A runaway smash, Tell No One has grossed over $32 million in France and Variety called the film, "a sharp, efficient package." Tell No One was directed by Guillaume Canet (Mon Idole), and features an all-star cast including Kristin Scott Thomas (Gosford Park), Nathalie Baye (Catch Me If You Can), and Marie-Josée Croze (Munich). The movie will be released in theaters in the US in the summer of 2008. FOX TV has purchased the rights to Coben's popular Myron Bolitar series for a pilot by Bones creator-executive producer Hart Hanson.

A graduate of Amherst College, Harlan Coben was born and raised in New Jersey, where he still lives with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben. Harlan and Anne have four young children and two dogs.

FTC Information: I checked this book out from the library.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.