Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95930 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-06
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 588 pages

Review
"* 'If you read only one American novel this year make sure that it is this one' Sunday Express. * 'Coben's genius - and his most frustrating trick - is that he makes it all seem so obvious, then kicks your legs away before the end' FHM. * 'Harlan Coben always has a good tale to tell, and he knows how to present it with elegance, pace and loads of tension' Guardian. * 'One of America's top thriller writers. This is his best book yet' Daily Mirror"

Twenty years after his teenaged sister and three of her friends were murdered at their summer camp, a New Jersey prosecutor learns that one of the victims - and maybe more than one - may have walked away.Almost everyone Paul Copeland loves is gone. His mother took off years ago; his perfect wife died of cancer; his father went to his grave digging in the woods surrounding the old PLUS camp and telling Paul, "We still need to find her." In fact, nobody's ever found any more of Camille Copeland, than some bloody clothing. Three months after his father's death, a fresh corpse reopens the case with a jolt. Pressed by the NYPD to view the body found carrying his address, Paul's sure it's Gil Perez, even though he's supposed to have died in the woods two decades ago and his parents insist it's not him. The discovery is so shocking that Paul can barely keep his mind on his latest high-profile case: the prosecution of two frat boys for raping exotic dancer Chamique Johnson, who was invited to a party at their house and then assaulted. Maybe it's just as well if Paul is too distracted to bear down on the defendants, since their wealthy fathers are determined to cut him off at the knees by any means necessary, even if that means hunting for skeletons in his closet. EJ Jenrette goes after Paul with gusto. Considering his checkered family history, however, the ensuing revelations are a lot less resonant than they ought to be. And Coben's fondness for playing out twist after twist long after most tale-spinners would have packed it in makes his yarn seem urgent but not terribly consequential, because unlike most of the author's heroes (Promise Me, 2006, etc.), Paul never feels as if he's in real danger.All the surprises you'd expect from Coben, but a lot fewer thrills. (Kirkus Reviews)

Review
'This stand-alone thriller will keep him on the bestseller lists and assures him VIP treatment at this summer's Harrogate Crime Festival.' (Daneet Steffens TIME OUT )

'Coben is skilled at weaving this kind of mystery and keeps us guessing till the end' (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

'Coben's novels are becoming more and more popular with each release, and this one cements his reputation as a top-class mystery writer.' (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

'A powerful thriller' (SUNDAY EXPRESS )

'Coben is one of America's best thriller writers, and his touch doesn't desert him here' (THE LONDON PAPER )

'Coben will keep you guessing to the end' (NEWS OF THE WORLD )

'Perfect pace and precision tool plotting... The Woods will pick you up by the scruff of your neck and not put you down until you finish it' (Paul Connelly LONDON LITE )

'A cracking thriller that whizzes along at top speed' (DAILY EXPRESS )

'A plot which is satisfyingly thick in a story that produces shocks and twists by the cartload. Writing so taut it almost twangs' (DAILY SPORT )

'Harlan Coben has never been hotter...his latest mystery The Woods is published to widespread adulation' (METRO )

'The Woods is completely unputdownable - and this summer's must read book!' (PETERBOROUGH EVENING TELEGRAPH )

'Coben's innate ability to tell a story that is exhilarating, absorbing, uplifting and poignant without his ever revealing the strings he uses in order to pull at the emotions. All in all, this is a superb read and deserves every ounce of success it is guaranteed to receive.' (CRIME TIME )

'A gripping thriller' (THE WORKS )

'As it shifts between first and third-person narrative, the novel powers on relentlessly and carries the reader with it. A page-turner with a crocodile bite.' (SHOTS )

'Another wonderful, wonderful Coben' (SOUTHAMPTON DAILY ECHO )

'A compulsive read' (BOLTON NEWS )

'Gripping' (BELFAST NEWS LETTER )

'The Woods is a story where nothing is as it seems and is a compulsive read.' (IRISH EXAMINER )

'A story that keeps you guessing to the very end... a thoroughly good read.' (THE AMERICAN )

'Wonderful idiomatic dialogue, pithy characters and ever-surprising plotting' (GOOD BOOK GUIDE )

'An enjoyable read' (IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY )

NEWS OF THE WORLD
'Coben will keep you guessing to the end'

Customer Reviews

Superb.... could not put it down.
Was gripped from the first page... wonderful book. Fantastic twists and turns,even up to the last page, though I do question why Paul had an issue with Lucy at all on the last page, as she did no more (in fact far less !!!!) that his sister and SHE was embraced back into the fold, even living with him. So I did feel like saying to him on the last page... get over yourself, and just marry her !!!

The past is never finished: Harlan Coben's The Woods
'I see my father with that shovel.'

Harlan Coben opens his bestselling crime novel The Woods with this disturbing recollection. Significantly it is 'that shovel' and as we accompany the protagonist 'Cope' through his difficult confrontations with his past, which is fraught with betrayals, Soviet barbarism, mistaken identity and death, we gradually realise how ironically appropriate the opening line might be. What is the father digging for? Who is his trying to resurrect bone by bone? Actions are metaphors for life itself.

For Paul Copeland (a county Prosecutor) finds 'seeing' profoundly challenging. There are so many secrets past and present, that his whole identity about who is is comes under savage scrutiny. Deceit is ubiquitous. Blindness is survival, yet self-destruction. The price of being Lazarus is high indeed!

Coben is superb at layering his novels in terms of plot and he renders the lives of his characters surreal. Like an archaelogical dig(first line again) The Woods visits and then revisits the past proving that any apparent fact, any assumption can be placed in jeopardy through a moment's revelation.

There is something very solid and enduring about Coben's narrative here and character and place are given enough 'reality' to persuade and support the changing possibilities of the intricate plot. The protaganonist has a dependable foil called 'Muse(!!) and the writing style is polished and assured.

Enough to say that 'everything connects' and the final pages of the novel still holds out an element of surprise with a somewhat ambiguous ending.

A very entertaining and quite creepy read I have to admit. The Woods raises the spectre of summer camp slasher horror very subtly and it lingers!!

Hard to put down
I'm not really into crime fiction (and the recommendation from Dan Brown on the cover didn't help) but I decided to give it a go. This is the first Harlan Coben book I've read and I really enjoyed it. The plot twists and turns and the characters are well written.
The plot was fast paced and, as I've said, enough twists to keep me reading. I'll certainly be looking out for more of Cobens books.