Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5649 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-17
• Released on: 2008-04-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
'Harlan Coben is a member of that select group of American writers, which includes Michael Connelly and James Patterson, whose fans hungrily await each publication. Hold Tight is that perfect piece of work - a book to pick up at the airport with the promise of an exciting holiday read.'

Review
'Like all Coben's work, it's slick and skillfully assembled' (SUNDAY TIMES )

'One of the most consistently brilliant thriller writers, Coben delivers again with Hold Tight' (DAILY MAIL )

'Bypass Grisham for American crime writer Coben' (GQ )

'[A] superior thriller... Hold Tight, as the title suggests, provides a rollercoaster ride, full of twists and turns, which explores the fireceness of paternal love.' (EVENING STANDARD )

'This novel exudes the sort of high-grade glossy competence that characterises a good Agatha Christie story or an episode of The Sopranos. And that's a considerable compliment.' (Andrew Taylor THE SPECTATOR )

'When a thriller writer starts trading on 'ishoos' it's generally a sign of trouble at the creative mill. Not here.' (DAILY TELEGRAPH )

'This thrilling book will have you hooked' (BELLA )

'Coben's 17th novel reads like a checklist of contentious societal ills: gun crimes, substance abuse and modern parenting techniques all feature in a plot that, like many of his thrillers, underlines how easily fate and confusion can conspire to induce tragedy.' (ESQUIRE )

'An irresistibly fluid narrative drive and more twists than a box of corkscrews, help make Hold Tight another masterwork from one of crime fiction's most accomplished writers.' (YORKSHIRE EVENING POST )

'Vintage Coben' (IRISH INDEPENDENT )

'Coben is still one of America's masters of the hook, the twist and the surprise ending.' (LITERARY REVIEW )

'Turn off the phone, turn off the PC and prepare to be sucked in.' (WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY )

'an excellent psychological thriller... If, like me, you have been waiting with baited breath for the new Harlen Coben book - Hold Tight will not disappoint.' (CRIME SQUAD )

'Once started there's no way it will remain unfinished' (LONDON LITE )

'Hold Tight is one of his [Coben's] finest stand-alone novels, demonstrating his quiet skill at orchestrating tension... This is vintage Harlan Coben, and a cinematic adaptation (French or otherwise) is bound to follow.' (GOOD BOOK GUIDE )

'Harlan Coben is a member of that select group of American writers, which includes Michael Connelly and James Patterson, whose fans hungrily await each publication. Hold Tight is that perfect piece of work - a book to pick up at the airport with the promise of an exciting holiday read.' (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS )

ESQUIRE
'Coben's 17th novel reads like a checklist of contentious societal ills: gun crimes, substance abuse and modern parenting techniques all feature in a plot that, like many of his thrillers, underlines how easily fate and confusion can conspire to induce tragedy.'

Customer Reviews

Nobody care about plot credibility anymore?
Reading a Harlan Coben is a bit like eating a Kentucky Fried Chicken zinger burger; a guilty pleasure, marvellous in the anticipation; a moment of rapture and then a longer period of 'gee,. I wish I hadn't done that.'

Contrary to the gushing reviews on here, it should be pointed out that this book is rubbish! I mean, it's well-written rubbish, sickeningly addictive (back to the KFC) and read at one sitting, but as a piece of fiction, it is utter pants. The number of ludicrous co-incidences needed here; the absurd denouement, the revelation of who is behind all the mayhem - sort of. All of it is nonsense. It's Footballer's wives type nonsense, so bad it's funny.

We have two major crimes - one drugs, the other a really bizarre set of murders - affecting a very small and interwoven group of very rich residents of Newark; both crimes involve serious criminals - including a psychopathic killer. So far, so silly, I mean what are the chances of this two things happening to the same people at the same time, but then it just keeps getting worse. The psycho is killing people for the most ridiculous reason. I got to that bit of plot explanation and just giggled.

Coben has a tendency to over-twist, but this is not that sophisticated. It's just bad; inconsistent and, in it's deification of rather obnoxious, wealthy, middle-class parents who do fairly revolting things, a bit creepy. (But heh, the main guy - heart surgeon - loves his sports.)

However lots of people on a British sales site are giving it five stars. Harlan can keep raking in the cash, writing this tripe when he has a spare day or two (it's a short book with lots of very short paragraphs) and putting recommendation after recommendation on the covers of other people's books that lack even his admittedly breathless style.

I'll read the next one probably because everyone likes a KFC from time to time don't they? But patience with Coben, in my case, is at breaking point. He's never written strong plots, but this takes things from 'not strong' to downright terrible.

Good book let down by the ending
I don't want to spoil the end so can't say too much, but suffice to say this is a gripping and multi layered book until about two thirds of the way through when there is a huge plot hole which makes the ending just too trite and obvious. I get the impression that Coben has got himself onto a treadmill that means that good ideas (and the basic premise of this book is excellent)are just not explored sufficiently and he ends up having to rush us into a satisfying conclusion to meet a publication deadline. If he is happy to churn books out like this then fine, but I would like to think he has a bit more about him, and has enough prestige within the industry to get off said treadmill and take a bit of time to craft a more satisfying piece of work which with his talents should be eminently possible.

Having said all that I still got through it in just about one hit so it is a page turner all right, just not as good as previous works.

Has done better......
Having been fortunate enough to stumble across Harlan Coben a number of years ago, I have enjoyed every single one of his books, whether the standalone stories or the Myron Bolitar series. He has a comfortable way of creating atmosphere, characters and settings, yet is never too far away from smashing that with some form of brutal act of unexpected twist. There is also a pace to his stories that tends to keep you sucked in from start to finish.

This, therefore, is a good example of that pace and has a number of the twists and turns that grab. However in this case, they seem to rather too trite and some rather fortunate occurences, not least of which is someone rather fortuitously being recognised off some CCTV that just happens to have become available which effectively brings the whole ensemble to a conclusion. Too many close coincidences, too many secrets from the past shared out amongst people who are all neighbours means that I found this to be a little too hurriedly put together compared to virtually all of his other books. It is however a compelling read and I support much of the comments that have given more starts; I do not share their shade of rose tinted specs however!