Matt Hunter and Olivia. Ex-con and ex-stripper. Good. ( )

The first of Coben's books I've read, I wasn't as impressed with it as I expected to be. I've heard such rave reviews of his writing. However, I've since read several of his other novels and have been blown away. ( )

This was my second Harlan Coben novel and I was not disappointed.
The author weaves a suspenseful story with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. At times this one was a little far fetched, like how a man can run and fight after being attacked with a stun gun.
The plot mainly concerns Matt, an unlikely ex-con who gets drawn into the seedy life of strippers. We follow him from NJ to Reno and back as his wife's past puts him in greater and greater danger. ( )

Gripping and suspenseful. ( )

It's like a study in "when bad things happen to good people-- but as in all of Coben's books that I have read, things are never what they seem on the surface. The plot unfolded and unfolded again, and again. And though there are bad guys in the story, Matt is not one of them, despite his past. I was rooting for him and for Olivia. ( )

Another great Harlan Coben book. He continues to not disappoint. The characters have depth and I feel myself creating relationships with them, which was difficult in this book with so many players. The story had a great plot with lots of twists and turns which you rarely saw coming. I love the suspense! ( )

***

I was absolutely bowled over by this book. The pace was incredible and I just couldn't put it down. Every chapter ends in a way that makes you want to know what happens next. And you will find out - but you have to wait. The author knows exactly where to break chapters and how long to cut away from them. I don't mean he uses the old "pulp" technique of ending a chapter with the hero or heroine in danger. I mean that he ends the chapter when something completely unexpected has happened and you want to know why, what and how. It can be as simple as the hero meeting (by pre-arrangement) the mother of some one he accidentally killed. Or seeing some one in a place where they shouldn't be. Just little things like that keep the readers on their toes. ( )

This was the first Harlan Coben I read and remains my joint favourite (together with Just One Look). It may just be that once I got used to his style the others didn't seem quite as good. But this one still still stands out in my mind. I loved the way he ended every chapter on a cliff-hanger. In itself this technique may not be that great - Coben' Amherst classmate, Dan Brown, does the same thing. But with Coben, the story seems to move a lot quicker.
David Kessler ( )

It took me a while to get into this one, but once the story really gets going, it's an exciting read. Many characters are too forced in their 'hipness' and the plot could be stronger. Fair overall. ( )

http://hollybooknotes.blogspot.com/20... ( )

The “Innocent” of Harlan Coben's title is Matt Hunter, an ordinary young man from New Jersey with a not so ordinary past. As a college student, Matt tried to break up a fight but ended up killing someone instead. Now an ex-con working as a paralegal, Matt believes that his luck has changed. He has reconnected with Olivia, a beautiful woman he knew in better times. The couple are expecting a baby and they are planning a dream home. But when Matt receives compromising pictures of Olivia and a strange man on his camera phone, his plans and what is left of his innocence disintegrate.

Harlan Coben is a modern master of noir, the dark genre in which violence, fate, and flawed character intertwine. On one level, Coben's convoluted plots are highly implausible, but on a deeper level they are the stuff of nightmare - irrational, arbitrary, and unrelenting. Coben plunges his readers directly into this nightmare, interweaving a handful of seemingly unrelated storylines that ultimately converge in a dramatic and violent conclusion. One involves Matt himself, another the murder of a nun who turns out to have breast implants, a third a desperate and underage girl from a foster home in Idaho. Also involved are two bent FBI agents and a policewoman mourning the father she lost to suicide. There are many threads stretching back to what happened years ago at a Nevada strip club ingloriously named the Eager Beaver. Good and bad guys converge in Reno, where many answers to the puzzle are unveiled.

Some readers have felt that Coben has been treading water with his last two outings, but this one should re-establish his credentials. ( )

Efficace, mais trop ethnocentré. Très peu de réflexion sur le contexte. Et toujours des policiers membres du FBI ou autre qui sont pourris. Bon, un peu court non? ( )

Gripping and suspenseful. ( )

Crime thrillers are not my thing but this one had me going. I wanted to read a Harlan Coben book after he was featured in The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200707...). ( )

Hunter went to prison because he accidentally killed someone. He tried to start over after releasing years later. There are a lot of twists and it is interesting but I did not find the ending dramatic enough. ( )

http://www.shvoong.com/books/1756121-... ( )

A quick page-turner. ( )

http://rivkat.livejournal.com/132405.... ( )

Accidentally kills a kid when trying to break up a fight. Years later when he's released from prison he returns home and faces suspicion when others begin to die. ( )

Reformed convict, murdered nun, search for adopted child's birth mother, crooked law enforcement. Very involved with a lot of characters and the subplots and characters were more interesting the main characters. ( )