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October 29, 2017

Random thoughts on two Harlan Coben novels

Cover -amazon.in

                                            I am slowly, but surely becoming a huge fan of Coben. Last week, I finished reading two of his domestic thrillers.Caught (2010) and Hold Tight (2008). I must say that that both the books were gripping, fast paced and truly entertaining. While the former is about a 17 year old girl (who has suddenly gone missing) and a TV sting that has gone horribly wrong , the latter is about the sinister secrets harboured by a teenage boy and also deals with themes like abuse of prescription drugs, teenage suicide topically. While the plotting of Caught is quite similar to Coben's previous works, Hold Tight is a marked departure from his usual style.What make both these works quite different from the usual thrillers is the fact that they both deal with quite relevant issues and that too in a fast paced and quite entertaining manner.
                             'Caught' starts off with an innocent man getting falsely implicated in a crime which he never did ,but the book is a lot more than that.Infact a lot of things happen in this 300+ page tale. A girl mysteriously disappears , a T.V reporter is on the run trying hard to prove a point, and there is also a group of men caught in a very tricky situation.The narrative is fast paced and there is never a dull moment but towards the end ,we get a feeling that the writer tried to pack in a whole lot of things in quick succession.There are twists galore in the end and before the reader can fully assimilate the first one, there comes the second one, the next and so on. On the whole, the work is a pretty good, entertaining read!
                         'Hold tight' follows the pattern of the typical Coben domestic thrillers.There is this family who are happily living the American dream and then suddenly they discover that their son (Adam) is harbouring a sinister secret. He starts behaving in a weird way and the panicked parents (Mike and Tiya) install a spyware in his computer.Soon the boy disappears and 'Hold Tight' is all about their race against time to get their son back.The book also deals with the many unethical practices existing in the field of health care and drug trade. On the whole,a truly gripping thriller!

-nikhimenon

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