Customer Reviews
Nobody care about plot credibility anymore? - By: J. A. Harrison, 24 Aug 2008 
Reading a Harlan Coben is a bit like eating a Kentucky Fried Chicken zinger burger; a guilty pleasure, marvellousin the anticipation; a moment of rapture & 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) & 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 & 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 & 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 rakingin the cash, writing this tripe when he has a spare day or two (it's a short book with lots of very short paragraphs) & 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 - By: Big Jim, 22 Jul 2008 
I don't want to spoil the end so can't say too much, but suffice to say this is a gripping & 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 & 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 & 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, & has enough prestige within the industry to get off said treadmill & 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 itin just about one hit so it is a page turner all right, just not as good as previous works.
Has done better...... - By: Ivan Veall, 26 Jun 2008 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 & 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 suckedin from start to finish.
This, therefore, is a good example of that pace & has a number of the twists & turns that grab. Howeverin this case, they seem to rather too trite & 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 & I support much of the comments that have given more starts; I do not share their shade of rose tinted specs however!
debacle - By: Maurice Hill, 17 Jun 2008 
I am surprised by the 16 reviews I have read. Contrary to their lavish praise, this book is a great disappointment after the very good Tell No one & The Woods. The style is pulp fiction quality: simple phrases, witless dialogue, many one-sentence paragraphs for the hard of reading.
The plot is not as simple as some reviewers claim. Different plots, which cleverly come together at the end, are juggled all the way through, even switchingin the middle of chapters. Newcomers to this kind of fiction should start making notes on page one - but they may still be startled by the twists & turns, which is of course the author's laudable intention. However, the two climactic scenes are just laughable. To give a line by line exposure of the absurdities would spoil the surprises for new readers, but kids of 13 trying to write an adventure story for English homework would do well to ignore these episodes as models. I hope Coben's next novel will return to form.
Fasten The Seatbelt On Your Favorite Reading Chair And Get Ready For A Roller Coaster Of A Read! - By: bobbewig, 05 Jun 2008 
Hold Tight is definitely one of Harlan Coben's top three books -- & it may be his best yet! It is a book that grabs your attention from page one & never lets go until the last word on the last page. Hold Tight is largely plot-driven, although Coben's characters are mostly interesting & ones that people, & particularly parents, will be able to relate to. They are not characters, however, whose visual profiles came strongly to life for me. Further, if you have read Coben's Myron Bolitar series, I think you'll consider the characters of Mike Baye & his friend Mo to be pretty reminiscent of his characters, Myron Bolitar & his friend, Win. As I said, the strength of this book is its plot, not its character development. But what a plot it is! Basically, the book revolves around two story lines: (1) Mike Baye & his wife trying to deal with the increasing withdrawal of their 16-year-old son after a friend's suicide, & (2) a pair of brutal, seemingly unrelated killings, which serve to highlight the domestic troubles that ensue & draw the Baye family, their friends & neighborsin a sea of tragedy. In addition to Hold Tight's exciting plot, Coben wraps the story around the following highly relevant ethical questions that most parents have to wrestle with: How do you weigh a child's privacy against a parent's right to know? How do you differentiate normal teenage rebelliousness from out-of-control behavior? When & how do you intervene if suicidal signs appear? Be prepared to put off whatever you were planning to do once you start Hold Tight, as you won't want to put this book down. I highly recommend Hold Tight to all readers of exciting, suspenseful plot-driven thrillers.
