User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to all the people who commented on my review of Fool Me Once and told me I should have been reading this one instead - you were absolutely right!
I thought this was a great thriller. The exciting premise hooked me instantly, and a combination of fast-pacing, twists, and character dynamics kept me interested until the very last page. I now see why Coben is such a well-loved writer; Tell No One is an addictive wild ride that keeps opening up more and more questions until, suddenly, it all comes together.
I'm actually really fascinated by the mystery/thriller writing process. Especially the ones where an author can successfully pull off surprising twists without any deus ex machina. Here, Coben doesn't pull out any extraneous info at the last minute to make his mystery work. In fact,
he hides all his clues in plain sight, so when he eventually reveals all, you realise all the pieces were there all along, and yet he had somehow managed to conceal them by the intricacy of the plot. Fabulous.
Tell No One is the story of Dr. David Beck and his wife, Elizabeth, who was murdered eight years ago. In the present, two things happen to disturb the facade of normality David has built for himself - 1) He receives a strange email leading him to believe Elizabeth might be alive, and 2) The case is reopened by a discovery at the murder scene. Suddenly, David is forced to question again what happened all those years ago and, what's more, he may even be the lead suspect in the murder investigation.
Old secrets come to light and, of course, the truth is so much more than anyone could have imagined!
Having now read this, I can see how Coben has inspired other mystery/thriller writers since. I can see his influence even in Stephen King's writings, and there's especially a number of similarities between this and the new B.A. Paris book - Bring Me Back - but this one was done FAR better, in my opinion.
Anyway, I really enjoyed it. I'll happily take more Coben recommendations.
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Rating: really liked it
5/5 stars.
Harlan Coben strikes again.
This book teaches us the power of love. Sometimes I tend to believe that there is no such thing as "true love." Maybe not, maybe yes. I don't know. But what are books for? For experiencing things that you do not experience in your reality. I'm experiencing another person's reality. And in this book, the love between Beck and Elizabeth was outstanding. Despite the difficulty, despite the shit the world offers us, this little magic called "love", still remains in the heart.
I admire Beck. He's not perfect, he's not the smartest, he's not the fastest, not the best. And that's what makes him human. That's what makes the plot, despite all the crap that the writers put in to make the book thrilling and exciting- realistic.
It does happen in life, to unlucky people, I guess. But sometimes it's easy to forget that the books, movies and TV shows we watch or read, with all the horrors and the chasing and the tension, do happen in reality.
Highly recommended!
Rating: really liked it
“Don't tell me I'm young. Don't tell me it'll get better. Don't tell me she's in a better place. Don't tell me it's part of some divine plan. Don't tell me that I was lucky to have known such a love. I kept hearing that "better to have loved and lost" bullshit. Another falsehood. Trust me, it is not better. Don't show me paradise and then burn it down” Eight years ago David Beck was knocked unconscious and left for dead, his wife Elizabeth was kidnapped and murdered. One evening Dr Beck receives an anonymous email telling him to log on to a website. The screen opens to a live web cam feed - and on the screen he sees Elizabeth.
As Beck tries to find out if Elizabeth is really alive, and what truly happened the night she disappeared, the FBI are on his case, trying to pin Elizabeth's murder on him. And everyone he turns to….ends up dead.
This was a great page turner of a read. The storyline is well constructed, full of twists and turns, carrying you along in the sweep of its path - not letting up for one moment. The characters are realistic, the plot well thought out and I liked the fact that the story is more about the characters than the police procedural aspect. However, if you don't like time line switches, and first to third person narratives, you might find this one a tad annoying.
This was my second Harlan Coben. A quick easy read. I highly recommend.
Rating: really liked it
OH MY LORD! Coben delivers again!! I'm always left in awe after reading one of his mysteries and this time I was thrown all over the place!
This is truly a spine tingling, fast paced, game changing novel. It was such a page turner that I stayed up late to finish it, I just had to know what happened!
This book is awesome. It begins with Beck and his wife at the lake for their anniversary. The night begins nicely for the couple until Elizabeth's scream pierces the air and Beck is attacked. When he wakes he is told his wife is..... Dead.
Eight years later Beck is at work and gets a strange email..... And from there the chase is on. Is Elizabeth dead or not? Beck goes from being a doctor to knocking down cops in the matter of one day.
Coben has a way of pulling every single character in the book back to one event... He knows how to pull them back in like a magnet.
I swear Coben is one of the best authors I've read. The books are thrilling, page turners and I can't get enough of them. Sometimes I have to go back and reread parts to make sure I got them right.
I highly recommend this book. You will love it!
Rating: really liked it
When a man receives a mysterious email from his deceased wife, he sets out on a quest for answers. One of the all-time great thrillers.
Rating: really liked it
“Sex is for anyone; the aftermath is for lovers.”
― Harlan Coben, Tell No One
My second Coben, and apparently his first non Myron Bolitar book, has an interesting premise about a supposed kidnapping and murder of the protagonist wife by a serial killer being maybe not all it seems! As soon as I opened the first page I was already missing Myron Bolitar ...but this book once again is of a easy read nature and a much more satisfying read than the likes of James PattersonJames Patterson's say. 6 out of 12.
2008 read
Rating: really liked it
I had never read anything by Harlan Coben and had heard he was a good mystery/suspense writer. I disagree. This book was horrible. I almost gave it NO stars, BUT, to my own discredit, I WAS sucked in to the plot and kind of wanted to keep reading it. However, all along, I noticed the bad writing, the improbable plot twists which never seemed to end, and the completely contrived situations to help set up those plot twists. For example, having Dr. Beck take care of and befriend a black thug drug dealer's son only so that this same black thug could be his back up man later on? Wow, that was SO predictable and so lame. Then the whole idea of his wife's disappearance being turned on it's head just did NOT seem realistic. If they were so in love and so in tune, I just don't think it would have happened the way it did... that she'd hide all this from him. And more kept getting revealed to switch EVERYTHING around up til the very last page! It was as if Coben was paranoid that not enough excitement existed in the book so he had to keep throwing stuff at the book, everything but the kitchen sink. I will stick with the one star for suspense, but NO STARS for everything else: corny dialogue, silly plot, predictable plot.... and on and on.
Rating: really liked it
The definition of an "airport book".
Rating: really liked it
Dr. David Beck and his wife Elizabeth are the kind of couple that is so perfect that most of us would hate them. They met when they were little kids and they’ve been in love ever since. They’ve got cute little code phrases like ‘kiss time’ that marks their first smooch, which they know to the minute, of course.
So when a super happy couple like this has an anniversary to celebrate, they wouldn’t think of doing anything as pedestrian as maybe going out for a nice dinner with a couple of cocktails and then returning home to sit on the couch in their sweat pants and watch
The Big Bang Theory. Instead, they drive out to the lakeside cabin to the spot of their first kiss which they commemorate by reenacting the event and then marking another notch into the tree they carved their initials into the first time they swapped saliva.
If this isn’t enough, then they go down to the lake for a little moonlight skinny dipping and bow-chick-a-bow-wow. At this point, even the marketing people who come up with those romantic commercials that try to convince people to buy blood diamonds to celebrate their love are gagging and saying, “Oh, come on! That’s too much!”
Apparently a serial killer observed these proceedings and was so sickened by their public displays of affection that he kidnapped and killed Elizabeth after bonking David on the head. 8 years later and David is still in mourning for the lost love of his life. As the police make a grisly discovery near the scene of Elizabeth’s abduction that calls the official version of events into question, David gets a mysterious email that prompts him to an on-line video feed in which he sees something shocking. David finds himself wrapped up in a dangerous conspiracy as he tries to learn what really happened to his wife.
This is OK as far as thrillers go. It’s got a nice hook to it, but like a lot of these types of story, the plot twists eventually take a turn into pure outlandishness. Plus, I read Coben’s newer book
Six Years recently, and that one also involves a man trying to unravel a mystery regarding his lost love so even though this one came first, it seemed more than a little repetitive to me.
This book works very, very hard to convince you that the two lovebirds were truly soul mates. I guess Coben has to really sell that idea so that you’d believe that anyone would risk their lives to find the truth so I get why he writes it like that. It still makes them unbelievable characters because they’re just too perfect as a couple, and that prevented me from fully buying in to the story.
So far I prefer his Myron Bolitor series a lot more than the stand-alone thrillers of his I’ve read.
Rating: really liked it
Beck and his wife Elizabeth make their annual stop at Lake Charmaine where they carve a notch into a tree where they first kissed years ago. Later they swim in the lake and make love. Beck stays in the lake while Elizabeth swims ashore. Beck then hears a car door slam, he hears Elizabeth scream, and he sees her disappear into the semi-darkness of the night. When he quickly swims back to shore and climbs onto the dock he is hit a few times with a baseball bat and falls back into the water. He is told later that he supposedly came out of the water and called an ambulance for help. Elizabeth is missing and later is found dead on the side of a road days later.
Eight years later…
Beck is a pediatrician at a Washington Heights Clinic. One day he gets a message on his computer, a phrase only he and his wife know. A web link is attached to the email…in it he sees what appears to be Elizabeth in a webcam on a street, looking at him and saying she is sorry. She sends him another email, ending with “They’re watching. Tell no one.” Could it be possible that Elizabeth is still alive? After eight years? Beck never ID’d her body, her father did. Looking for answers Beck gets some help from his friends. But suddenly he is also being framed for the murder of Elizabeth! It seems two dead bodies of men have been discovered that were buried at Lake Charmaine, along with a baseball bat. The FBI is convinced that Beck did it. Now Beck is on the run, from the FBI and the police.
This was a very captivating read even though I didn't like how the book ended...I found it a bit confusing. I liked Beck's friends that helped him out along the way, like Tyrese, a drug dealer from the streets. This was a fast-paced read with some really evil bad guys (Asian Wu with his killer hands) and lots of action and suspense.
Rating: really liked it
This kept me on the edge of my seat while I was reading it. A clear 4 star but once I finished and thought about it few things really irked me like why it all come out eight years later or why someone with latest technology at their disposal was outsmarted by someone working in third world. I know it is a matter of interest but David behaved foolishly initially. So a 3 star rating instead of 4.
Rating: really liked it
With Coben, it's very hard to review a book without mentioning spoilers. If I wrote what I want to write, my review would look like a heavily redacted top secret file. So, I will just hit on some key points:
- Coben does it again! Very mysterious and entertaining. If you like other Coben, you will lime this.
- Sometimes confusing. Not to bad, just part of all the twists and turns Coben always throws in.
- Great characters. Not too complex, in fact they are basically caricatures, but really fun to see how they all take part in the story.
- Stand-alone - you can read this without reading any other Coben first.
Summary: fun, intriguing, suspenseful, mysterious, and recommended for anyone who likes their mysteries with shocking twists and turns.
Rating: really liked it
Oh no! I've just rated a Harlan Coben book only three stars! I found it hard to give time to this book as it's a busy time of year and a busy household. Of course this has nothing to do with the book. I liked this one, didn't love it, and only really wanted to see what happened. I didn't love the ending, there was so much going on. Maybe I had to think too hard! I still think he's an amazing writer. Can't love them all, huh?!
I really do like his work:
"We all do it. If you cross the street to avoid a gang of black teens, you're racial profiling; if you see the gang and think nothing whatsoever, you're from some planet I've never visited."
"Old men stand at the corner and whinge about the day. Women carrying too many bags. Kids who probably should have been in school leaned against whatever was available, some cooler than the next."I'll be on the prowl for more of his books as a matter of priority though!
Rating: really liked it
“The sun was now in its death throes, bruising the sky a coiling purple and orange.”
This book is unbelievably awesome. First of all, I'd like to say that I had avoided reading it for too long until I had a chance to try it, then I couldn't putting it down even I had a lot of work this week. Tell No One has a straightforward narration. We believed wholeheatedly about what the author tried to tell, but after that, he revealed a distrustful evidence making us reconsider our thought again and again till the end. And this is what makes the book so special for me.
“Memories, you see, hurt. The good ones most of all.”
I enjoyed Harlan Coben's writing style so much. He surprsied me with many twists, and the whole plot was thoroughly planned. In my opinion, I do think that Tell No One is the best crime book I've ever read since I last picked Before I Go to Sleep in 2014. Coben successfully stuck me with the emotion that left me wanting to read crime novels again this year. And now I'm irrevocably a fan of him !
“Don't show me paradise and then burn it down”
David Beck is a multidimensional character even though he presented the flat one for the first few chapters. After he digs into the evidences of his wife and is aware that maybe she's still alive, the book leaps to the highest tempo because of his mind and my suspicion that craving some answers, and you have no idea how much that feeling hit my brain so many times until I promised my self I had to finish this book before midnight. Tell No One also has thrilling vibes and action scens, too, so you don't have to worry that it will bore you to death.
After I finished Tell No One, I have to tell EVERYONE about how amazing this book is. Harlen Coben will be the first author, from now on, when I think of crime novels, I'll pick his other books without hesitation.
4.5 stars for this mind-blowing and cunning book !
Thai review : https://goo.gl/ddz2jc
Rating: really liked it
This is a fantastic book - much better than I thought it would be, too. The best part - and a very pleasant surprise, indeed - was the 20-30 minute interview Harlan Coben does at the end. It is a first for me, and I loved hearing about his life - how he first got into writing, going to Starbucks every morning in his pajamas, why he was named Harlan, his kids, his wife's career as a pediatrician, and, of course, his writing process, and more...
Ed Sala did a rock solid job as solo narrator. He was perfect as the voice of (main character) Dr. David Beck. His accents are also flawless.
