Tell No One - Harlan Coben

[UmaM]

Tell no one written by Harlan Coben is suspense filled thriller keeping twists and turns right until the last pages.

The plot line of the book rests on an event that would have happened in the past of the protagonists life. The Protoagonist Dr.Beck would have lost his wife 8 years ago under a mysterious circumstances. 8 years on, we find Beck still struggling to cope with the loss of his wife Elizabeth. When a anonymous mail lands in his box , exploding his already fragile world . Is his wife alive? Was the truth that he saw,understood all a elaborate coverup? why is he being hunted?what DID happen all those years ago forms the crux of the book.

Harlan Coben is a recent addition to my reader's list ( I can hear the gasp) , A friend of mine suggested Bolitaire series and I was hooked. As continuation of HC books, Tell No one was mildly disappointing to me.

The book had a strong premise but somehow the subsequent unraveling fritters out the advantage as it meanders through the predictable lines, following the established cliches as it reaches the climax. The book redeems itself in the final pages where the real twist is placed but would the reader plunge on till the end is the moot question.

Loss and coping with loss has often been a favourite theme of authors, HC explores the same in his own inimitable styles, where the book falls short would be on the construction of the plot. The situations that Beck finds himself in too flimsy, the extrication from it even flimsier. It reads like a hollywod plot rather than a well researched, well constructed book.

Another flaw if one might call it that is the lack of humor , Harlan almost always injected humor where least expected, a punchline or a situation that would elicit a guffaw or a gurgle of laughter, Tell no one fails in this department.

There are plethora of characters , for instance what was the point of featuring the guy in the forest when he has no bearing on the story and merely accounts as the pointer man.. A writer of HC caliber could be used the pointer/Red herring quite adroitly without standing out sorely.

On the whole, a slight twinge of disappointment , Hoping the next book restores HC back to my favorite list.

[Melekwe Anthony]

TELL NO ONE by HARLEN COBEN is of the finest suspence ever. This is in confirmation with Jeffrey Deaver's comment on the book.
Dr David Beck lost his wife 8yrs ago and was just starting to forget about her when he receives a mysterious email from the presumed deceased. 21lines and the "tell no one" warning.
Well, Dr beck soon finds out why the tell no one warning must be kept in mind. Soon the people who tried to kill his wife soon head for his life. A double trouble occurs when the Feds revisit the 8year old murder case of Kate Beck and suspect him for the murder.
Beck, a well-respected doctor is now on the run from the good guys and bad guys. He gets help from his sister and her julliet if I may, a lawyer TV star and a small band of drug dealers.
The question on every readers mind is "Will he survive?"