Friday 4 October 2013

The Woods by Harlan Coben book review


Front Cover


The Woods by Harlan Coben book review

My friend lent me this book whilst I was on my holiday and it was my first Harlan Coben novel, but I was hooked from the off when he identifies the body of a boy he thought was already dead.  The plot centres around Paul Copeland, a county prosecutor whose sister was murdered at a Summer Camp years earlier along with four others and it is essentially his quest to find out what really happened, whilst trying to keep himself out of the frame for murder. 

Whilst concentrating on the twenty-year-old murder case, it also brings in Paul’s cases as a prosecutor (most notably a rape case) and the secret guilt that those who survived now have to live with.  The novel is peppered with more sub-characters who add flavour, but are not as well drawn as the main and I have to admit that I did work out who had killed Manolo Santiago quite quickly, but the twists and turns kept me fully engaged to the end.  Sadly, the ending did not feel in character and I was left feeling cheated by the main character.

Since reading The Woods, I have ordered a set of Harlan Coben novels to be getting along with.

 

An excellent murder mystery, but with a disappointing ending.                                       7.5/10

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