Stay Close Mass Market Author: Visit Amazon's Harlan Coben Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0451233964 | Format: PDF
Stay Close Mass Market Description
Review
“Packs a lot of surprises.”—People (4 Stars)
“The story is intense, the characters are interesting, and the writing is magnificent.”—The Huffington Post
“When everything explodes, the payoff is glorious. Stay Close is a perfect example of a master at the top of his game.”—The Associated Press
About the Author
Harlan Coben is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one previous novels, including the popular Myron Bolitar series. Seconds Away, his second novel for young adults, was published in September 2012. The winner of the Edgar®, Shamus, and Anthony awards, he lives in New Jersey.
- Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Signet; Reprint edition (February 12, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0451233964
- ISBN-13: 978-0451233967
- Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
With the exception of Miracle Cure, I've read all of Coben's adult audience books and enjoyed them all, albeit some more than others. This string of praise-worthy books has come to an end for me with Stay Close.
I won't provide a plot summary as this can be gotten from the Amazon Book Description above. I'll just say that Coben's latest standalone, which is set primarily in Atlantic City and the Pines Barrens in New Jersey, involves the violent intersection of several lives that are overshadowed by past events. Broadly speaking, this plot concept has been used by Coben in several of his other books and, though no longer very original, he succeeded in executing them quite well in the past. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Coben's ability to execute his plot concept in Stay Close left me pretty unfulfilled.
Overall, I consider Stay Close to be just an okay read -- at best. What makes me judge this book as "okay" (and not worse) is attributable to Coben's narrative skills and plot pacing, which kept me turning the pages at a brisk pace from beginning to end. Coben gets a lot credit from me on this point because I felt Stay Close had little else that deserves strong praise. In particular, I felt the plot execution lacked credibility and much excitement, and the characters were mostly thinly developed, unlikable, and failed to make me care what happens to them. And, while on the subject of characters, Coben's Ken and Barbie-like team of professional thugs came across to me as laughable and ridiculous and, as a consequence, unthreatening.
If you've been a long-time, loyal Coben fan you're likely going to want to read this book regardless of my review and other reviews giving Stay Close a three star rating or lower.
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