Just One Look by
Harlan Coben
pbk out November 04
(Orion)
at £6.99
Harlan Coben never disappoints, and this is no exception to that rule. On the
surface it looks like a fairly formulaic storyline. I bet you've heard this all before. A
woman is living a nice suburban life, with two kids and a devoted husband. Suddenly
something happens, and her husband disappears. The question is, has she really
known him at all? She has to discover the truth. Her problem is, she is out of her
depth, especially when a psychopathic ex-convict appears on the scene. Enter a
sinister gangster, who can help her out, for reasons of his own. And a law
enforcement officer, who is not all he seems. Even her closest friend behaves in a
way that could put her under suspicion. But Harlan Coben does something with this
material that takes it beyond the ordinary. And I am prepared to bet that you will not
figure it out until Coben lets you into the secret right at the end. With a few twists
and turns on the way.
Grace Lawson is the suburban housewife in question, whose marriage to Jack
is rock solid. Until she brings home some photos, amongst which is an old photo of a
group of young men and women. Jack is clearly in the picture. But what is it about
this that causes him to disappear as soon as Grace shows it to him? Grace has to delve
into Jack's past, and in doing so hopes to find her husband again. But Grace has a
past of her own. She has been one of the few survivors of a mass panic at a rock
concert where almost everyone else was crushed to death. One who died was the son
of gangster, Carl Vespa. Vespa has taken an interest in Grace's life since the tragedy,
and now, albeit reluctantly, she enlists his help. And that of his scary bodyguard
Cram. It turns out one of the girls in the picture is the sister of assistant US Attorney,
Scott Duncan. She had died years earlier in a fire. A fire that Duncan now suspects
was arson. So he convinces Grace that they are looking for the same answers. Even
if it leads to showing that Jack killed Duncan's sister. The conclusion is breathtaking.
Coben's writing never lets you down, nor does it ever let up. If ever a book is
"unputdownable", it's this one. You never know what's going to come next, and can't
quite figure it all out. Just when you think you may have an inkling of the truth,
Coben gives the story another twist. And you're hanging in the air again, with the
only option being to read on. Because you've just got to know how it can all be
resolved. Of course, just when you sit back at the end, thinking you've got it all pat,
be ready for the final twist. It's a good one.
(
Ian Morson
Author of Falconer books and short listed for 1999 Ellis Peters Historical Crime Dagger)
Just One Look by
Harlan Coben
