The Woods.

Coben, Harlan (author).

Superstar thriller writer Coben has an uncanny knack for getting readers to care deeply about his main characters—fast. Maybe it’s that he often sets a metaphorical time bomb next to his main character’s head, or puts him in metaphorical quicksand on page 1, or introduces a conflict so gripping you can’t see how the hero can pull through. But Coben gets you tangled completely in his elaborate plots even before they really take off. In his latest, Coben uses the device of a very sympathetic character whose past threatens to engulf him at the outset. The hero, Paul Copeland, is an Essex County, New Jersey, prosecutor and a widower with a six-year-old daughter. The novel starts with two cops entering a school gym where Copeland is watching his daughter try to tumble. His own life tumbles when the cops lead him to the morgue, where he identifies a dead man whom he believed had been murdered, along with Copeland’s own sister, almost 20 years before. The murder that destroyed his parents and continually threatens Copeland’s psyche took place at a summer camp when a wealthy counselor slashed the throats of a series of victims. As Copeland is dealing with the reemergence of the long-ago trauma, he is also involved in prosecuting a group of rich fraternity kids for the rape of a stripper. Both cases place Copeland in increasing, heart-stopping danger. Another Coben gripper.