|

|
Adult Books - Fiction - General Fiction
| | |
The Innocent.
Coben, Harlan (author).
Apr. 2005. 416p. Dutton, hardcover, $26.95 (0-525-94874-0).
REVIEW.
First published March 1, 2005 (Booklist).
Thriller writer Coben (who has won the Edgar, the Shamus, and the Anthony Awards, the trifecta of mystery writing) specializes in adapting technology to new and terrifying uses. What Hitchcock did for the shower, Coben does for the cell phone. In his latest, a newly pregnant wife convinces her husband, Matt Hunter, who has severe though irrational misgivings, that they should buy a camera phone so they don’t miss a minute of parenthood. She leaves on a business trip, and quicker than you can think, “Photo incoming,” the husband receives an image of his wife with another man in a hotel room. Someone starts tailing the husband. A nun is murdered. The suspect is the devastated husband, Matt Hunter, because he accidentally killed another college student in a street brawl nine years before. Coben’s prologue, which traces young Matt Hunter from childhood through the moment on spring break when his life broke, sending him into prison for four years, succeeds in getting you to care deeply about his main character--and fast. The shadow of Matt’s past lends richness to his desperation to clear himself and to his agony that his newly reconstructed life may be ripped away. As usual with Coben, an intriguing start, hinging on one out-of-whack technological trick, hurtles into a fast-paced hunter-and-hunted drama. First-rate. Connie Fletcher
| |
|
| Click here to find more books by this author |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|