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Summary: Fast-paced thrill ride and all-around fun read
Review: Harlan Coben weaves yet another thrilling tale following his great title "Tell No One". I was drawn to this book "No Second Chance" after hearing a few friends tell me what a good writer Coben is. The talk was not just hype, Coben writes a masterfully suspenseful edge-of-your-seat thriller. It is a fast-paced story that manages to keep you intrigued and guessing for all of its 300+ pages. Let me tell you a few things that may help you make up your own mind about "No Second Chance": Coben grabs your attention from the VERY FIRST SENTENCE ("When the first bullet hit me I thought of my daughter.") - What a way to start a book! The story grabs you and does let go until the thrilling (and surprising) conclusion. The main character has had his wife killed, himself shot to near death, and his daughter kidnapped. The prime suspect? The cops think HE is behind everything. He must stay one step ahead of the cops while trying to keep from falling behind the true criminals. Coben combines characters that are cops, ex-FBI, lawyers, kidnappers, and international black market child-sellers and does it all masterfully. Pick this book up and you likely won't be able to put it back down until it's over. It's a very entertaining read.
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Summary: ANOTHER COBEN WINNER-BEST SELLER FOR SURE
Review: Harlan Coben (Gone for Good, Tell No One, the Myron Bolitar series) has written some fantastic thrillers, but his latest, No Second Chance, is far and away the best. I won't repeat the plot summaries above, let me simply say that this book was so engrossing I couldnt put it down. Make sure you start reading it early in the day, or like me you will be up to 4 am finishing it. I am also drawn to Coben's books by his richly drawn characters. There are no stock figures or stereotypes in this book-every character is multilayered, with levels of good and evil, and yet each real in his or her own way. Figuring out who's helping the book's lead character Marc Seidman and who is not drove me crazy, but in a good, absorbing way that I wish other whodunit readers would learn from. My favorite characters of Coben in the past included Win, Esperanza, Lou and Nina, but this book has given me a couple (I wont name them so I don't spoil your fun) to move to the top of the list. Great story, great characters, mesmerizing read. Dont miss this book!
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Summary: A bit convoluted...both an intriguing mix of ethics and love
Review: Coben may not be the best at this stuff, but I keep reading his books (another 3 word title--another 30ish NJ doctor with family and relationship issues). However, it is impossible not to like Dr. Marc Seidman. The book's plot is a bit convoluted--but not so crazy that you want to scream like Gone for Good (which oddly I still enjoyed). It was fun to see the return of Joe Pistillo, if even for a moment. The characters in here were nicely drawn. The themes of love, family, loss and the choices we resonate. It is good read and not an easy (as in neat and clean) end. Might be Coben's best to date.
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Summary: You'll get a 2nd chance but buy it now anyway
Review: This book although not as fast paced as Coben's former independent novels or the Myron Bolitar series, is still a great five star rated piece of literary brilliance. Dr Marc Seidman is a brilliant plastic surgeon who helps kids from poorer countries reconstruct their faces which have been injured in war or deformed from birth. When not overseas he lives the ideal life with his wife and baby daughter Tara. That life is cut short however when he awakens from a coma after having been shot in his own house where his naked wife was found dead and his baby daughter not found at all. His rich stepfather then receives a note demanding two million dollars be delivered by Marc alone immediately, he is not to tell the police or he will never see Tara again. The note clearly states that there will be no second chance. This is a sensational thriller with many twists and turns in the plot. The reader is given the option of trying to work out who shot Marc and his wife and took Tara or to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Another Coben classic. Also read Tell No One and Gone for Good which are masterpieces along with the Bolitar series.
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Summary: Much more than I expected, but not as much as I'd hoped.
Review: Harlan Coben, No Second Chance (Dutton, 2003) Harlan Coben checks in with his ninth novel, No Second Chance. With all the publicity surrounding his last novel, Coben has become something of a household name in the Internet comunity, but the larger non-hardcore-mystery-reading book community has probably never heard the name. I'd like to say that No Second Chance will be the book that will change all that, but it probably won't. Not to say it isn't a good, solid read. Marc Seidman, his wife Monica, and their six month old daughter Tara live in New Jersey, not far from New York City. They are not the perfect family, but they get along, like most families do. That is, until one night when Marc is standing at the kitchen sink eating a granola bar and takes two shots. He wakes up twelve days later in the ICU, his bedside flanked with a nurse and a police detective. From the two of them, he learns that his wife is dead, his daughter is missing, and he's been unconscious and presumed a vegetable for the past twelve days. Faced with the knowledge that most kidnapping cases turn very, very cold when the child's been missing for over seventy-two hours, Seidman and his best friend and lawyer, Lenny, set about trying to accomplish the impossible: finding his daughter. First, the good things about this book. It's an easy read and a compelling one; the kind of book that will lure you in for an hour or two without you realizing any time has passed. The plot is well-done and intricate, and Coben keeps the pages turning nicely with plot twist after plot twist. Just when I thought I had it figured out, it turned tail and went flying in another direction; always a good thing in a mystery novel. And in genre fiction of this stripe, that's usually the most important thing; it is here. The bad things about it are, in most cases, minor niggles rather than major disasters. The characters seem well drawn enough, but there's something missing from them; they're not as complex as they could be. Seidman's father-in-law, Edgar Portman, is just a little too evil; Lenny plays the sidekick role just a bit too well, etc. They're not exactly stereotypes, but they're only one step removed. This shouldn't be a problem for any Mickey Spillane fans in the audience. Also, Seidman plays the wiseass just a bit too much, as if he were a combination of Spenser and Mike Hammer with a practice in reconstructive surgery on the side. Sometimes, this is a good thing. Coben has an eye for quotidian detail that many other mystery writers leave out; Seidman and others in the novel from whom we see points of view have a knack for describing the kinds of things most of ues see out of the corners of their eyes and quickly forget, giving many scenes an astonishing level of realism. On the other hand, when you've read enough pages of Marc Seidman, he can get exasperating. One of the book's villians tells Seidman during a phone conversation that the villian has noticed Seidman has a tendency to get cute when he's tangling with the opposition. This is all too true, and after a while it can frustrate even the most dedicated person rooting for the underdog. Also, Coben falls into the "we need pages of explanation at the end for the reader" trap that really annoys me. That said, those are certainly not reasons not to give this one a good going-over once it's released. If you've never tried Coben, this makes as good a starting point as any.
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Summary: Excellent!
Review: It's a third book by Harlan Coben I've read and all of them are examples of great thrillers. This book together with 'Gone for good' and 'Tell No One' are very similar in a sense that all three are fast paced, have excellent (and what's very important, logical) plot, well developed characters, suspense, unexpected ending. I can't wait to read a next book by this writer.
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Summary: Excellent web of events!
Review: Just listened to this one over the weekend during a long trip. Unlike a lot of the reviewers here I don't have any other Harlan Coben books to compare this one to, as I've never heard of him, so it's quite easy for me to give it five stars. This book keeps you guessing until nearly the end. Every time you think you have it all worked out you turn out to be completely wrong...THAT, in my opinion, is the sign of a well written mystery. The characters are so well developed that I'm not afraid to admit I had a tear forming in my eye on several occasions. I'm a softy when it comes to parents and their love for their children. This exploits those feelings to the nth degree...constantly. You've read enough reviews with analysis of the plot, the characters, their motivations, etc., that I don't need to add anything about the story itself. Suffice it to say that if you like a well written mystery that keeps you guessing until the end, you'll like this book. If you're a parent, you'll like this book. If you're a fan of action and suspense, you'll like this book. Read this book.
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Summary: Humdinger!
Review: This is the first Harlan Coben book I've read, so I can't compare it to the others, but it is a humdinger! As easy to read as eating candy. A lot of twists and turns. The wrapup at the end is a little disappointing, but still well worth getting to.
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Summary: not the usual harlan coben
Review: this story is a little bit different from the usual witty, fast paced books from harlan coben. the story starts off well, intriguing; but it gently slows down a little bit with some character building. before one gets bored though, the pace picks up again; all the way til the last page, with some twists and turns in between. you are kept wondering what would happen next, and your guess can never be correct. this book has a few of the trade mark harlan coben storyline. the main man on a quest, gets help from some friends who are very smart/well equipped. however, it lacks the usaul witty remarks that makes his other stories such excellent works. the story is well written and as usual, i finished the book before i realised i was near the end. an exciting and worthy read but not the best work by this excellent author.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: No 2nd chance was my first book by Coben and I will now read all the others that Ive missed. It was fast moving, action never stopping and charactors that become part of your family. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves a good mystery/suspence thriller.
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