Rating: 
Summary: Fast-paced, gripping thriller!
Review: This book is even better than Coben's previous two ("Tell No One" and "Gone For Good"). Once I started it, I could barely put it down. The author knows how to grab you and yank you right into a story, and keep you riveted until the final page. Set aside a couple of days for this one, because you won't get much else done once you start it!
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant read, interesting plot twists
Review: This was a surprisingly fun read. The plot is simple and definitely predictable, but I did not find that these facts prevented me from enjoying the story. Some might accuse the novel of wrapping up too cleanly, but I found the opposite to be true. Coben challenges the reader with an unorthodox resolution of the issues facing the protagonist. I've also read reviews that complain about the character of Verne. He does enter the story rather suddenly, but his character is developed appropriately. Moreover, his role really is kept to a minimum. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick, fun read.
Rating: 
Summary: ANOTHER TEN FROM THIS AUTHOR
Review: It hasn't taken thriller writer Harlan Coben long to rise to the top of the bestseller lists - first with "Tell No One" followed by "Gone For Good." He deserves that vaunted spot as his prose fairly sizzles with suspense, and his imaginative plotting ropes us in from the first paragraph. "No Second Chance," based on the premise of an infant's kidnaping, is another sure winner, especially when read by two greatly gifted voice performers - Scott Brick and Dylan Baker. Acclaimed for his film performances in "The Tailor of Panama" and "Along Came A Spider," accomplished actor Dylan Baker gives a riveting reading as does Scott Brick, who has won four Earphone awards for his consistently stellar renderings. Coben's latest introduces Marc Seidman who just a short while ago had it all. He is a successful plastic surgeon, has an upscale home, a lovely wife, and an adored baby daughter, Tara. That golden life is shattered when he is shot by an unknown marksman. Seidman awakens in a hospital bed hooked to all sorts of life saving devices. His wife is dead, and his daughter is nowhere to be found. Then a ransom note arrives: "We are watching. If you contact the authorities, you will never see your daughter again. There will be no second chance." A parent's nightmare come true. Good friends, including an attorney, and a former girlfriend help Seidman as he struggles to recover his daughter. Hang onto your seats and your heartstrings as a bereaved husband and frantic father faces a ruthless enemy. On a scale of 1 - 10, Coben has crafted another 10. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: Don't miss your chance - read this book!
Review: Terrific new stand-alone thriller from the author of Gone for Good and Tell No One. Dr. Marc Seidman, an altruistic plastic surgeon, is on his deathbed after being shot. Despite the odds, he survives but his wife has been murdered and his 6 month old daughter kidnapped. Seidman is understandably obsessed with getting his daughter back, and thus begins a story of deceptions and betrayals, all told at breakneck speed. Throw in an ex-girlfriend who is ex-FBI, a best friend/attorney, a red neck with a heart of gold, and a child star all grown up into a homicidal psychopath, and you have one hell of a story. Coben has once again written an engrossing tale of intrigue that takes the reader on a wild ride with wonderful characters and lots of jolts. The resolution was a bit weak, but the epilogue provided closure with its neatly wrapped update on all the characters. I was lucky enough to have jury duty, so I had several uninterrupted hours of reading time - clear the decks for this one and settle in, you won't be able to stop once you've started it.
Rating: 
Summary: A distraught father seeks his missing daughter.
Review: Harlan Coben has become famous for thrillers with twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. His latest, "No Second Chance," is about Dr. Marc Seidman, a successful plastic surgeon whose life is rapidly falling apart. An unknown assailant shoots the doctor and leaves him for dead. Twelve days later, Seidman regains consciousness and he learns that his wife, Monica, has also been shot and that his six-month-old daughter has disappeared. The police suspect that Seidman may have had something to do with both the attack on his wife and his baby's disappearance. "No Second Chance" is mostly about Marc's attempt to find his daughter, Tara. Marc senses that his child is alive, and he will not rest until he finds out where she is. His investigation leads him in a number of directions, and he gladly accepts help from Rachel, an old girlfriend who used to be an FBI agent. Harlan Coben made a major misstep when he wrote this illogical and far-fetched novel. The characters in "No Second Chance" are poorly developed, and the villains are simplistic stereotypes. The resolution is so convoluted that it requires about a dozen pages of exposition to explain it all, and even then it makes little sense. I do not recommend "No Second Chance" because Coben's plot is unfocused and bewildering instead of taut and exciting.
Rating:
Summary: Fast Paced Mystery
Review: The latest mystery from Coben has several very familiar elements from his previous outings, particularly a husband/boyfriend whose wife/girlfriend has been murdered, running around trying to find the killer(s), while being under police suspicion by the as the guilty party. The main story plot is Dr. Seidman's attempt to find his missing baby daughter,and revolve the fatal shooting of his wife and near-fatal shooting of himself when the abduction took place. Along the way he is primarily assisted by his attorney friend, medical partner, an old girlfriend who just happens to be a forcibly retired FBI agent, and a gung ho ex-soldier who surprisingly helps Seidman instead of shooting him during an attempted break-in. As usual in a Coben story, Seidman has to fight against the bad guys/gals while evading representatives of the law (police, FBI). There is little humor in No Second Chance, and no wealthy, mysterious and dangerous sidekick assisting the hero protagonist, as there are in Coben's Myron Bolitar series. What we get is a very fast paced novel with a few expected and unexpected twists.
Rating:
Summary: I can stretch this to four stars...
Review: but just barely. Coben is a long-time favorite, but this book falls short of his prior two thrillers and even the Myron Bolitar series. It does hold your interest to the end, because of the plot's twists and turns. I think Marc Seidman, Coben's hero, is the main problem. Although he's given to some sarcastic humor (ala Myron Bolitar),
he's not very well-defined and its hard to see what his old friends (former girlfriend turned FBI agent and his attorney)
see in him to keep them so loyal. His job, as a reconstructive plastic surgeon who, with his partner, travels the world to aid
those in need, is a great touch. His wife, Monica, is killed at the start of the book, in a robbery that wounds Seidman severely, and winds up with his small daughter missing. His quest for his daughter rings true to his feelings about her, but is not enough to save the book. That he'd be married to Monica seems implausible. The cadre of villains here include an unbelievable duo of a woman who is a former child star turned mercenary, and her hulking partner, who is also her lover. Coben spends a lot of time interspersing chapters from their point of view, and they are not realistic. Like other reviewers, I'm a fan of bit-part character Verne (think Chris Cooper) a redneck gunowner with an Eastern European bride, who gets drawn into the action simply because he's drawn to Seidman's plight. I think Coben may have rushed this book to publication, and I hope he'll slow down and create a more plausible story with a better hero in the next round. (Or, he could bring Myron and Win back!) 3 1/2 stars!
Rating:
Summary: The Scariest Thing Is...
Review: "Gone for Good" was my introduction to Coben. Of course, I had to go back and read "Tell No One." Having quickly added this author to my must-read list, I was thrilled to see a new one. Let's start with the cover. While it tries to be slick with a ransom note hidden beneath the dust-cover, it manages somehow to look more like a nonfiction title. Hmmm. Okay. But if you open to the first page, if you read the first chapter, if you have any heart for a father in a terrible situation, you cannot fail to be hooked. (Yeah, yeah, I know some reviewers here hated it. Go back to Tolstoy and let us enjoy a great thriller, thank you very much!) Coben serves up another twisting conundrum of a modern mystery. A man wakes up in the hospital twelve days after being shot only to discover that his wife has been murdered and his six-month old daughter is missing. Soon, a ransom note appears and sets the stage for a rollercoaster of suspense and emotion. Set in Coben's favorite location, the frontyards of suburban America, "No Second Chance" reads like a sordid tale from tomorrow's headlines. Sure, Coben pushes the credibility on a few points, but the scariest thing is--and I think you'll have to agree--that so much of this could really happen. I'll admit this much: Coben's settings and basic themes are quite similar through his three big bestsellers. But you'll have to admit this much in return: he does it better than ninety-nine percent of the other mystery writers out there. Just to prove my point, I'll send you my copy for free. No wait, sorry, I changed my mind...and there will be "No Second Chance." Go buy a copy for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to this author's standard and a bad narration to boot
Review: This book-on-tape has a potentially interesting plot, but it is deeply buried beneath two layers of dullness: its lead character and the narrator. The lead character is in the category of teenagers in horror movies, i.e., doing stuff so stupid that you want to yell out to stop them. (E.g., how many times can someone talk to the FBI against their lawyer's clear advice and still be surprised that it doesn't work out? Or is it possible that a young surgeon knows less about DNA than the average TV viewer?) It's so implausible that my disbelief became unsuspended. Moreover the narrator who recorded it settles into an annoying sing-song that leaves all sentences sounding sort of alike and that has little variation from character to character. It's hard to listen to. I miss this author's great lead character, Myron Bolitar (who is funny and smart), but I'll settle for a lot less. This is just not anywhere near satisfactory.
Rating:
Summary: No second chance
Review: I really enjoyed this book and had a difficult time putting it down. I thought the plot was pretty twisty in places.
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