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Summary: Just One Look
Review: My first Harlan Coben novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A good mystery, sans graphic language and violence, but a good story line that kept you thinking you had everything figured out, only to realize that you didn't until the very end and even on the last page you were wondering if you had the right ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Great read!!
Review: I found this book to be thoroughly enjoyable. It was a page turner from start to finish. Full of plot twists and cliffhangers, the book will really captivate any reader who likes thrillers. And, it is an easy read...the main plot isn't too complicated and unlike some other thrillers, there aren't too many sub-plots to try to follow. Coben has done it again!
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Summary: Always a surprise ending
Review: Granted Just One Look had a familiar feel to it, but that just makes it easier to get into. I thought it was intriguing enough to keep turning the pages until the end, which only took me about 3 days. I love that Harlan Coben always has a surprise twist at the end so you can't predict the outcome. I must admit my favorite thing about Harlan Cobens books is the setting. Since I used to live in NJ, specifically in one of the towns mentioned in this book, I get a kick out of seeing the name in print. I feel like I can visualise the story since I used to drive the same streets.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best
Review: I have been reading Harlan's books for years now. I really enjoyed his Bolitar mysteries and thought "Tell No One" was excellent. Of all his stand alone mysteries, I liked this the least, although I did read it in two days and thought it to be hard to put down. I just thought the story was too contrived and unbelievable. I thought the characters needed more development especially the bad guy.
I thought the ending was very unbelievable. Even though it was and exciting read, after I was done, it felt like a meal with all desert and no meat and potatoes- very unsatisfying. I recommend his earlier books. I am hooked on his books though and will probably buy and read the next one too. I recently read
"Persuader" by Lee Child and found it to be more satisfying
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointed!
Review: I waited so long for a new book to come out by this author, who is one of my all time favorites. However, I cannot begin to tell you how disappointing this book was. No where near the perfection of Coben's previous novels.
Rating:
Summary: Deserves a Serious Look
Review: Never reading Coben's work before, I was intrigued by the story line of Just One Look and decided to pick it up. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised and finished the book in two days. Just One Look is a rapid page turner that I had trouble putting down for even a moment. Employing a strong central character in Grace, a suburban mom of two kids, coping with the rapid disappearance of her husband after discovering a mysterious photo depicting him twenty years earlier, Coben briskly, yet suspensefully, unravels the mystery of a related event in both Grace's and her husband Jack's lives that affects them forever. Just One Look is an exciting journey with enough twists and turns to keep you flipping pages. The final 30 pages that pulls the story together is refreshing, surprising, and intelligently designed by Coben.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip it!!!
Review: I've loved all 10 of Coben's previous novels, but this one is utterly AWFUL. It is convoluted and several notches below his usually high standards. Miss it.Maybe, with Connelly & Crais returning to their bread & butter characters, Coben should consider giving us a new Myron Bolitar mystery.
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Summary: "Murder She Wrote" for more sophisticated readers.......
Review: Coben may have left his "series" detective stories behind -- but he has written all four of his "stand alone" mysteries following a formula as familiar as the world of an oft revisted detective. "Gone For Good", "No 2nd Chance", "Tell No One" and "Just One Look" all have common plot threads. #1 Coben Plot Device: Missing immediate family member and frantic search for him/her -- #2: A marriage or significant romantic relationship torn apart -- #3: Menacing inhuman hit man -- #4: Suburban New Jersey setting with tons of local references for Jersey/NYC readers -- #5: Close relative with an agenda the protagonist knows nothing about -- #6: A mob related character who may not or may not be as evil as he seems.... The list really goes on. While some common elements from book to book can be expected -- Coben is simply mining the same territory and shuffling details to tell something close to the same story each time. Still, I have to say -- I did not completely predict the ending of this novel and that is to Coben's credit. However, without giving final outcome away I will say that many readers -- especially female mystery readers -- will not be satisfied with the conclusion of this book. Kudos here for creating a female protagonist with the normal soccer Mom issues -- instead of the usual lone wolf female hero seen in so many detective/suspense novels. Too bad she is knee deep in so many plot detours and convolutions. Coben is still a cut above the average mystery writer -- but faithful readers will not find anything new in this latest offering. It simply doesn't live up to his previous novels.
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Summary: The average woman caught up in a nightmare scenario
Review: If I were ever to write a book I would want to write a suspense novel about a normal person caught up into a life and death struggle beyond their control. Twists and turns of the plot would be a prerequisite with surprises galore. I would take great pains in creating the main character as the neighbor next store- no special forces agent or high powered political bigwig- just the sort of person who worries about making dinner for the family or having the time to go to the kid's soccer game. Yes, books just like what Harlan Coben currently writes.
In this latest thriller, average housewife, Grace Lawson is picking up photos from her local photo developing stand. The packet, however, contains an old photo purportedly of her husband, Jack, and several other people. When she shows it to her husband, he denies that it is him. Yet, that night he disappears. Grace is determined to find out what happened to Jack. Her search takes her directly into the path of a killing machine called Eric Wu (who the reader might remember from TELL NO ONE, however, this time sans the even more terrifying Larry Gandle). At stake is not only her own life but those of her husband and children.
Harlan has, once again, penned a novel that reaches to the underlying terror that lies deep in the heart of every person. JUST ONE LOOK has as its main protagonist a female ( a bit of a change for Harlan). He explores how a simple event like picking up family photos can lead into something way beyond what an average person faces. Characters are thoughtfully created with such care that even those with only minutes left to live are fully realized with complete pasts. (Eric Wu, however, is a bit of a stretch.)
Harlan, for many years, has written an excellent series starring Myron Bolitar, a sports agent cum PI. They were amusing books but all of them had a bite to them. They were definitely not about sports. Now Harlan is into these standalones of which JUST ONE LOOK is the fourth. TELL NO ONE is definitely his breakout book and catapulted him onto the bestseller lists internationally. He has a lucrative contract way beyond his wildest dreams and legions of readers. These books are good and solid entertainments. They are well worth purchasing and reading on planes and by the pool. I would compare his work to that of Cornell Woolrich --the everyman placed into a perilous situation. However, I still feel his best work lies in the old Bolitar series. It was in that setting that he so effectively probed the darkness that lies in the heart of man. I know he has one or two more books to write on this current contract. However, I hope he goes back to his roots by writing about truly sympathetic characters that use self deprecating humor as a means of combating life threatening danger. You wouldn't know it by reading these books but Harlan is a very funny man. As his readership grows, however, I really don't see that happening.
Rating:
Summary: Another roller coaster ride!!!!!!!
Review: Harlan Coben, well known for his series featuring Myron Bolitar sports agent AKA as detective, has written four stand alone books. Previously I read the first three titles, Tell No One, Gone for Good and No Second Chance and found them somewhat remarkably similar but good and exciting reads. His latest book Just One Look again is a roller coaster ride when a woman picks up freshly developed photos from a Photomat and events begin to spiral out of control jeopardizing her husband and family. As in his other books, events from the past catch up with the presnt and the reader doesn't know who or what to believe as the good guys and bad guys change from minute to minute and the characters become more and more interesting. As in Coben's other books, though, I found each stand alone a bit more and more convolutd and by page 300 of this one I was tired of trying to figure out what was going on. I went with the flow and finished it up not really bothering to figure everything out to my liking. I do think if you've never read Coben you may find this to be a very exciting book but I am getting a bit tired of his far fetched plots. I did in the end rate it with a B since it had a few good moments but just not enough. My favorite that he's written so far continues to be Gone for Good. I would certainly recommend that title as well as his first stand alone, Tell No One.
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