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Just One Look

Just One Look

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $20.37
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Avid Reader, Big Harlan Coben Fan
Review: Although it's tough to write, I was a disappointed in Just One Look. I'm a huge fan of Harlan Coben. I've read all his books including his first two before the Myron series that are out of print. Someone Just One Look seemed hurried? Not as well thought out as his other books? I'm not sure exactly, but I definitely agree with others, that there were too many characters and I didn't wind up caring as much about the main characters as I have always done in previous books. I would have liked to know more about the main characters (especially Grace's husband Jack) and less about the many secondary characters. Grace and Jack needed more back story, more to give the reader's a reason to root for them.

Gone for Good, gripped you and kept you turning pages from the first sentence. Just One Look was good, better than alot of what is out there, but it was much easier to put down without having to know what happens next.

I know 4 stars probably sounds high for this review, but it was still good, I still recommend it, just not as highly as previous books. The references to characters from past books is fun. I was was surprised and pleased by those.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good but not Coben's best
Review: I agree with an earlier reviewer (Check out Bobbewig review) that this book is entertaining but it does have some problems.
I do not think it is as good as "Tell No One" or "Gone For Good". There are too many characters and none of them are as well developed as I'd Like. Plus it get s confusing after awhile It also does not have he originality of Cobens earlier works. All in all it is still better then Most the junk I read so do not let my negative comments turn you away I am just picky. I also recommend "A Tourist In the Yucatan" fun thriller!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: WORTH READING...AFTER OTHERS
Review: I became a Coben fan after reading _Tell No One_ & (my favorite!) _Gone For Good_. In _Just One Look_, Coben continues his husband-and-wife-something-in-the-past story line (to say nothing of his bright-colored book covers/jackets)--although it (story line) is not as (barring believable) magnetic. However, there is the "Cobin-ending," but nothing as gripping as the two previous books. Futher frustrating, there are too many characters directly (or indirectly) involved in the protagonist's struggle to find the truth--(the past and her husband), which complicates and obfuscates the plot. Always Cobin, though, leave it to him to pen stimulating end-of-chapter hooks, just enough to MAKE you turn the page...and another....

Nothwithstanding the three stars, I quasi-enjoyed reading it & would recommend this novel, but only AFTER reading (in this order) _Gone For Good_ & _Tell No One_, both of which I assigned 5 stars.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Highly Entertaining...But!
Review: I've been a big fan of Coben's books since the Myron Bolitar series. His latest, Just One Look, is a book you won't be able to put down and will keep you in suspense from the very beginning to the very end. It is well worth reading. With that said, Just One Look, on a comparative basis, ranks a notch below two of his other stand-alones -- Tell No One and Gone For Good. While the main character, Grace, is well-developed, the more secondary characters -- and there are so many of them you need a scorecard to keep track of them -- are not particularly well-developed. Further, I had some credibility issues with some of them. The basic plot is a simple and interesting one -- a suburban housewife picks up some photos from the store, one of which is an old print depicting her husband with other people from his college days. When the wife shows the photo to her husband, he leaves home and disappears. When the wife soon learns that her husband has been kidnapped, she goes off to search for him. While this plot is suspenseful, it is not especially original, as Coben has used some of his plot devices in his other stand-alones. For example, the concept in Coben's three previous books is one in which the main character's happy life is upended by some event that the reader can easily relate to, and the use of a kidnapped family member was a key factor in Coben's last book, No Second Chance. So, I'm starting to miss some of the originality that I'd come to expect from Coben. Perhaps, he needs to take a step back and have his next book or two feature the main character, Myron Bolitor, from his excellent mystery series. As mentioned above, Just One Look has many characters that at times makes it difficult to remember who's who. However, Coben does neatly tie all the loose strings together involving these characters and who did what to who at the end. Please understand that my criticisms are not MAJOR ones and should NOT deter you from reading this book, especially if this is your first book by Coben. Coben remains one of my favorite authors and I think he'll be one of yours as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE BEST ONE YET??? YES
Review: So many authors' books get tiresome and repetitive after you read a few of them-but not Harlan Coben! Just One Look is his most masterful thriller yet. As always, I pick up one of his book late at night hoping to read 50 pages before going to bed, and end up staying up all night (and being a wreck at work) because I have to stay up and finish it. Great characters, the most intersting and credible plot yet, more twists and turns than Space Mountain, my only regret about this book was that it ended and I had to read other authors.

I wont do a plot summary since there are many others, but let me say that this is THE BEST HARLAN COBEN YET!!!!! I only wish I didnt have to wait a year for the next one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: superb crime thriller
Review: Grace Lawson met her husband while in France and for her it was déjà vu, a feeling that he was her soulmate and logically he felt the same way to. They married and moved back to the states and are living in their own home with their beautiful children. They are very happy together until the day Grace goes to the photo store to pick up some pictures they developed. One of them doesn't belong with the rest. It is a picture of two young women and three men taken a couple of decades ago and she thinks one of the men in the photo is Jack.

When she shows him the picture, he stonewalls her by going into another room and shortly after he drives away from the house. Grace waits for him to return, but he never comes home so she goes to the police. Jack calls her using a code word to tell her he's in trouble. The man who kidnapped Jack also killed many others and he isn't hesitating to murder Grace if she keeps on asking questions.

Harlan Coben writes a superb crime thriller using so many red herrings, twists and turns that readers keep their eyes glued to the pages trying to figure out who is after whom and who is the mastermind calling the shots. The heroine is a strong willed person who refuses, even in the face of threats, to stop looking for her husband though one must wonder about the safety of the children. When she does find him, it is in less than ideal circumstances. JUST ONE LOOK is one of the most satisfying crime thrillers of 2004.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A MUST read page-turner!
Review: Grace Lawson is your typical suburban mother until a newly developed roll of film turns her world upside down.

In the stack of pictures is a strange photo of five people: four that Grace doesn't recognize but the fifth resembles her husband Jack. Grace shows the picture to her husband, but he denies being the man in the photo, although he is obviously rattled by it. Grace goes to bed unsure of what to think about the photo and awakes to an empty bed...Jack left in the night and has not returned.

Grace goes to the police for help, but finds it pointless as they think her husband just left her. Knowing she must look for her husband on her own, Grace starts tracking her husband's steps and finds several suspicious phone calls placed days before his disappearance; one to the sister Grace didn't know he had, and another to a man who has since been murdered.

The deeper Grace digs she realizes that she knew nothing about the man she married, and the only way to learn the truth is to confront her own dark past.

'Just One Look' is a secret filled thrill-ride that will have you reading well into the night. From the exciting opening to the stunning conclusion you will be held spellbound by a thriller that doesn't quit. The story moves with gale force and is packed with twists, turns, and surprises galore all blended together by Harlen Coben's smooth writing style.

Harlan Coben is one of my favorite authors and his long list of excellent novels just got longer with the addition of 'Just One Look', his newest blockbuster.

Expect to see 'Just One Look' on all the bestseller lists.

A definite MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: OK
Review: I anxiously awaited this later thriller from Harlan Coben and, after reading it, was a little disappointed. I guess I was expecting another "Tell No One" (in my opinion, his best). I found the basis for the whole story a little weak (deaths at a rock concert)--I was expecting something a little more intruiging (such as ties to Islamic terrorists). Character development was a little weak. Mr. Coben brought in numerous characters from previous novels, and I wish that he had perhaps discussed their pasts a little more (I found myself wishing that I had gone back and re-read "Tell No One", the origin of a few of the characters--Eddie Wu and Heather Crimstein, to name a few). Things got really complicated at the end, and I really didn't like the way the story ended, but all in all I am happy I read it and will definitely read more Harlan Coben novels in the future.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Simple and complicated at the same time!
Review: Here we have a novel with an already played out story line. A happy homemaker gets a surprise package in her photo of her hubby with old college buddies. He leaves and is kidnapped. The happy homemaker suddenly gathers more guts and courage than originally depicted in the first part of the book as she jumps head first into finding her hubby. Coben fans are probably thinking about now, "Didn't that happen in No Second Chance?"

Anyway, the happy homemaker goes through a rather deep and dark world in her journey to recover hubby and joins forces with such characters as a mobster in an attempt to find him. From there, the plot takes so many twists and turns that you will need a map and a scorecard to keep track. I don't know if the author felt that the simple storyline needed to be complicated or such a complicated tale needed a simple storyline. Either way, the last pages is like a debrief as the author brings together so many loose ends.

I like this author, but I think he needs to take a step back and find a new direction in his storylines. So many times, writers get caught up in the "if it worked once, it will work again" pattern. Still, the book is enjoyable and a recommended read.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Book--Bad Ending
Review: I couldn't read this book fast enough. It started out so good that I couldn't wait for the slam-bang ending to see how all the characters were tied together. But the ending makes you feel like you have to write a book report to describe who was who and who did what and why. It was so confusing I couldn't even believe it. It was like the author got someone else to finish this mess of a plot. I was thinking of getting another of his books to read, but after finishing it, I think not. I can't even loan it to a friend with a clear conscience.


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