Rating: 
Summary: Still Better Than Most, But Not Quite Up to Par
Review: I am an avid Coben fan. I have read most of the Bolitar mysteries and all of the other stand alone books (Tell No One, Gone for Good, No Second Chance). Just One Look, while a page turner, is in my opinion not up to par with it's predecessors. That said, Coben writes a better "page turner" than most of his peers. The book revolves around a photo found by Grace Evans, a NJ housewife. In the photo are an old picture of her husband along with other people she does not know. When she asks her husband Jack about the picture, he immediately disappears. Her investigation uncovers years of a cover-up involving an incident that involved her from years past.
The plot, while enough to keep me interested, did not measure up to Coben's previous three books. How about another Bolitar, Mr. Coben?
Rating: 
Summary: Far and Away Coben's Best Work to Date
Review: Harlan Coben seems to be all over the place these days. His name keeps popping up here and there. It's not really surprising, given that he has written a number of increasingly competent and popular thrillers over the past several years. But the reason for his recent notoriety may well be due to water cooler word of his latest novel JUST ONE LOOK, which is far and away his best work to date.Coben's recent novels have a unifying theme running through them: disappearance. This is not to say that all of his novels are alike; the opposite in fact is true. JUST ONE LOOK also deals with a disappearance, but in this case we know exactly what happens to the missing person. The question that keeps the pages turning and the plot chugging along is the "why" behind the event. The person asking "why" is Grace Lawson, a suburbanite who splits her time between her work as an artist and her duties as wife to Jack Lawson and mother to their two children. Grace's placid life is shattered when she picks up pictures of a recent family outing at her local photomat store and finds a picture in the group that does not belong. It seems much older than the other pictures and is not one of her family, but of five people. Grace does not recognize four of them, but the fifth person looks like a much younger version of her husband. When Grace shows the photo to Jack that evening, he denies that he's that person. Later that night, however, Jack makes a hushed phone call, drives off with the picture and does not return. Over the next several days Grace does a dangerous juggling act, attempting to shield her children from Jack's absence while trying to determine the reason for it, as well as the secret behind the photo. When Jack calls Grace shortly after his disappearance, stating that he needs some "space," she realizes that he is in terrible danger. What she does not realize, however, is that she and her children are in dire jeopardy as well. Grace acquires some likely and unlikely allies, some of who seem to know bits and pieces of the puzzle of her husband's life. But when Grace discovers that her home has been under video surveillance, she realizes that the only person who she can trust is herself. Coben throws several interesting twists into JUST ONE LOOK. For one, the reader learns almost immediately what has happened to Jack. Grace also undergoes an interesting transformation, from secure hausfrau to avenging angel, even as she is dragged kicking and screaming toward it. There is also a villain, a shadowy, terrifying character named Eric Wu who is described by one of the principals in JUST ONE LOOK as being so scary that ... well, read the book. I won't give it away, as it's but one more example of Coben's ongoing growth as a writer. But what is truly fascinating in JUST ONE LOOK is the manner in which Coben weaves the undercarriage of this tale and then slowly uncovers it. Coben's narrative pacing has never been better. This is a complex tale, and in the hands of a lesser writer the explanation would have been a hurried, wrap-it-up affair. Not so with Coben and JUST ONE LOOK; matters continue to be revealed even on the final page. Even though it's only May, JUST ONE LOOK may be the beach book of this long, hot summer. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Rating:
Summary: More of the same...
Review: Harlan Coben's new book "Just One Look", like his earlier work, is hard to put down. His style is compelling and his heroine, in this story, could be you, watching and wondering as the comfortable life you inow and love disappears in an instant. The tangle of characters in "Just One Look" starts with husband and wife, Jack and Grace Lawson. Grace is semi-famous as the survivor of a tragic stampede at a rock concert, where 18 people were killed when an out of control crowd tried to escape gunshots. The tragedy is known as "The Boston Massacre" and Grace still limps due to her injuries in the melee. The Massacre haunts the parents and loved ones of those who died and Grace knows that the disappearance of her husband one night is somehow connected with her past. She can't help but feel responsible for Jack being missing, since she showed him an old photograph of 5 people; the picture mysteriously appeared in the most recent package of photos she had processed at the local Photomat. Jack's in the photo, but Grace doesn't know the identity of the others...Coben follows her efforts to find the truth about the picture, and to find Jack. Over time, she learns that the others have been tainted by tragedy, have disappeared, or have lost their own lives. In trying to solve the mystery, Grace enlists a mob connection, Carl Vespa, whose son died in the Massacre, local police and attorneys who are all somehow connected to the photograph. Serial-killer-for-hire Eric Wu (who appeared in Coben's "Tell No One") is the key to deaths and disappearances. Grace is able to follow the thread, while trying to keep her small children safe. Although I was taken with the tension and the mystery of the plot, I was sorely disappointed at the overall quality of the book. Coben seems caught, in his last four works, with a tangle of spouses with mysterious pasts and present disappearances. Although I could not guess the outcomes of this particular thriller, (they remain vague and unsettling, then tumble out of the final chapter) neither was I very interested in the motivations of the characters or the secrets from the past. Coben needs to incorporate his tension-filled style with a new and more unique plotline in order to keep the audience he's built since he stopped writing his "humor-thriller" series about sports agent Myron Bolitar. In "Just One Look" he gives us great pacing, but then dumps the outcomes one after another in the final chapter. There's not enough new here to be wildly enthusiastic, but I'm not ready to give up on Coben just yet. Still, "Just One Look" could have been titled, "Same Old, Same Old".
Rating:
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!
Rating:
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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