Gone for Good - Softcover

Harlan Coben

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0752846051 ISBN 13: 9780752846057

Publisher: Orion Books Ltd, 2002

Synopsis

Harlan Coben earned the raves of critics everywhere for his New York Times bestselling thriller, Tell No One, hailed as “pulse-pounding” (People), “compelling and original” (Los Angeles Times), and “a thriller of runaway tension” (Iris Johansen). Now, in a bold new novel, Coben continues to stake out new ground in suspense, unleashing a haunting tale of secrets and betrayal...and of one man’s search for his missing brother that spirals into a breakneck hunt for a killer, a victim, and the truth.

As a boy, Will Klein had a hero: his older brother, Ken. Then, on a warm suburban night in the Kleins’ affluent New Jersey neighborhood, a young woman--a girl Will had once loved--was found raped and murdered in her family’s basement.

The prime suspect: Ken Klein. With the evidence against him overwhelming, Ken simply vanished, spending the next decade as the elusive subject of rumors, speculation, and an international manhunt. When his shattered family never heard from Ken again, they were sure he was gone for good.

Now eleven years have passed. And Will, who always believed in his brother’s innocence, has found evidence that Ken is alive--even as he is struck by another act of betrayal. His girlfriend suddenly disappears, leaving behind compelling evidence that she was not the person Will thought she was. As two dark dramas unwind around him, Will is pulled into a violent mystery, haunted by signs that Ken is trying to contact him after all these years. Will can feel himself coming closer and closer to his brother . . . and to a terrible secret that someone will kill to keep buried. And as the lies begin to unravel, Will is uncovering startling truths about his lover, his brother, and even himself. He knows he must press his search all the way to the end. Because the most powerful revelations are yet to come....

Gone for Good is at once a powerhouse of suspense and a haunting tale of love--the love between brothers, between lovers, between family members. It is one of those rare thrillers that not only make the pulse pound, but stir the heart as well.

About this title

Review

In Gone for Good Harlan Coben continues his self-redefinition as a writer of taut, grim thrillers about love and its vulnerabilities with even more success than in its predecessor Tell No One. Will has coped with the death of his ex-girlfriend, the disappearance of his brother Ken (the prime suspect in her rape and murder), as well as the demands of his job as a worker with the homeless and terminally messed-up of the New York streets. When it seems that his brother is alive after all, and his lover Sheila disappears, only to be fingered by the FBI as an accessory to murder, Will is at breaking point. Only his dangerous friend Squares and Will's determination to see justice done, and find out what he needs to to ensure it, keep him going during escalating unpleasantness. Will and Ken had some dangerous schoolfellows--among them the gangster McGuane and the assassin known as Ghost--and the roots of the jeopardy Will finds himself in lie years in his past.

Coben does paranoia and deceit as well as he did the good humour of his early sports thrillers--Will is a credible hero because he lives with his own weaknesses and is attractively unaware of his virtues and his charm. --Roz Kaveney

Review

Harlan Coben's plot-spinning and characterisation skills reach a new peak in a thriller that has more twists and turns than the maze at the Hampton Court. (INDEPENDENT)

Tim Machin reads with total involvement, excelling as the lisping and spine-chilling villain. (INDEPENDENT)

This is a brilliantly plotted and utterly twisted tale. (SAINSBURY'S MAGAZINE)

Tim Machin reads with total involvement (INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE)

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0752846051
• ISBN 13: 9780752846057
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384