Tell No One

Tell No One by Harlan Coben

Review by Caleyna

Thrillers were my first reading love and sometimes I have to go back and read a few to get back to my roots. Tell No One was a total impulse buy on my part. I didn't even read the back cover, just saw that Jeffery Deaver had recommened it and decided I needed to read it. What a lucky break! In the past few years I have rarely stumbled across a book that kept me so entranced. I ended up reading all 370 pages in less than 7 hours, no mean feat for this woman who is easily distracted by the television, the computer and the people out the window.

Tell No One is a fast paced thriller told from the POV of a man, Beck, suspected of killing his wife. Of course, he didn't do it, but eight years after her death strange things start happening and the case is re-opened by an FBI agent who never thought the murder made sense. Of course, the murder didn't make sense, and Beck is just starting to realize how strange the whole thing really was. This is especially true after receiving an e-mail that could only have been written by his long dead wife.

Beck is supported by a cast of larger than life friends--a plus-sized lesbian super model, a black gangsta drug dealer, and various other interesting people. His number one enemy is a Korean Incredible Hulk who enjoys killing people with his bare hands.

The strength of this book is in the writing and the characters. The writing is simply superb. Coben is creative and succinct in his descriptions, witty and wry. I'm going to pick up more of his books even though the plots don't interst me at all (a series of sports thrillers) just b/c I really enjoyed his writing. The plot of the book was pretty good too, but it did have a few things that an expert thriller reader could see coming a mile away. The investigation of Beck was also a little flawed, as any reader of Patricia Cornwell could easily see. The flaws really didn't bother me though b/c I was so engrossed in the writing and the characters. This book is well worth a read for any fan of thrillers. It rates a 4 out of 5 amulets.

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